'They are convinced that the government sends them the cholera through the doctors, to thin the population,' answered the young man, with a dreary smile.
'What a country! It is worse than Naples.'
'In some ways, far worse. In others, much better.'
'In what way is it better?' asked San Giacinto, with some curiosity.
'They are terrible enemies,' said the doctor, 'but they can be very devoted friends, too.'
'Oh—we have had a taste of their enmity first. I hope we may see something of their friendship before long.'
'I doubt it, Signor Marchese. You will have the people against you from first to last, and your position is dangerous. Ferdinando Corleone was popular, and he had the outlaws on his side. I have no doubt that many of the band have been hidden here. It is a lonely and desolate house, full of queer hiding-places. By the bye, are you going to bury that poor man here? Shall I send people down from Santa Vittoria with a coffin, to carry him up to the cemetery?'
'You know the country. What should you advise me to do? We must give him Christian burial, I suppose.'
'I should be inclined to lift up the slab in the church and quietly drop him down among the monks,' said the doctor. 'That would be Christian burial enough for him. But you had better consult the sergeant about it. If he is taken up to Santa Vittoria, there will be a great public funeral, and all the population will follow, as though he were a martyr. If you bury him without a priest, they will say that you not only murdered him treacherously, but got rid of his body by stealth. Consult the sergeant, Signor Marchese. That is best.'
The doctor mounted his mule and rode away. San Giacinto closed and barred the great gate himself before he went back into the court. He found Orsino in the midst of a discussion with the sergeant, regarding the same question of the disposal of the body.