"Si, signore?"
"Let's get away presently, you and I; let's go and sit under those trees.
I want to talk to you quietly."
"Si, signore?"
Her voice was lower even than his own.
"Ecco, signore! Ecco!"
Salvatore was pointing to a crowd of donkeys.
"Signorino! Signorino!"
"What is it, Gaspare?"
"That is the man who is going to sell the clock!"
The boy's face was intent. His eyes were shining, and his glum manner had
vanished, under the influence of a keen excitement. Maurice realized that
very soon he would be free. Once his friends were in the crowd of buyers
and sellers everything but the chance of a bargain would be forgotten.
His own blood quickened but for a different reason.
"What beautiful carts!" he said. "We have no such carts in England!"
"If you would like to buy a cart, signore----" began Salvatore.
But Gaspare interrupted with violence.
"Macchè! What is the use of a cart to the signorino? He is going away to
England. How can he take a cart with him in the train?"
"He can leave the cart with me," said Salvatore, with open impudence. "I
can take care of it for the signore as well as the donkey."
"Macchè!" cried Gaspare, furiously.
Maurice took him by the arm.
"Help me down the bank! Come on!"
He began to run, pulling Gaspare with him. When they got to the bottom,
he said: "It's all right, Gaspare. I'm not going to be such a fool as to buy a
cart. Now, then, which way are we going?"
"Signore, do you want to buy a very good donkey, a very strong donkey,
strong enough to carry three Germans to the top of Etna? Come and see my
donkey. He is very cheap. I make a special price because the signore is
simpatico. All the English are simpatici. Come this way, signore! Gaspare
knows me. Gaspare knows that I am not birbante."
"Signorino! Signorino! Look at this clock! It plays the 'Tre Colori.' It
is worth twenty-five lire, but I will make a special price for you
because you love Sicily and are like a Siciliano. Gaspare will tell
you----"
But Gaspare elbowed away his acquaintances roughly.
"Let my padrone alone. He is not here to buy. He is only here to see the
fair. Come on, signorino! Do not answer them. Do not take any notice. You
must not buy anything or you will be cheated. Let me make the prices."