"I was thinking of something to say, Signor Stefanone. But as for that, who does the business for the convent? They cannot do it themselves, I suppose. Who determines the price of their wine for them? Or the price of their corn?"
"They are not so stupid as you think. Oh, no! They are not stupid, the nuns. They know the price of this, and the cost of that, just as well as you and I do. But Gigetto"s father, Sor Agostino, is their steward, if that is what you wish to know. And his father was before him, and Gigetto will be after him, with his pumpkin-head. And the rest is sung by the organ, as we say when ma.s.s is over. For you know about Gigetto and Annetta."
"Yes. And as you cannot quarrel with Sor Agostino on that account, I do not see but that you will either have to bear it, or sell your wine a farthing cheaper than that of the nuns."
"Eh--that is soon said. A farthing cheaper than theirs! That means half a baiocco cheaper than I sell it now. And the best is only five baiocchi the foglietta, and the cheapest is two and a half. Good bye profit--a pleasant journey to Stefanone. But it is those nuns. They are to blame, and the devil will pay them."
"In that case you need not," observed Dalrymple, rising. "I am going to wash my hands before supper."
"At your pleasure, Signore," answered Stefanone, politely.
As Dalrymple went out, Annetta pa.s.sed him at the door, bringing in plates and napkins, and knives and forks. The girl glanced at his face as he went by.
"Be quick, Signore," she said with a laugh. "The beefsteak of mutton is grilling."
He nodded, and went up the dark stairs, his heavy shoes sending back echoes as he trod. Stefanone still sat at the table, turning the gla.s.s wine measure upside down over his tumbler, to let the last drops run out. He watched them as they fell, one by one, without looking up at his daughter, who began to arrange the plates for Dalrymple"s meal.
"I will teach you to make love with the Englishman," he said slowly, still watching the dropping wine.
"Me!" cried Annetta, with real or feigned astonishment, and she tossed a knife and fork angrily into a plate, with a loud, clattering noise.
"I am speaking with you," answered her father, without raising his eyes.
"Do you know? You will come to a bad end."
"Thank you!" replied the girl, contemptuously. "If you say so, it must be true! Now, who has told you that the Englishman is making love to me?
An apoplexy on him, whoever he may be!"
"Pretty words for a girl! Sor Tommaso told me. A little more, and I would have torn his tongue out. Just then, the Englishman came in. Sor Tommaso got off easily."
The girl"s tone changed very much when she spoke again, and there was a dull and angry light in her eyes. Her long lips were still parted, and showed her gleaming teeth, but the smile was altogether gone.
"Yes. Too easily," she said, almost in a whisper, and there was a low hiss in the words.
"In the meanwhile, it is true--what he said," continued Stefanone. "You make eyes at him. You wait for him and watch for him when he comes back from the mountains--"
"Well? Is it not my place to serve him with his supper? If you are not satisfied, hire a servant to wait on him. You are rich. What do I care for the Englishman? Perhaps it is a pleasure to roast my face over the charcoal, cooking his meat for him. As for Sor Tommaso--"
She stopped short in her speech. Her father knew what the tone meant, and looked up for the first time.
"O-e!" he exclaimed, as one suddenly aware of a danger, and warning some one else.
"Nothing," answered Annetta, looking down and arranging the knives and forks symmetrically on the clean cloth she had laid.
"I might have killed him just now in hot blood, when the Englishman came in," said Stefanone, reflectively. "But now my blood has grown cold. I shall do nothing to him."
"So much the better for him." She still spoke in a low voice, as she turned away from the table.
"But I will kill you," said Stefanone, "if I see you making eyes at the Englishman."
He rose, and taking up his hat, which lay beside him, he edged his way out along the wooden bench, moving cautiously lest he should shake the table and upset the lamp or the bottles. Annetta had turned again, at the threat he had uttered, and stood still, waiting for him to get out into the room, her hands on her hips, and her eyes on fire.
"You will kill me?" she asked, just as he was opposite to her.
"Well--kill me, then! Here I am. What are you waiting for? For the Englishman to interfere? He is washing his hands. He always takes a long time."
"Then it is true that you have fallen in love with him?" asked Stefanone, his anger returning.
"Him, or another. What does it matter to you? You remind me of the old woman who beat her cat, and then cried when it ran away. If you want me to stay at home, you had better find me a husband."
"Do you want anything better than Gigetto? Apoplexy! But you have ideas!"
"You are making a good business of it with Gigetto, in truth!" cried the girl, scornfully. "He eats, he drinks, and then he sings. But he does not marry. He will not even make love to me--not even with an eye. And then, because I love the Englishman, who is a great lord, though he says he is a doctor, I must die. Well, kill me!" She stared insolently at her father for a moment. "Oh, well," she added scornfully, "if you have not time now, it must be for to-morrow. I am busy."
She turned on her heel with a disdainful fling of her short, dark skirt.
Stefanone was exasperated, and his anger had returned. Before she was out of reach, he struck her with his open hand. Instead of striking her cheek, the blow fell upon the back of her head and neck, and sent her stumbling forwards. She caught the back of a chair, steadied herself, and turned again instantly, at her full height, not deigning to raise her hand to the place that hurt her.
"Coward!" she exclaimed. "But I will pay you--and Sor Tommaso--for that blow."
"Whenever you like," answered her father gruffly, but already sorry for what he had done.
He turned his back, and went out into the night. It was now almost quite dark, and Annetta stood still by the chair, listening to his retreating footsteps. Then she slowly turned and gazed at the flaring wicks of the lamp. With a gesture that suggested the movement of a young animal, she rubbed the back of her neck with one hand and leisurely turned her head first to one side and then to the other. Her brown skin was unusually pale, but there was no moisture in her eyes as she stared at the lamp.
"But I will pay you, Sor Tommaso," she said thoughtfully and softly.
Then turning her eyes from the lamp at last, she took up one of the knives from the table, looked at it, felt the edge, and laid it down contemptuously. In those days all the respectable peasants in the Roman villages had solid silver forks and spoons, which have long since gone to the melting-pot to pay taxes. But they used the same blunt, pointless knives with wooden handles, which they use to-day.
Annetta started, as she heard Dalrymple"s tread upon the stone steps of the staircase, but she recovered herself instantly, gave a finishing touch to the table, rubbed the back of her head quickly once more, and met him with a smile.
"Is the beefsteak of mutton ready?" inquired the Scotchman, cheerfully, with his extraordinary accent.
Annetta ran past him, and returned almost before he was seated, bringing the food. The girl sat down at the end of the table, opposite the street door, and watched him as he swallowed one mouthful of meat after another, now and then stopping to drink a tumbler of wine at a draught.
"You must be very strong, Signore," said Annetta, at last, her chin resting on her doubled hand.
"Why?" inquired Dalrymple, carelessly, between two mouthfuls.
"Because you eat so much. It must be a fine thing to eat so much meat.
We eat very little of it."
"Why?" asked the Scotchman, again between his mouthfuls.
"Oh, who knows? It costs much. That must be the reason. Besides, it does not go down. I should not care for it."
"It is a habit." Dalrymple drank. "In my country most of the people eat oats," he said, as he set down his gla.s.s.
"Oats!" laughed the girl. "Like horses! But horses will eat meat, too, like you. As for me--good bread, fresh cheese, a little salad, a drink of wine and water--that is enough."
"Like the nuns," observed Dalrymple, attacking the ham of the "Grape-eater."
"Oh, the nuns! They live on boiled cabbage! You can smell it a mile away. But they make good cakes."