Giovanna did not appear so much as to take in what he said, and continued to rock her head from side to side. Aunt Porredda, however, spoke up in a decided tone: "What an idea! as though any one but God could undo a marriage!"
"Yes, I read about that in the papers," said Uncle Efes Maria jocularly. "Those are the divorces they get on the Continent, where men and women marry over and over again without troubling themselves about priests, or magistrates either, for that matter, but here!—shame!"
"No, Daddy Porru, that's not on the Continent, it's in Turkey," said Grazia.
"Here too, here too," said Aunt Bachissia, who had eagerly followed every word.
As soon as supper was over the two Eras went off to see their lawyer.
"What room have you given them?" asked Paolo. "The 'strangers' room'?"
"Why, of course; why?"
"Because I really thought I should like to sleep there myself; it is suffocating down here. What better 'stranger' could there be than I?"
"Be patient just till to-morrow, my boy. Remember these are poor guests."