第143章

"Teresa was clothed from head to foot in the garb of the Count of San-Felice's daughter.Vampa took Cucumetto's body in his arms and conveyed it to the grotto, while in her turn Teresa remained outside.If a second traveller had passed, he would have seen a strange thing, -- a shepherdess watching her flock, clad in a cashmere grown, with ear-rings and necklace of pearls, diamond pins, and buttons of sapphires, emeralds, and rubies.He would, no doubt, have believed that he had returned to the times of Florian, and would have declared, on reaching Paris, that he had met an Alpine shepherdess seated at the foot of the Sabine Hill.At the end of a quarter of an hour Vampa quitted the grotto;his costume was no less elegant than that of Teresa.He wore a vest of garnet-colored velvet, with buttons of cut gold; a silk waistcoat covered with embroidery; a Roman scarf tied round his neck; a cartridge-box worked with gold, and red and green silk; sky-blue velvet breeches, fastened above the knee with diamond buckles; garters of deerskin, worked with a thousand arabesques, and a hat whereon hung ribbons of all colors; two watches hung from his girdle, and a splendid poniard was in his belt.Teresa uttered a cry of admiration.

Vampa in this attire resembled a painting by Leopold Robert, or Schnetz.He had assumed the entire costume of Cucumetto.

The young man saw the effect produced on his betrothed, and a smile of pride passed over his lips.-- `Now,' he said to Teresa, `are you ready to share my fortune, whatever it may be?' -- `Oh, yes!' exclaimed the young girl enthusiastically.-- `And follow me wherever I go?' -- `To the world's end.' -- `Then take my arm, and let us on; we have no time to lose.' -- The young girl did so without questioning her lover as to where he was conducting her, for he appeared to her at this moment as handsome, proud, and powerful as a god.They went towards the forest, and soon entered it.We need scarcely say that all the paths of the mountain were known to Vampa; he therefore went forward without a moment's hesitation, although there was no beaten track, but he knew his path by looking at the trees and bushes, and thus they kept on advancing for nearly an hour and a half.At the end of this time they had reached the thickest of the forest.A torrent, whose bed was dry, led into a deep gorge.Vampa took this wild road, which, enclosed between two ridges, and shadowed by the tufted umbrage of the pines, seemed, but for the difficulties of its descent, that path to Avernus of which Virgil speaks.