Читать книгу Reeds in the Wind - Gracia Deledda - Страница 4

At dawn he set out and left the young fellow to guard the estate.

The road went steadily uphill to the village, and he walked slowly along on her, because he had had malaria last year and had a great weakness in his legs. Every now and then he stopped and looked back at the manor, which lay bright green between the two fig hedges; and the hut up there, nestling black between the blue-green of the reeds and the white of the rock, seemed to him like a nest - a real bird's nest. Each M al when he left, he looked at her so tenderly half and half sad, just like a bird that pulls into the distance. It was almost as if he were leaving his better self there, the strength that loneliness, remoteness from the world gives; and as he climbed the road, through the blooming heather, past the rushes and the low alder scrub by the river , he felt like a pilgrim walking to a place with a small sack of hair on his shoulder and an elder stick in hand Striving towards repentance: the world.

But the will of the Lord be done forever! And suddenly the valley opened before his eyes, and the old castle ruins appeared on the top of a hill as if on a huge heap of rubble . From a black wall, a blue, empty window looks down like the eye of the past on the melancholy, reddish landscape glowing red in the glow of the rising sun, on the gently undulating, gray and yellow speckled plain, on the silver-green ribbon of the river, on the white Village, the long rolling heights and the blue-gold cloud of the Nuoreser Mountains in the distance.

Small and black, Efix steps into the radiant light. The oblique rays of the sun flood brilliantly over the land; every rush carries a silver thread, a bird's call rises from every milkweed bush; and there the green and white spotted cone of the Galteberg, furrowed by shadows and sunbeams, beckons, and at its foot rests the little village that seems to consist only of rubble: the remains of the old Roman city.

Long broken walls, collapsed houses without a roof, crumbling courtyards and overgrown gardens, huts that are still in good condition, but which seem almost sadder than all the rubble, line the steep streets paved in the middle with mighty sandstone blocks; Lumps of lava lie around, giving the impression that an earthquake has destroyed the old city and scattered the inhabitants to the wind; here and there a new house appears almost shyly in the desolate wasteland, and pomegranate and carob trees, a number of fig bushes and palm trees give the sad place a friendlier character.

But the higher Efix climbed, the more desolate and deserted it became around him, and to make matters worse, the remains of an old churchyard and the crumbling basilica loomed gloomily at the roadside, in the shadow of the mountain, between the dense brambles and milkweed to the sky. The roads were deserted, and the rocks on the hilltop shimmered like mortuary stones into the land.

Efix made in front of a large, to the old cemetery bordering gate stop. The two gates were almost the same; three weathered, grass-covered steps led up to them. But while the gate of the old churchyard was only covered by worm-eaten entablature, a stone arch arched over that of the Pintor ladies, and on the pillar a faded coat of arms was indicated: a knight's head with a helmet and an arm armed with a sword. The motto below was: Quis resistit hujas?

Efix strode through the wide, square courtyard, through which a wide gutter, like the pavement of sandstone blocks, ran, took the sack from his shoulders and looked around to see if one of his mistresses was in sight. The one-story house rose at the end of the courtyard, under the shelter of the mountain, which seemed to rest on him like a huge white and green piebald hood.

Three small doors yawned under a wooden veranda that ran around the whole house and to which a rotten staircase led up outside. A blackish rope knotted around the nails rammed into the bottom and top steps replaced the broken railing. The porch doors, pillars, and railings were neatly carved, but everything was in danger of collapsing, and it looked as if the black, weathered, worm-eaten wood would crumble to dust at the slightest breath of air .

A small, stout woman in black, with a white cloth around her dark, angular face, stepped out onto the veranda; she leaned over the railing,caught sight of the servant, and her black, almond-shaped eyes lit up with joy.

“Ah - Miss Ruth! Good morning, mistress! "

Fraulein Ruth came down the stairs briskly, with thick legs in dark blue stockings. She gave him a friendly smile and showed her snow-white teeth under her lip, which was shaded by a delicate fuzz.

'And Miss Esther? And Miss Noemi? "

“Esther went to mass, Noemi is getting up. Wonderful weather, Efix! And what about the estate ? «

“Good, good - thank God, very good . «

The kitchen also had a medieval touch: large, low, with a soot-blackened beam ceiling. A carved wooden bench ran along the wall on either side of the huge hearth; the green hilltop looked in through the grille of the window. On the bare, reddish-gray walls, the traces of the copper pans, which had gradually disappeared, could still be seen; and the rusted nails from which the saddles, armor and weapons once hung remained there as if to remember.

