"It is my duty to make an inquiry," he said. "Who is this signore?"
Artois explained that he was an intimate friend of the signora and had known her husband before his marriage.
"I have come to hear if you are satisfied, as no doubt you are, Signor Pretore," he said, "that this terrible death was caused by an accident.
The poor signora naturally wishes that this necessary business should be finished as soon as possible. It is unavoidable, I know, but it can only add to her unhappiness. I am sure, signore, that you will do your best to conclude the inquiry without delay. Forgive me for saying this. But I know Sicily, and know that I can always rely on the chivalry of Sicilian gentlemen where an unhappy lady is concerned."
He spoke intentionally with a certain pomp, and held his hat in his hand while he was speaking.
The Pretore looked pleased and flattered.
"Certainly, Signor Barone," he said. "Certainly. We all grieve for the poor signora."
"You will allow me to stay?" said Artois.
"I see no objection," said the Pretore.
He glanced at the Cancelliere, a small, pale man, with restless eyes and a pointed chin that looked like a weapon.
"Niente, niente!" said the Cancelliere, obsequiously.
He was reading Artois with intense sharpness. The Maresciallo, a broad, heavily built man, with an enormous mustache, uttered a deep "Buon giorno, Signor Barone," and stood calmly staring. He looked like a magnificent bull, with his short, strong brown neck, and low-growing hair that seemed to have been freshly crimped. Gaspare stood close to Artois, as if he felt that they were allies and must keep together. Salvatore was a few paces off.
Artois glanced at him now with a carefully concealed curiosity. Instantly the fisherman said:
"Povero signorino! Povero signorino! Mamma mia! and only two days ago we were all at the fair together! And he was so generous, Signor Barone." He moved a little nearer, but Artois saw him glance swiftly at Gaspare, like a man fearful of violence and ready to repel it. "He paid for everything.
We could all keep our soldi in our pockets. And he gave Maddalena a beautiful blue dress, and he gave me a donkey. Dio mio! We have lost a benefactor. If the poor signorino had lived he would have given me a new boat. He had promised me a boat. For he would come fishing with me nearly every day. He was like a compare--"
Salvatore stopped abruptly. His eyes were again on Gaspare.
"And you say," began the Pretore, with a certain heavy pomposity, "that you did not see the signore at all yesterday?"
"No, signore. I suppose he came down after I had started for Messina."
"What did you go to Messina for?"
"Signore, I went to see my nephew, Guido, who is in the hospital. He has--"
"Non fa niente! non fa niente!" interrupted the Cancelliere.
"Non fa niente! What time did you start?" said the Pretore.
The Maresciallo cleared his throat with great elaboration, and spat with power twice.
"Signor Pretore, I do not know. I did not look at the clock. But it was before sunset--it was well before sunset."
"And the signore only came down from the Casa del Prete very late,"
interposed Artois, quietly. "I was there and kept him. It was quite evening before he started."
An expression of surprise went over Salvatore"s face and vanished. He had realized that for some reason this stranger was his ally.
"Had you any reason to suppose the signore was coming to fish with you yesterday?" asked the Pretore of Salvatore.
"No, signore. I thought as the signora was back the poor signore would stay with her at the house."
"Naturally, naturally!" said the Cancelliere.
"Naturally! It seems the signore had several times pa.s.sed across the rocks, from which he appears to have fallen, without any difficulty,"
remarked the Pretore.
"Si, signore," said Gaspare.
He looked at Salvatore, seemed to make a great effort, then added:
"But never when it was dark, signore. And I was always with him. He used to take my hand."
His chest began to heave.
"Corragio, Gaspare!" said Artois to him, in a low voice.
His strong intuition enabled him to understand something of the conflict that was raging in the boy. He had seen his glances at Salvatore, and felt that he was longing to fly at the fisherman, that he only restrained himself with agony from some ferocious violence.
The Pretore remained silent for a moment. It was evident that he was at a loss. He wished to appear acute, but the inquiry yielded nothing for the exercise of his talents.
At last he said:
"Did any one see you going to Messina? Is there any corroboration of your statement that you started before the signore came down here?"
"Do you think I am not speaking the truth, Signor Pretore?" said Salvatore, proudly. "Why should I lie? The poor signore was my benefactor. If I had known he was coming I should have been here to receive him. Why, he has eaten in my house! He has slept in my house. I tell you we were as brothers."
"Si, si," said the Cancelliere.
Gaspare set his teeth, walked away to the edge of the plateau, and stood looking out to sea.
"Then no one saw you?" persisted the Pretore.
"Non lo so," said Salvatore. "I did not think of such things. I wanted to go to Messina, so I sent Maddalena to pa.s.s the night in the village, and I took the boat. What else should I do?"
"Va bene! Va bene!" said the Cancelliere.
The Maresciallo cleared his throat again. That, and the ceremony which invariably followed, were his only contributions to this official proceeding.
The Pretore, receiving no a.s.sistance from his colleagues, seemed doubtful what more to do. It was evident to Artois that he was faintly suspicious, that he was not thoroughly satisfied about the cause of this death.
"Your daughter seems very upset about all this," he said to Salvatore.
"Mamma mia! And how should she not? Why, Signor Pretore, we loved the poor signore. We would have thrown ourselves into the sea for him. When we saw him coming down from the mountain to us it was as if we saw G.o.d coming down from heaven."
"Certo! Certo!" said the Cancelliere.