ever wept. 'Now,' said the old man, 'aid me to bury my child.' Carlini
fetched two pickaxes; and the father and the lover began to dig at the
foot of a huge oak, beneath which the young girl was to repose. When
the grave was formed, the father kissed her first, and then the lover;
afterwards, one taking the head, the other the feet, they placed her
in the grave. Then they knelt on each side of the grave, and said the
prayers of the dead. Then, when they had finished, they cast the earth
over the corpse, until the grave was filled. Then, extending his
hand, the old man said; 'I thank you, my son; and now leave me
alone.'--'Yet'--replied Carlini.--'Leave me, I command you.' Carlini
obeyed, rejoined his comrades, folded himself in his cloak, and soon
appeared to sleep as soundly as the rest. It had been resolved the night
before to change their encampment. An hour before daybreak, Cucumetto
aroused his men, and gave the word to march. But Carlini would not quit
the forest, without knowing what had become of Rita's father. He went
toward the place where he had left him. He found the old man suspended
from one of the branches of the oak which shaded his daughter's grave.
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