"Diavolo!" he exclaimed. "It seems to me that your reverence has already heard the intentions of these signori."
"I have heard them, yes," returned Don Agostino, "but I do not think that they are wise intentions. Let us reflect a little. These things need consideration, and a little patience does no harm. You say that you wish well to Donna Bianca Acorari, and to yourselves? Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that you wish well to yourselves, and to Donna Bianca Acorari; more accurate, and more natural. The question is, however, whether the course you propose to adopt will result in any good, either to you or to her. You tell me that I possess your confidence and your esteem. Believe me, I value both the one and the other; and I think the fact that during the years I have been your parroco I have succeeded in gaining this esteem and confidence should be a proof that I am not likely to betray either."
Don Agostino paused for a moment, as a murmur of approval ran round the room.
"If you had come to mass this morning," he proceeded, not without a touch of humor in his voice, "I should have told you in a church what I now tell you in a caffè. Oh, do not be alarmed, my friends, you are not going to hear a sermon. I quite understand that if you had wanted anything of that nature you would have come to mass. Ebbene! one is not always in the mood to go to church. And when one is not in the mood, who knows whether it is not better to stay away than to go, and to pay Domeneddio the bad compliment of being bored with him when one gets there? No, I am not going to preach you a sermon; but I am going to make one or two suggestions to you, with your permission, and that of our worthy host," and Don Agostino turned with a smile to Sor Stefano.
"Evviva Don Agostino! Speak, speak!" resounded from all parts of the room, and from the street without people pressed nearer to the open doors of the caffè in order to hear more distinctly what the parroco had to say.
"My first suggestion," proceeded Don Agostino, "is, that we should not act hastily—that we should stop to think. To-day we are unquestionably in the right; to-morrow, by ill-considered action, we may place ourselves in the wrong. The princess has refused to receive our deputation, and, consequently, she has refused to you, the people of Montefiano, your legitimate request to explain your grievances in the presence of Donna Bianca Acorari, who is the legal owner of these lands, although as yet the law does not permit her the full privileges of her position. Well, so far, the princess is unquestionably in the wrong. That is to say, her excellency has no doubt acted by the advice of those who are not, perhaps, competent to advise her. But we must remember that the princess is placed in a difficult position. She cannot help being a foreigner, nor the fact that Donna Bianca is not her own child."
"She can help bringing foreigners here to interfere in our affairs!" interrupted Sor Stefano. "Why cannot she trust those who have always been loyal to Casa Acorari? And why must she dismiss an old official like Fontana, a man who had the full confidence of the late prince?"
"Bravo—Benissimo!" applauded Sor Stefano's customers and clients, and they looked at Don Agostino curiously, as though anxious to see how he would reply to so crushing an argument.
He hesitated for a moment. Sor Stefano's remark was, in truth, sufficiently to the point.
"But, Signor Mazza," he said, at length, "we must remember that these affairs also concern the princess. She is responsible for the administration of the property until Donna Bianca attains her majority. I do not doubt, indeed, I am convinced, that her excellency is badly advised. But if this is the case, she is not likely to listen to wiser counsels at a moment's notice. It must be proved to her absolutely, and beyond a possibility of doubt, that those whom she trusts are not competent to advise her. You, my friends, declare that you wish well to the Principessina Bianca and to Casa Acorari. If that is the case, do not let us forget that though the princess is a foreigner, she is, nevertheless, in a sense, the principessa madre, and as such is entitled to respect and consideration. It will be a strange method of showing your loyalty to Casa Acorari if you present yourselves with threats and violence at the gates of the castle of Montefiano. Nor, believe me, will you be doing yourselves any good by such a proceeding. If the princess is a woman of any spirit, and if those who have advised her are not cowards, she will only persist the more firmly in the course she has adopted. The increase in the rents will be enforced, and our friend Signor Fontana's dismissal will certainly not be recalled. Moreover, it is scarcely likely that her excellency would be disposed to allow Donna Bianca to be interviewed by those who had threatened to dispute the authority of Donna Bianca's guardian."