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They had dined and gossiped as only friends of their age can gossip, had relived their adventures of the past three years, and still were loath to part, even for sleep. "How so?" queried Savigno. "You speak of marriage as if it were dissolution." "It might as well be, so far as the other fellow is concerned." "Nonsense! I shall not change." "Oh, yes, you will! Besides, I am returning to America."
"The history of the Savigno affair proves that he keeps his head." "And then," Martini went on; "I do not feel at all inclined, from what little I know of Rivarez, to intrust him with all the party's secrets. He seems to me feather-brained and theatrical. To give the whole management of a party's contraband work into a man's hands is a serious matter. Fabrizi, what do you think?"
You may be sure every smuggler in the Apennines will do for a man who was in the Savigno revolt what he will not do for us. In the next place, there's hardly a man among us that knows the mountains as Rivarez does. Remember, he has been a fugitive among them, and knows the smugglers' paths by heart.
"And yet each day I declare to myself: 'Aliandro, that rascal, is growing younger as the hours go by. It is well we are not rivals in love or I should be forced to hate him!" The old man chuckled and beamed upon Savigno, who proceeded to make Norvin known.
A moment later she left him, but the touch of her cool flesh against his lips remained an unforgetable impression. Savigno appeared, yawning prodigiously. "Dio!" he exclaimed with a grimace. "Those cousins of hers are deadly dull; I do not blame you for escaping. And the judge, and the notary's wife, and that village doctor!
He joined the infamous attempt of Savigno, and the military commission nominated by Monsignor Spinola would certainly have had him shot or sent to the galleys then, had he not succeeded in escaping to Tuscany. Since that time he has never ceased plotting. He is known to be an influential member of one of the most pestilent secret societies in the country.
Then, as the cavalcade paused at length to breathe their mounts, he saw that both men carried rifles. "Why! We look like an American sheriff's posse, Martel," said he. "Do all Sicilian bridegrooms travel with an armed escort?" Savigno showed a trace of hesitation. "The nights are dark; the country is wild." "But, my dear boy, this country is surely old enough to be safe.
It was unkempt also, and showed the lack of a woman's hand. "You exaggerate!" said Savigno. "After Paris the castello will seem very mean. The place has been closed; the old servants have gone; it is dilapidated." "On the contrary, it's just the sort of place it should be venerable and overflowing with romance. You must rule like a medieval baron.
As yet they had not entirely lost their restraint, but Martel went among them with friendly hand-clasps and exuberant greetings, renewing old acquaintances and welcoming new until at last their shyness disappeared and they began to laugh and chatter unaffectedly. Savigno had traveled, he told them. He had arranged many surprises for his friends.
But as fortune continued to run against Maruffi, he began to fear that the time was not favorable. What a picture those laughing, hawk-like men formed, surrounding the black, resentful merchant! Martel Savigno could have drawn a group like that, he mused, for he had a rare appreciation of his own people, no matter what might be said of his talent.
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