Two hours' riding carried them beyond the point to which the botanical
excursions had led them in that direction. They were leaving the
valley, and entering on the high and broken uplands, when Lady Mabel
spied a low cross by the roadside. Though rudely formed, it was of
stone, and not of wood, like most of those in such places, and a short
inscription was carved upon it. Faintly cut, badly spelt, and with
many abbreviations, it was an enigma to her scholarship, and L'Isle
had to decipher it for her: "Andreo Savaro was murdered here. Pray for
his soul." "It is only one of those monumental crosses," said he, "of
which you see so many along the roads throughout the peninsula."
"Do they always add murder to robbery here?" she asked.
"Too often, but not always," answered L'Isle. "Nor is robbery the only
motive which leads to the taking of life. A solitary cross by the
roadside is usually in memory of the victim of robbers, or,
occasionally, of fatal accident; but when you see crosses, two or
three together, in villages or towns, or their immediate neighborhood,
they oftener mark the scene of some deed of bloodshed prompted by
revenge, not lucre.
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