"Take two—three!"
"Grazie, signore, mille grazie!"
He took them greedily.
"And the fair, signorino—only four days now to the fair! I have been to order the donkeys for me and Maddalena."
"Davvero?" Maurice said, mechanically.
"Si, signore. From Angelo of the mill. He wanted fifteen lire, but I laughed at him. I was with him a good hour and I got them for nine. Per Dio! Fifteen lire and to a Siciliano! For he didn't know you were coming. I took care not to tell him that."
"Oh, you took care not to tell him that I was coming!"
Maurice was looking over the wall at the platform of the station far down below. He seemed to see himself upon it, waiting for the train to glide in on the day of the fair, waiting among the smiling Sicilian facchini.
"Si, signore. Was not I right?"
"Quite right."