It is still one of the most respected in the island.

All these _signori_ about us are bastards.

The only noble blood left is in the families of the corporals, and as you know, Orso, your ancestors were the chief corporals in the island.

You know our family came from beyond the hills, and it was the civil wars that forced us over to this side.
If I were you, Orso, I shouldn't hesitate--I should ask Colonel Nevil for his daughter's hand." Orso shrugged his shoulders.

"With her fortune, you might buy the Falsetta woods, and the vineyards below ours.
I would build a fine stone house, and add a story to the old tower in which Sambucuccio killed so many Moors in the days of Count Henry, _il bel Missere_." "Colomba, you're talking nonsense," said Orso, cantering forward.
"You are a man, Ors' Anton', and of course you know what you ought to do better than any woman.