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228 . the miracles of antichrist
by the ten thousand and could give them away or
keep them, as she pleased. She went out of the
way for nobody. She feared not to become hated.
She was the greatest wonder eyes had ever beheld.
" Of course she was no Sicilian. She was English.
And the first thing she did on her arrival, was to
take the first floor of the hotel for herself alone.
But what was that for her ? All Diamante had not
been sufficient for her.
" No, all Diamante was certainly not enough for
her. However, as soon as she came she began to
reign over the city as a queen. The syndic had to
obey her. Was it not she who compelled him to
place stone benches on the market-place! Was it
not at her command that the streets were swept
every day !
" In the morning when she woke, all the young
men of Diamante stood waiting outside her door
to be her escort on some excursion. They had left
the shoemakers’ bench and the stone-pick to serve
her as guides. They had sold their motherVsilk
dresses to buy lady’s saddles for their donkeys, so
that she might ride to the citadel or Tre Castagni.
They had deprived themselves of house and home
to purchase a horse, so that they might drive her to
Randazzo and Nicolosi.
" We were all her slaves. The children began to
beg in English, and the blind women at the hotel
gate, Donna Pepa and Donna Tura, draped
themselves in dazzling white veils to please her.
" Everything moved round her, trade and
professions grew up around her. They who could do
nothing else dug in the earth after coins and earthen-
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