'Yes, he is out.'

'How long has he been absent?'

'He has been away a long time,' the old peasant muttered, and a groan from his wife echoed him.

'When is he coming back?' shouted Don Crescenzio, very agitated, taking an angry fit.

'I can't tell you; we don't know,' the old man said, shaking his head.

'You are his father; you must know.'

'He did not tell me.'

'But where is he gone? Where is that scoundrel gone?'

'To America—to Buenos Ayres.'