Note: Translator Pauline Bancroft Flach died in 1966, less than 70 years ago. Therefore, this work is protected by copyright, restricting your legal rights to reproduce it. However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now. Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - First book - XI. The Feast of San Sebastiano
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
166 THE MIRACLES OF AJVTICHRIST
Day by day she became more feeble. She walked
deeply bent, and even her beautiful eyes seemed to
lose their life and light.
After a few weeks she was so weak that she could
no longer keep up, but lay all day on her sofa.
She was prey to a suffering that gradually deprived
her of all vital power. She knew that she was
failing, and she was afraid to die. But she could do
nothing. There was only one remedy for her, but
that never came. While Donna Micaela seemed to
be thus quietly gliding out of life, the people of
Diamante were preparing to celebrate the feast of
San Sebastiano, that comes at the end of January.
It was the greatest festival of Diamante, but in
the last few years it had not been kept with
customary splendor, because want and gloom had weighed
too heavily on their souls.
But this year, just after the revolt had failed, and
while Sicily was still filled with troops, and while
the beloved heroes of the people languished in
prison, they determined to celebrate the festival
with all the old-time pomp; for now, they said, was
not the time to neglect the saint.
And the pious people of Diamante determined
that the festival should be held for a week, and that
San Sebastiano should be honored with flags and
decorations, and with races and biblical processions,
illuminations, and singing contests.
The people bestirred themselves with great haste
and eagerness. There was polishing and scrubbing
in every house. They brought out the old costumes,
and they prepared to receive strangers from all
Etna.
The summer-palace was the only house in Dia-
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
