“But how can it be?”
“So it is!”
“It can’t be so!”
“It is so!”
“No!”
“Yes, yes! It is so! It is so, and I am a dead man! I don’t know how I can ever go home again! Pelagia will not believe me; and if she believes me, she will never give me any peace ... I am a dead man!”
“Well, we’ll try to believe you,” said Ristabilito. “But look here, Peppe. Ciavola suggested the trick to you yesterday. Is it not so that you might fool Pelagia, and others as well? You might be capable of doing that.”
Then La Brevetta began to weep and cry and despair in such a foolish burst of grief that Ristabilito said:
“Very well, keep quiet! We believe you. But if this is true, we must find a way to repair the damage.”
“What way?” asked La Brevetta eagerly, a ray of hope coming into his soul.