Maurice had him by the arms.
"Why did you?" panted the boy. "Why did you?"
"Then Salvatore knows?"
Maurice saw that any denial was useless.
"He knows! He knows!"
If Maurice had not held Gaspare tightly the boy would have flung himself down headlong on the ground, to burst into one of those storms of weeping which swept upon him when he was fiercely wrought up. But Maurice would not let him have this relief.
"Gaspare! Listen to me! What is he going to do? What is Salvatore going to do?"
"Santa Madonna! Santa Madonna!"
The boy rocked himself to and fro. He began to invoke the Madonna and the saints. He was beside himself, was almost like one mad.
"Gaspare—in the name of God——!"