The Call of the Blood

bawled the little boy from Naples. Gaspare seized the clock, turned a

handle, lifted his hand in a reverent gesture bespeaking attention; there

was a faint whirr, and then, sure enough, the tune of the "Tre Colori"

was tinkled blithely forth.

"Ecco!" repeated Gaspare, triumphantly.

"Mamma mia!" murmured Maddalena, almost exhausted with the magic of the

fair.

"It's wonderful!" said Maurice.

He, too, was a little tired, but not in body.

Gaspare wound the clock again, and again the tune was trilled forth,

competing sturdily with the giant noises of the fair, a little voice that

made itself audible by its clearness and precision.

"Ecco!" repeated Gaspare. "Will not the signora be happy when she sees

what I have brought her from the fair?"

He sighed from sheer delight in his possession and the thought of his

padrona's joy and wonder in it.

"Mangiamo?" he added, descending from heavenly delights to earthly

necessities.

"Yes, it is getting late," said Maurice. "The fireworks will soon be

beginning, I suppose."

"Not till ten, signorino. I have asked. There will be dancing first.

But--are we going to stay?"

Maurice hesitated, but only for a second.

"Yes," he said. "Even if we went now the signora would be in bed and

asleep long before we got home. We will stay to the end, the very end."

"Then we can say 'Good-morning' to the signora when we get home," said

Gaspare.

He was quite happy now that he had this marvellous present to take back

with him. He felt that it would make all things right, would sweep away

all lingering disappointment at their absence and the want of welcome.

Salvatore did not appear at the meal. He had gone off to stable his new

purchase with the other donkeys, and now, having got a further sum of

money out of the Inglese, was drinking and playing cards with the

fishermen of Catania. But he knew where his girl and Maurice were, and

that Gaspare and Amedeo were with them. And he knew, too, that the

Inglese's signora had come back. He told the news to the fishermen.

"To-night, when he gets home, his 'cristiana' will be waiting for him.

Per Dio! it is over for him now. We shall see little more of him."

"And get little more from him!" said one of the fishermen, who was

jealous of Salvatore's good-fortune.

Salvatore laughed loudly. He had drunk a good deal of wine and he had had

a great deal of money given to him.