Who could have thought of finding you here, Father ?' The priest did not reply.

They left the chapel together.

The knot of waiting children in the cloister, as soon as they saw Eleanor, raised a shout of glee, and began to run towards her.

But the moment they perceived her companion, they stopped dead.
Their little faces darkened, stiffened, their black eyes shone with malice.
Then suddenly the boys swooped on the pebbles of the courtyard, and with cries of '_Bestia!--bestia!_' they flung them at the priest over their shoulders, as they all fled helter-skelter, the brothers dragging off the sisters, the big ones the little ones, out of sight.
'Horrid little imps!' cried Eleanor in indignation.

'What is the matter with them?
I promised them some _soldi_.