“Well, Miss Ruth ? " Asked Efix, while the mistress placed a small copper coffee pot on the fire. But she only turned her broad, dark, white-framed face towards him and blinked to indicate that he should be patient for a while.

"Get me a bucket of water until Noemi comes down!"

Efix took the bucket out from under the bench and opened it closed the door, but once more looked around shyly and inquiringly on the threshold and considered the swaying bucket thoughtfully.

'I suppose the letter was from Don Giacinto ? «

"The letter? It's a telegram ... "

“Merciful God! Hasn't it happened to him ? «

“No, nothing at all. Go now ... "

There was no point in asking any more questions before Miss Noemi came down; for although Fraulein Ruth was the eldest of the three sisters and kept the house keys - there wasn't much to keep safe any more - she never did anything of her own free will and rejected all responsibility.

He went towards the fountain, which looked like a gigantic megalithic grave raised in a corner of the courtyard and was bordered by mighty sandstone blocks on which gold lacquer and jasmine bloomed in old, broken pots. A branch of jasmine climbed the wall and peered over it, as if to see what was out there in the world.

How many memories aroused this gloomy, moss-covered corner with the light brown of the gold lacquer and the delicate green of the jasmine in the heart of the servant!

He thought he saw Miss Lia standing pale and thin as a rush on the veranda again, her eyes fixed in the distance, as if she too wanted to fathom what was out there in the world. He had her up there on the day of the escape, toosee standing motionless like a ferryman peering into the mysterious depths of the water .

How hard these memories are! As heavy as the full bucket of water that pulls down into the black well shaft.

But when Efix looked up again, he saw that the tall, slender woman who stepped lightly onto the balcony and hooked the cuffs of her black, finely pleated bodice was not Lia.

“Ah - Miss Noemi! Good day, mistress! Aren't you coming down ? «

With black, golden hair, which wrapped itself in two broad braids around her pale face, she leaned over the railing, thanked him with a fleeting glance from her black eyes, which were also golden under her long lashes, for his greeting, but spoke not a word and did not come down either.

She opened doors and windows - today was not a danger that a gust of wind slam and smash the windows, by the way, were missing for many years - and spread carefully a yellow blanket in the sun.

“Aren't you coming down, Miss Noemi ? " Repeated Efix, who was still at her up saw .

“Yes, yes, soon. «

But again she carefully smoothed the blanket and seemed to be gazing pensively at the landscape on the right and on the left, which lay spread out in wistful beauty before her: on the wide sand plain, broken by the glittering ribbon of the river, by rows of poplar trees, from low alders and reeds and milkweed to the gloomy basilica in the middle of the brambles, to the old churchyard, where the bones of the dead shimmered like white marguerites between the bright green of the overgrown grass, and to the defiant castle ruins on the hill in the distance .

The past still loomed over the area. But Noemi was not saddened by this; from early childhood she had been used to seeing the bones of the dead pale over there, which seemed to freeze in winter in the pale sun and on which dew glinted in spring. Nobody thought of taking them away; so why should she have thought about it?

Miss Esther, however, who comes slowly and withdrawn from the new church in the village, crosses herself when she comes to the old cemetery and says a prayer for the dead souls.

Esther never forgets anything and has an eye for everything. And so she notices, as she now enters the courtyard, that someone has drawn water from the well, and puts the bucket in its place; then she removes a stone from the gold lacquer pot, goes into the kitchen, greets Efix and asks him whether he has already got his coffee.

"Yes, yes - for a long time, mistress."

Meanwhile Noemi had come down with the telegram in hand. But she didn't make up her mind to read it out; it gave her almost a secret pleasure in teasing the servant's anxious curiosity about the torture.

"Esther," she said, and sat down on the bench by the stove, "why don't you take off your cloth?"

“This morning there is mass in the basilica, I'll be going again. So read aloud! "

Esther also sat on the bench, and Miss Ruth followed her example. And when the three sisters sat next to each other they looked strangely alike; only that they embodied three different ages: Noemi the youth, Esther the maturity and Ruth the old age - a sprightly, tranquil and cheerful age.

The servant had stepped before them and was waiting; but after Miss Noemi had unfolded the yellow paper, she stared at it, as if she could not decipher the words on it, and finally shook it angrily in her hand.

“Well, he telegraphed that he'll be here in a few days. That's all."

