'Eat,' replied Concetta, sitting down upon a rush-bottom chair. 'I do not come to disturb you. Are you all alone?' She peered into the shadows at the back of the shop.
'Eh, you know how it is? Taddeo eats and then goes to sleep, and while he sleeps I keep the shop. In truth, it needs no great merchant to do that, for no one comes at this hour.'
'And you and your brother do not eat together?'
'Generally we do, but to-day, who knows how it was? He ate first and went to sleep. Then I brought my beans here for company. This is our conversation. I open my mouth, and before I can speak the beans answer me. This I call, indeed, conversation.'
'And Francesco Pagliuca, with whom does he converse upstairs?' asked Concetta, lowering her voice.
The man looked up quickly, with his mouth full, as though to see whether she were in earnest and knew the truth. A glance convinced him that she did.
'He went to Randazzo at dawn,' he said, almost in a whisper. 'He makes love with the notary's daughter there.'
Concetta did not believe that this could be the only reason for Francesco's return.
'Why does he not stay at Randazzo, then?' she enquired. 'Why should he come here at all? It is a long way.'
'Perhaps he is afraid of Basili's friends,' suggested the fat man. 'Or he prefers to sleep here because the air is better. He will certainly not tell us why he comes.'