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"Welcome," answered Paoluccio, with his mouth, full. Regina took the fourth bowl and a piece of bread and went out. The steps to the upper part of the house were on the outside, as is common in the houses of the Campagna. "How old is she?" Paoluccio asked when she was gone. "She must be twenty," answered Nanna. "It must be ten years since her mother died, and her mother said she was ten years old.
"A man who has the fever may die of eating beans," said Nanna thoughtfully. "This is also to be considered." "It is true." Paoluccio looked at his wife in silence for a moment. "But a person who is dead must be buried," he continued, as if he had discovered something. "When a person is dead, he is dead, whether he dies of eating beans or "
She might refuse to go, but they were strong people and would be two to one. Brave as Regina was, she did not dare to wait for the carabineers when they came by on their beat and to tell them the truth, for she had the Italian peasant's horror and dread of the law and its visible authority; and moreover she was quite sure that Paoluccio would murder her if she told the secret.
He was easily persuaded that he had slept too long, and must be on the road. The innkeeper and Nanna grumbled a good-night as he went out rather unsteadily, followed by Regina. A moment later the mules' bells jingled, the cart creaked, and Mommo was off. Paoluccio and his wife made their way to the outer stairs and to bed, leaving Regina to put out the lights and lock up the kitchen.
Regina's dark eyes lightened; her upper lip rose in a curve and showed her closed teeth, strong and white as those of a young animal. "Do as you are told," added Paoluccio. "This is charity. When you examine your conscience at Easter you can say, 'I have fed the hungry and cared for the sick. The beans are mine, of course, but that makes no difference. I make you a present of them." "Thank you!"
Nanna thought Paoluccio much too fond of watching her, as it was, and reflected that if she went to the city she would be well out of the way, and might go to the devil if she pleased. Regina's plan for taking Marcello was simple, like most plans which succeed, and only depended for its success on being carried out fearlessly.
And since it happens that you are in the service of the young gentleman himself, I hope you will tell him that if he fancies he was in my house, he is mistaken." "Surely," said Ercole. "Besides," exclaimed Paoluccio, "how could he know where he was? Are not all inns on these roads alike? He was in another, that is all. And what had I to do with that?" "Nothing," assented Ercole.
I shall take it to him myself, for it will be a pleasure to see him eat." "The beans were soon finished," said Regina, with perfect truth. "I told you how it would be," Paoluccio answered.
"I am a keeper and watchman on the lands of Signor Corbario." Paoluccio took his pipe from his mouth and nodded twice. "That is a very rich gentleman, I have heard," he observed. "He owns much land." "It all belongs to his stepson, now that the young gentleman is of age," Ercole answered. "But as it was his mother's, and she married Signor Corbario, we have the habit of the name."
If she could bring Marcello to them, he would get well; if he stayed much longer at the inn, Paoluccio would kill him; being a woman, and a loving one, Regina only regarded as possible what she wished, where the man she loved was concerned. She made up her mind that if it could not be done by any other means she would carry Marcello all the way.
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