She raised her eyes and blushed when her stern gaze fell on Efix's face; the other two looked at him too.

"Do you understand? Just as if he were at home here. "

"What do you think of that?" Asked Miss Esther, pointing a finger through the crack in the cloth.

Efix shone all over the face; the many tiny wrinkles around his vivid, flashing eyes looked like rays, and he tried not to hide his joy.

"I'm just a poor servant, but I tell myself Heaven knows what he's doing."

"Thank God, finally a sensible word," said Miss Esther.

But Noemi was pale as death again. Indignant words surged from her lips, and although she knew how to control herself as always before the servant - she did not give much thought to his opinion - she replied:

“Heaven has nothing to do with that, and that is not what it is about. It is, "she added after a moment's hesitation," yes, it is a question of answering him succinctly that there is no room for him in our house. "

Then Efix spread his arms and bent his head back a little as if to say: Well, why are you asking me for advice then?

But Esther gave a sharp laugh, got up and angrily turned back the black corners of her handkerchief. “Then who should he go to? Perhaps to the pastor, like the strangers who cannot find shelter? "

"I would rather not answer him at all," suggested Miss Ruth, and took the telegram from Noemi's hand, which she was restlessly unfolding and folding over and over again . “If he comes anyway, that's fine. Then we can take him in like any stranger. Come in , bring good luck! ”She added, as if to greet a guest entering the door. "And when he's not doing well, it's still time to say a word."

But Esther smiled at her sister, who was the shyest and most indecisive of the three, leaned over to her and put her hand on her knees: “To chase him away, do you mean? Excellent, dear sister! And will you have the heart for it, Ruth? "

Efix thought about it. Suddenly he raised his head and put a pleading hand on his chest.

"I'll take care of that," he promised solemnly.

Then his eyes met Noemi's, and he, who was always afraid of these bright, cold, deep eyes, understood that the young mistress was taking his promise seriously.

But he didn't regret it. He had already taken on completely different responsibilities in his life.

He stayed in the village all day.

It is true that he was restless about the estate - although there was little to stand there at this time of year - but it seemed to him that a secret conflict was troubling his mistresses, and he did not intend to leave until he saw them unanimously.

Miss Esther tidied up the kitchen and then left to go to the basilica. Efix promised to comply soon; but when Fraulein Noemi went upstairs, he went back into the kitchen and quietly asked Fraulein Ruth, who was kneeling on the floor and kneading some dough on a low stool, for the telegram. She raised her head and pushed the cloth from her forehead with her flour-dusted fist.

"Did you hear?" She alluded to Noemi. “She always stays the same! They are dominated by pride ... "

"Right," affirmed Efix pensively. “Who noblesWhat is in blood, it will remain so, Miss Ruth. They find an old coin on the floor, at first they think it is made of iron because it has turned black; but then rub it bare and you will see that it is made of pure gold ... Gold remains gold ... "

Ruth realized that she did not need to excuse Noemi's reprehensible pride in front of Efix, and since she always readily agreed to the opinions of the others, her face brightened up again.

"Do you remember how proud my father was?" She said, and thrust her red, blue-veined hands back into the pale dough. “He spoke just like that. Surely he wouldn't even have allowed Giacinto to go ashore. What do you mean, Efix? "

"I? Well, I'm just a poor servant, but I think Don Giacinto would have gone ashore anyway. "

"You mean he's his mother's son," sighed Ruth, and the servant sighed softly too. Over and over again the shadow of the past enveloped her.

But the old man made a defensive gesture, as if to scare away this shadow, and while he watched with attentive eyes the movements of the red hands that were kneading, kneading and beating the white dough, he continued calmly:

“He's a good boy, and Heaven will help him. But you have to make sure that he doesn't get malaria. You should also buy a horse for him because the people there - on the mainlandare not used to walking. But let that be my concern. The most important thing is that the mistresses agree among themselves. "

“And aren't we? Did you hear us arguing? Wouldn't you prefer to go to mass now, Efix? "

Then he realized that she was saying goodbye to him and went into the courtyard. But he looked around to see if he could speak to Fraulein Noemi right away. Ah - there she's standing on the porch, pulling the covers in. Asking her down is probably pointless; no, he has to go up to her himself.

“Fraulein Noemi, may I ask you something? Are you really happy? "

Amazed, with the blanket under his arm, Noemi looked at him.

"About what?"

