The cup could indeed be ill spared. The cattle and swine, the dues
of the serfs, and the yearly toll at the wake were the sole resources
of the household; and though there was no lack of meat, milk, and
black bread, sufficient garments could scarce be come by, with all
the spinning of the household, woven by the village webster, of whose
time the baronial household, by prescriptive right, owned the lion's
share.
These matters little troubled the two beings in whom Christina's
heart was wrapped up. Though running about barefooted and
bareheaded, they were healthy, handsome, straight-limbed, noble-
looking creatures, so exactly alike, and so inseparable, that no one
except herself could tell one from the other save by the medal of Our
Lady worn by the elder, and the little cross carved by the mother for
the younger; indeed, at one time, the urchins themselves would feel
for cross or medal, ere naming themselves "Ebbo," or "Friedel." They
were tall for their age, but with the slender make of their foreign
ancestry; and, though their fair rosy complexions were brightened by
mountain mists and winds, their rapidly darkening hair, and large
liquid brown eyes, told of their Italian blood.
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