"Because my sweetheart wishes me to be Doctor of Law."
"And who is your sweetheart?"
"The daughter of the Baron of Baronia."
"Are there still Barons of Baronia? I have heard that phantoms haunt their castle. Once there was a woodcutter who spent the night under the castle wall, and he saw a lady with a long gold tail like a comet. Do you know what a comet is? By our Lady of Good Counsel! you'll kill yourself drinking so much coffee!"
"Go on with the story. What did the woodcutter do?"
Aunt Varvara went on. She mixed the legends of the Castello of the Castle of Burgos with those of the castle of Galtelli, confused historic records come down by popular tradition, with events which had happened in her own childhood, not it is true very recent. She told a story of a great lord who had lost his way on a moor, and not till he heard a little bell at evening dusk, could he find his way to an inhabited place. The great lord was very rich and very stupid, and he promised to leave all his wealth to the church whose bell he had heard. And ever after that, the bell has tolled at evening dusk so that lost men may be able to find their way.
"But that's the legend of St Maria Maggiore," said Anania.
"No, no, my dear little heart. It belongs to the church of Illori. I can tell you the name of the great rich man. It was Don Gonario Area."
"And the nuraghes," continued Aunt Varvara, walking about the steaming kitchen, "are there still nuraghes? You know when the Moors came to Sardinia to steal the cattle and the women, the Sardinians hid their money in the nuraghes. Stupid boy, why don't you look for treasure on your tancas?"
Anania thought of his father who had again written requiring him to visit the museums where antique gold coins are preserved.