But did you think that was the end? If so you failed to
appreciate us.
"Look you, my dear, we could have done without the money, for our family
has been robbing and accumulating for ages, with little need to expend
much from year to year. It is all in the Bank of Italy, too, and drawing
the interest, for my father is a wise man of business. That four hundred
thousand lira was to have been our last ransom, and after we had fairly
earned it you tricked us and did not pay.
"So my father and I determined to get even with you, as much through
revenge as cupidity. We were obliged to desert the valley at once,
because we were getting so rich that the government officials became
uneasy and warned us to go or be arrested. So we consulted together and
decided upon our little plot, which was so simple that it has worked
perfectly. We came to you with our sad story, and you thought we had
reformed, and kindly adopted me as one of your party. It was so easy
that I almost laughed in your foolish faces. But I didn't, for I can
act. I played the child very nicely, I think, and you quite forgot I was
a brigand's daughter, with the wild, free blood of many brave outlaws
coursing in my veins. Ah, I am more proud of that than of my acting.
"Innocent as I seemed, I watched you all carefully, and knew from
almost the first hour where the money had been put.
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