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"That was coming to us with Peppina, do you mean?" "I don't know, Madre." "Are you thinking of Giulia's foolish words about the evil eye?" "No. It's all vague, Madre. But Peppina's cross sometimes seems to me to be a sign, a warning come into the house. When I see it it seems to say there is a cross to be borne by some one here, by one of us." "How imaginative you are, Vere!" "So are you, Madre!
"Give him all you like," said Artois, with warmth. "You will never repent of that. Was he angry when you told him?" "I think he was." "Why?" "I heard him saying 'Testa della Madonna! as he was leaving me." Artois could not help smiling. "And Vere?" he said, looking directly at her. "I have not told Vere anything about Peppina's past," Hermione said, rather hastily. "I do not intend to.
Vere had said something what was it? about Peppina and her cross. Oh yes! That Peppina's cross seemed like a sign, a warning come into the house on the island, that it seemed to say, "There is a cross to be borne by some one here, by one of us!" And the fishermen's sign of the cross under the light of San Francesco? Surely there had been many warnings in her life.
On consideration, Artois had decided against the Galleria. He had thought of those who wander there, of Peppina's aunt, of certain others. And then he had thought of Vere. And his decision was quickly taken. When the Marchesino arrived, Artois was alone in his sitting-room.
"It is strange," Vere continued, in a quieter tone; "but sometimes I feel as if on the night of the storm I had had a sort of consciousness of her coming as if, when I saw the Saint's light shining, and bent down to the water and made the sign of the Cross, I already knew something of Peppina's wound, as if I made the sign to protect our Casa del Mare, to ward off something evil."
Terrible old woman! Peppina's aunt might well be like that. And Peppina would sleep, perhaps to-night, in the Casa del Mare, under the same roof as Vere. He resolved to go that evening to the island, to see Peppina, to see Vere. He wished, too, to have a little talk with Gaspare about Ruffo. The watch-dog instinct, which dwelt also in Gaspare, was alive in him.
He said nothing, and she went on rather hastily, as if wishing to cover her last words. "Ruffo told me something that I did not know about Peppina. His step-father was the man who cut that cross on Peppina's face." "Perdio!" said Artois. He used the Italian exclamation at that moment quite naturally.
In the gleam the black figure of Andrea was visible stooping to the water. He was making the fishermen's sign of the Cross. The cross on Peppina's face was it an enemy of the Cross that carried with it San Francesco's blessing? Vere's imagination! She turned to go up to the house. "Is the Signorina in bed yet, Gaspare?" "No, Signora." "Where is she? Still out?" "Si, Signora."
The nails driven through the green lemon like nails driven through a cross Peppina the cross cut on Peppina's cheek. That broad-shouldered man who had come in at the door had cut that cross on Peppina's cheek. Was it true that Peppina had the evil eye? Had it been a fatal day for the Casa del Mare when she had been allowed to cross its threshold?
He looked into her face and saw at once that he had made a false step, that Vere had not told her mother of Peppina's outburst. "Didn't I what?" He still looked at her. "What?" she repeated. "What has Peppina to do with it?" "Nothing. Only don't you remember what you said to me about not keeping Vere in cotton-wool?" She knew that he was deceiving her.
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