“Well, that Don Giacinto is coming. You'll see he's a good boy. "

"So? Where did you meet him? "

“You can tell from his letters. He'll definitely make a difference . You have to buy him a horse ... "

"And the spurs too, of course ..."

“The main thing is that the mistresses agree among themselves. Yes, that's the most important thing. "

She plucked a fiber from the ceiling and threw it into the courtyard; her face had darkened.

“When did we not agree? I think so far always. "

"Yes - but - it seems to me that you are not looking forward to Don Giacinto's arrival."

“Should I sing a song of joy? He's not a Messiah, ”she said, and disappeared into the door, through which one looked into a bright room with an old bed, an old clothes locker and a windowless window that looked out onto the green hillside.

Efix went down the stairs, plucked a little reddish gold lacquer blossom, held it between his hands folded behind his back, and went to the basilica.

The stillness and coolness of the towering mountain lay over all things. Only the chirping of thrushes in the blackberry bushes animated the area and mixed with the monotonous prayers of the women in the church. Efix came in on tiptoe, gold lacquer blossom in hand, and knelt behind the pulpit.

The basilica fell into disrepair from year to year; everything there was gray with damp and mold. Through the cracks in the wooden roof, the inclined rays of the sun shimmered silvery over the heads of the kneeling women, and the figures of saints, which stood out brownish against the black, cracked background of the pictures still adorning the walls, looked like these black and blue clad female figures, all of whom were pale yellowish faces had a sunken chest and a heavy body that was swollen from malaria. Her prayer, too, had a heavy, monotonous sound, as if from a great distance, as if from someone long lostSeemed to tremble over time . Now the priest in the black, white decorated choir robe turned slowly with his hands raised; a bundle of rays played around his pale head like that of a prophet. And if the little sacristan hadn't waved the silver, light-toned bell in the air now and then, as if to banish the ghost all around, Efix would have believed, despite the dazzling flood of light, despite the twittering of the birds, that he was attending a ghost mass. They are all still there, just as they were before: Don Zame, kneeling in his prayer chair, and a little to one side Fraulein Lia, who looks so pale in her black cloth, almost like the figure in the old painting over there, to which women occasionally to look up. It is the picture of the penitent Magdalena, which is supposed to be painted according to reality. Love and sadness, hope and repentance laugh and cry from their unfathomable eyes, play for their wicked mouth.

Suddenly the singing of the women stopped and some of them prepared to leave. Efix, who had leaned his head against the pillar of the pulpit the whole time, was startled from his dreams and followed Miss Esther, who was going home, outside.

The sun, which was already high in the sky, glowed down on the village, which lay more deserted than ever in the blinding light of the hot midday. The women pouring out of the church disappeared here and there, as silently as ghosts, and again deep solitude and silence enveloped the house of the Pintor ladies. Fraulein Esther went to the fountain to protect a little carnation plant with a small board from the sunThen hurried up the stairs and shut the doors and windows. The porch floor creaked under their steps, and gray dust trickled down like ash from the wall and rotten wood.

Efix waited for her to come back down. Sitting on the steps in the sun, his cap pulled low over his forehead to shade his face a little, he carved a stake with his penknife that Miss Ruth wanted to put up in front of the entrance. But the blade, flashing in the sunlight, blinded his eyes, and the faded gold lacquer blossom trembled on his knees. He felt his thoughts circling confusedly and thought of the common fever that had hit him badly the previous year.

Should I have it on my neck again?

Then Fraulein Esther came down again with a flower pot in her hand; he moved aside to let her pass and lifted his cap-shaded face.

"You're not going away, are you, mistress?"

“Where should I go at this time? Nobody invited me to lunch. "

“I would like to tell you something. Are you really happy? "

"About what, my dear?"

She was like a mother to him, but quite proud; she had only ever seen the servant in him.

"Well - well, that her sisters both agree to Don Giacinto coming here."

“Of course I'm happy. It had to happen that way. "

"He is a good boy. He will surely make his fortune. One should buy him a horse. But ... "

"But?"

“But you can't give him too much freedom from the start . The young people are all the same. I still remember: when someone gave me their little finger in my youth, I immediately took the whole hand. And then - you know, Miss Esther - the Pintors are an imperious family ... "

“When my nephew comes, Efix, I'll say to him as if to a guest: Sit down and pretend you're at home . Even so, he'll notice that he's just a guest. «

Efix got up and shook the shavings of the stake from his sleeves. Everything was going well, and yet he felt uneasy; he had something else on his mind, but didn't dare speak.

