'There are no hindrances in the way of bones; it is simple and certainly
fatal.'
'Yes,' said Checco, 'but not immediately! My impression is that the best
way is between the shoulders. Then you strike from the back, and your
victim can see no uplifted hand to warn him, and, if he is very quick,
enable him to ward the blow.'
'It is largely a matter of taste,' I answered, shrugging my shoulders.
'In these things a man has to judge for himself according to his own
idiosyncrasies.'
After a little more conversation I proposed to Matteo that we should go
out to the market-place and see the people.
'Yes, do!' said Checco, 'and I will go and see my father.'
As we walked along, Matteo told me that Checco had tried to persuade his
father to go away for a while, but that he had refused, as also had his
wife. I had seen old Orso d'Orsi once or twice; he was very weak and
decrepit; he never came downstairs, but stayed in his own rooms all day
by the fireside, playing with his grand-children. Checco was in the
habit of going to see him every day, morning and evening, but to the
rest of us it was as if he did not exist. Checco was complete master of
everything.
The market-place was full of people. Booths were erected in rows, and on
the tables the peasant women had displayed their wares: vegetables and
flowers, chickens, ducks and all kinds of domestic fowls, milk, butter,
eggs; and other booths with meat and oil and candles. And the sellers
were a joyful crew, decked out with red and yellow handkerchiefs, great
chains of gold around their necks, and spotless headdresses; they were
standing behind their tables, with a scale on one hand and a little
basin full of coppers on the other, crying out to one another,
bargaining, shouting and joking, laughing, quarrelling. Then there were
the purchasers, who walked along looking at the goods, picking up
things and pinching them, smelling them, tasting them, examining them
from every point of view. And the sellers of tokens and amulets and
charms passed through the crowd crying out their wares, elbowing,
cursing when someone knocked against them. Gliding in and out, between
people's legs, under the barrow wheels, behind the booths, were
countless urchins, chasing one another through the crowd unmindful of
kicks and cuffs, pouncing on any booth of which the proprietor had
turned his back, seizing the first thing they could lay hands on, and
scampering off with all their might. And there was a conjurer with a
gaping crowd, a quack extracting teeth, a ballad singer. Everywhere was
noise, and bustle, and life.
'One would not say on the first glance that these people were miserably
oppressed slaves,' I said maliciously.
'You must look beneath the surface,' replied Matteo, who had begun to
take a very serious view of things in general. I used to tell him that
he would have a call some day and end up as a shaven monk.
'Let us amuse ourselves,' I said, taking Matteo by the arm, and dragging
him along in search of prey. We fixed on a seller of cheap jewellery--a
huge woman, with a treble chin and a red face dripping with
perspiration. We felt quite sorry for her, and went to console her.
'It is a very cold day,' I remarked to her, whereupon she bulged out her
cheeks and blew a blast that nearly carried me away.
She took up a necklace of beads and offered it to Matteo for his lady
love. We began to bargain, offering her just a little lower than she
asked, and then, as she showed signs of coming down, made her a final
offer a little lower still. At last she seized a broom and attacked us,
so that we had to fly precipitately.
I had never felt in such high spirits. I offered to race Matteo in every
way he liked--riding, running and walking--but he refused, brutally
telling me that I was frivolous. Then we went home. I found that Checco
had just been hearing mass, and he was as solemn and silent as a
hangman. I went about lamenting that I could get no one to talk to me,
and at last took refuge with the children, who permitted me to join in
their games, so that, at 'hide-and-seek' and 'blind man's buff,' I
thoroughly amused myself till dinner-time. We ate together, and I tried
not to be silenced, talking the greatest nonsense I could think of; but
the others sat like owls and did not listen, so that I too began to feel
depressed....
The frowns of the others infected me, and the dark pictures that were
before their eyes appeared to mine; my words failed me and we all three
sat gloomily. I had started with an excellent appetite, but again the
others influenced me, and I could not eat. We toyed with our food,
wishing the dinner over. I moved about restlessly, but Checco was quite
still, leaning his face on his hand, occasionally raising his eyes and
fixing them on Matteo or me. One of the servants dropped some plates; we
all started at the sound, and Checco uttered an oath; I had never heard
him swear before. He was so pale I wondered if he were nervous. I asked
the time: still two hours before we could start. How long would they
take to pass! I had been longing to finish dinner, so that I might get
up and go away. I felt an urgent need for walking, but when the meal was
over a heaviness came to my legs and I could do nothing but sit and look
at the other two. Matteo filled his tankard and emptied it several
times, but after awhile, as he reached over for the wine, he saw
Checco's eyes fixed on the flagon, with a frown on his forehead, and the
curious raising of one corner of the mouth, which was a sign he was
displeased. Matteo withdrew his hand and pushed his mug away; it rolled
over and fell on the floor. We heard the church bell strike the hour; it
was three o'clock. Would it never be time! We sat on and on. At last
Checco rose and began walking up and down the room. He called for his
children. They came, and he began talking to them in a husky voice, so
that they could scarcely understand him. Then, as if frightened of
himself, he took them in his arms, one after the other, and kissed them
convulsively, passionately, as one kisses a woman; and he told them to
go. He stifled a sob. We sat on and on. I counted the minutes. I had
never lived so long before. It was awful....
At last!
It was half-past three; we got up and took our hats.
'Now, my friends!' said Checco, drawing a breath of relief, 'our worst
troubles are over.'
We followed him out of the house. I noticed the jewelled hilt of his
dagger, and every now and then I saw him put his hand to it to see that
it was really there. We passed along the streets, saluted by the
people. A beggar stopped us, and Checco threw him a piece of gold.
'God bless you!' said the man.
And Checco thanked him fervently.
We walked along the narrow streets in the shade, but as we turned a
corner the sun came full on our faces. Checco stopped a moment and
opened his arms, as if to receive the sunbeams in his embrace, and,
turning to us, with a smile, he said,--
'A good omen!'
A few more steps brought us to the piazza.