Now that the husband was home again, Turridu no longer wasted his days in the little street, but drowned his sorrow at the tavern with his friends; and on Easter eve they had on the table a big dish of sausage. When Master Alfio came in, just from the way he fastened his eyes upon him, Turridu understood what business he had come on, and laid his fork down upon his plate.
“How can I serve you, friend Alfio?” he asked.
“Nothing important; friend Turridu, it is some time since I have seen you, and I wanted to talk with you of the matter that you know about.”
Turridu had at once offered him a glass, but Alfio put it aside with his hand. Then Turridu arose and said to him: “Here I am, friend Alfio.”
The carter threw an arm around his neck.
“If you will come to-morrow morning down among the prickly pears of Canziria, we can talk of this affair, friend Turridu.”
“Wait for me on the highroad at sunrise, and we will go together.”
Solemnly bound
With these words they exchanged the kiss of challenge. Turridu seized the carters ear between his teeth, and thus solemnly bound himself not to fail him.
The friends had all silently withdrawn from the dish of sausage, and accompanied Turridu all the way to his home. Mistress Nunzia, poor woman, was accustomed to wait for him late every night.
“Mother,” said Turridu, “do you remember when I went away to be a soldier, and you thought that I was never coming back! Give me a kiss, such as you gave me then, for to-morrow I am going on a long journey!”
Before daybreak he took his clasp-knife, which he had hidden under the straw at the time he went away as a conscript, and started with it for the prickly pears of Canziria. “Holy Mother, where are you going in such a rage?” sobbed Lola in terror as her husband started to leave the house.
“I am not going far,” anwered Alfio, “but it will be far better for you if I never come back.”
Lola, in her night-gown, prayed at the foot of her bed, and pressed to her lips the rosary which Fra Bernardino had brought her from the Holy Land, and recited all the Ave Marias that there were beads for.
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