Colonel della Rebbia, now living on half-pay at Pietranera, had to defend himself against covert and repeated attacks due to the pettifogging malignity of his enemy.

At one time he was summoned to pay for the damage his horse had done to the mayor's fences, at another, the latter, under pretence of repairing the floor of the church, ordered the removal of a broken flagstone bearing the della Rebbia arms, which covered the grave of some member of the family.

If the village goats ate the colonel's young plants, the mayor always protected their owners.

The grocer who kept the post-office at Pietranera, and the old maimed soldier who had been the village policeman--both of them attached to the della Rebbia family--were turned adrift, and their places filled by Barricini's creatures.
The colonel's wife died, and her last wish was that she might be buried in the middle of the little wood in which she had been fond of walking.
Forthwith the mayor declared she should be buried in the village cemetery, because he had no authority to permit burial in any other spot.

The colonel, in a fury, declared that until the permit came, his wife would be interred in the spot she had chosen.