Slowly he followed the mistress, took off his cap in order to be able to drive the stake in better, and again waited patiently until Miss Esther came back to draw water from the well.

"Come on, give it to me!" He said, and took the bucket from her; and while he was scooping up the water, he looked steadfastly into the well so as not to have to look his mistress in the face; for he was ashamed to ask for the wages she still owed him.

“Tell me, Miss Esther - I don't see the bundles of reeds any more. Did you sell them? "

“Yes, I sold some of it to a dealer in Nuoro. We used the rest to repair the roof, and also to pay for theMason. You know, the storm stole the clapboard on the last day of Lent. "

And so he didn't press her any further. There are so many ways you can put things in order without hurting the people you love. So he went to the usury Kallina and on the way greeted the grandmother of the young lad who had stayed behind to guard the small estate. Tall and thin, with a withered face framed by a black cloth, the old woman sat on the steps in front of her weathered little house, knitting. A coral necklace hung from her long, yellow, wrinkled neck, two gold earrings glittered like shining drops of water on her ears, and it almost seemed as if she had completely forgotten to take off these jewelry from her girlhood as she grew older.

“Greetings from God, Auntie Pottoi! How are we The boy stayed on the estate, but is coming back tonight. "

“Ah - it's you , Efix! The Lord be with you. Well, who was the letter from? From young Mr. Giacinto? Receive him well when he comes. After all, he returns home to his fathers' house, is Don Zame's soul, because the souls of the old live on in the young. Just look at Grixenda, my granddaughter! She was born sixteen years ago, on Ascension Day, while her mother died. Well, look at her, isn't it like the mother's face? There she's just coming ... "

And rightly Grixenda comes up there from the river ,with a laundry basket on his head: tall, slender, the skirt pulled up over the shimmering legs, which are narrow and straight as a deer. And from a deer, she also has the oblong eyes, which gleam moistly in the pale, even face . A red ribbon presses the delicate bosom under the bodice cut out over the shirt.

"Hey - look at it, my dear Efix!" She cried, friendly and rough at the same time, put the basket on his head and rummaged through his pockets. “Oh - how nasty! I think about you all day and you haven't brought me anything - not even an almond. "

Efix let her go and enjoyed her grace. But the old woman with the rigid face and the glass eyes said gently:

"The good Don Zame blissfully returns."

Suddenly Grixenda froze, and her pretty face and beautiful eyes were now almost like those of her grandmother.

"Don Zame returns?"

"Oh, enough with this nonsense," said Efix, and put the basket at the girl's feet; but this one listened as if spellbound to the words of the ancients, and he too believed, as he walked further down the street, to see the past looming from every corner of the wall. Back there on the stone bench in front of Milese's gray house sits a fat man in a velvet jacket, the light brown of which clearly highlights the red face and black beard.

Isn't that Don Zame? How he throws himself in his chest, thumbs in his vest pockets, the othersred fingers cramped around the gold watch chain! He sits there all day to watch and mock passers-by. For fear of his evil tongue, some people take a different path, including Efix, to reach the usury's house unnoticed.

A hedge of figs surrounded Aunt Kallina's courtyard like a mighty wall. She sat by the distaff: small, with bare feet in embroidered felt shoes, with an ash-gray face and golden eyes of birds of prey that sparkled in the shadow of the pulled-back headscarf.

“Oh, dear Efix! How are you? What are your ladies doing And what brings you to me Come on, take a seat, take a breather! "

Sleepy hens scratching their plumage, lively cats chasing after a couple of pink pigs, white and blue-gray pigeons, a tethered donkey and the swallows in the air gave the courtyard something of a Noah's ark. The little house snuggled up against the old, newly repaired house of Milese, which probably had a new roof, but whose walls had crumbled here and there as if under the claws of time, which did not want its prey stolen with impunity.

"The estate?" Said Efix, who leaned against the wall next to the old woman. “It blooms and thrives. This year we will have more almonds than leaves. And then I'll pay you everything, Kallina. Don't worry ... "

She furrowed her browbones and followed the thread of her loin with her eyes.

“Look, I didn't even think of that! If everyone were like you, the seven thalers you owe me would be a hundred in no time. "

Let the cuckoo get you! D eight Efix. For Christmas you lent me four talers, and now it's seven!

"Well, Kallina," he added softly, and bowed his head as if he were talking to the little pigs who were obtrusively sniffing his feet, "give me another thaler. Then there will be eight in total, and in July I will pay you back, as much as the sun is shining, in pennies ... "

The usurer gave him no answer; but she looked him over from head to toe and clenched her fist defensively against him.

