“Madonna Santissima!” baaed the woman with the blue-black hair. “Perhaps he will not be let out to-day!”
The old woman began to cry feebly, yet angrily.
“Courage, Madre Teresa!” said Fabiano. “Antonio will be here to-day for a certainty. Every one knows it. His friends”—he raised a big brown hand significantly—“his friends have managed well for him.”
“Si! si! It is true!” said the black-haired woman, nodding her large head, and gesticulating towards Madre Teresa. “He will be here to-day. Antonio will be here.”
They all stared at Hermione, suddenly forgetting their personal and private affairs.
“Donna Maddalena,” said Fabiano, “here is a signora who knows Ruffo. I met her at the Mergellina, and she asked me to show her the way here.”
“Ruffo is out,” said Maddalena, always keeping her eyes on Hermione.
“May I come in and speak to you?” asked Hermione.
Maddalena looked doubtful, yet curious.
“My son is in the sea, Signora. He is bathing at the Marina.”