“No,” was the laconic response.
“No! His name is on the door.”
“Ah, true!” responded the old woman, with something like a sigh. “They haven’t taken it off yet. It’s no business of mine. I’m only here to take care of the house.”
“Do you mean that the Signor Jacopi doesn’t live here any longer?”
“E cosi! What a question to ask! You are jesting, signor.”
“Jesting! No; I am in earnest—never more so in my life. I have important business with him.”
“Business with Signor Jacopi! Madonna Virgine!” added the old woman, in a tone of consternation, and making the sign of the Cross.
“Certainly I have. And what is there strange in it?”
“Business with a dead man! That’s strange, is it not?”
“Dead! Do you mean to say that Signor Jacopi is dead?”