Efix winced and grabbed her wrist while the pigs fled from the cats and the chickens fluttered excitedly at the noise.

“Hell, Kallina! If there weren't such owls in the world like me, you could quit your usury and go fishing for leeches. «

“Better to catch leeches than let yourself be sucked out by a drip like you are! Yes, you fool, I'll lend you the taler. Ten or a hundred if you want. I also lend them to other, more respected people than you, your mistresses for example. But I will always curse you as long as you remain such a fool - within other words until your death. Wait, I'll get the money now ... "

And she went into the house and got five silver lire.

Efix went away with the tinkling coins in his fist, while the old woman waved mockingly after him.

"Greet your ladies and say I wish them everlasting youth."

But he was willing to bear all the ridicule in order to look neat and clean when young Mr. Giacinto arrived. He wanted to buy a new hat in his honor, so he went down to Milese's shop and even came over to greet the man who was sitting on the bench. It was Don Predu, the rich relative of his mistresses.

Don Predu only paid a contemptuous nod of his head, but pricked up his ears curiously to hear what the servant was buying.

“I want a pointed hat, Antonio. But it has to be long and not full of moth holes. "

"I didn't take her out of your ladies' house," replied Milese, who was notorious for his sharp tongue. And Don Predu cleared his throat outside as a token of approval, while the merchant climbed a small ladder.

"Everything ages and everything can be renewed - like the year," replied Efix, who followed the emaciated figure of Mileses with his eyes, who was still wearing a goatskin vest according to the old custom.

The shop was small but packed. Scarlet balls of fabric shone on the shelves, and beside them the mint liqueur shimmered in bulbous onesBottles; the sacks of flour with their white bodies spread over the black humps of the herring kegs, and in the little shop window the naked women from the postcards smiled graciously at the rancid baked goods in the tin cans and the brightly colored silk ribbons.

While Milese took the long black cloth caps out of a box and Efix measured their width with his hand spread, someone opened the small door to the courtyard; and in its frame, entwined with vine leaves, a stately female figure was visible, enthroned on a broad chest and spinning flax with gentle movements, almost like a queen of the past.

“My mother-in-law is sitting there. Ask them if these hats don't cost me nine pesetas myself, 'said Milese, while Efix put one of them on, pulled it low over his forehead and neatly placed the tassel on the head. “You picked out the finest one straight away; you are not as humble as it is always said. "

"It's too tight."

“Because it's still new. Man of god! Take it easy. Nine pesetas - that's as good as thrown in. "

Efix took it off and pensively straightened it; finally he put the usury's money on the table.

Don Predu looked in the door, and the fact that Efix had bought such a splendid hat puzzled Milese's mother-in-law too. With a silent movement of her head, she beckoned the servant over and askedsolemnly how his mistresses are doing. After all, they were from a noble family, and only an upstart, a peddler who had become rich, like her son-in-law Milese, could fail to have the due respect for them.

"Give her my warmest regards and tell Fraulein Ruth that I would visit her soon. We've always been good friends, although I'm not of old nobility like her. "

"A nobility of the heart is also a nobility," replied Efix politely; but she just turned the Kunkel in her hand, as if to say: Let's not talk about it!

“My brother, the pastor, also values ​​your mistresses very much. He always asks me: 'When are we going to make a pilgrimage to the Marian festival with the ladies?'

“Yes,” she went on almost sadly, “before, when we were young, we all went to the party together. Back then, people were still happy about every little thing. Nowadays people seem to be ashamed of laughing. "

Efix carefully folded his cap.

"God willing, my mistresses will make a pilgrimage to the festival again this year - to pray, not for pleasure ..."

"That pleases me. And tell me, if I may ask: is it true that Lia's son is here? They told themselves this morning in the shop. "

Since Milese had answered the door and was laughing at something Don Predu whispered to him, Efix called out with emphasized dignity: “Yes, it is true. That's whyI am in the village; I'm supposed to buy a horse for him. "

"A rocking horse?" Asked Don Predu, laughing roaringly. "Oh, that's why I saw you come out of old Kallina's cave earlier."

'And what do you care? We have never asked you for anything. "

“God forbid, you old fool. I wouldn't give you anything either. But I have good advice for you: leave the boy where he is! "

But Efix had already left the shop with a proud head and hurried off with his hat under his arm without saying anything.