Volume I Part 47 (1/2)
The bells begin to toll, and I proceed towards the church The long-bearded papa, surprised at my sudden apparition, enquires whether I aico (Italian), but he turns his back upon oes into his house, the door of which he shuts without condescending to listen to me
I then turned towards the sea, and saw a boat leaving a tartan lying at anchor within one hundred yards of the island; the boat had four oars and landed her passengers I co Greek, a wo myself to the Greek, I ask hie, and where he comes from He answers in Italian that he has sailed from Cephalonia with his wife and his son, and that he is bound for Venice; he had landed to hear mass at the Church of Our Lady of Casopo, in order to ascertain whether his father-in-laas still alive, and whether he would pay the amount he had promised him for the dowry of his wife
”But how can you find it out?”
”The Papa Deldimopulo will tell in” I say nothing and follow hiives him some money The papa says the ain in a quarter of an hour, ascends the steps of the altar, turns towards his audience, and, afterbeard, he delivers his oracle in a dozen words The Greek of Cephalonia, who certainly could not boast of being as wise as Ulysses, appears very well pleased, and gives more money to the impostor We leave the church, and I ask him whether he feels satisfied with the oracle
”Oh! quite satisfied I kno that my father-in-law is alive, and that he will pay me the dowry, if I consent to leave my child with hiive him the boy”
”Does the papa know you?”
”No; he is not even acquainted with oods on board your tartan?”
”Yes; come and breakfast with ly”
Delighted at hearing that oracles were not yet defunct, and satisfied that they will endure as long as there are in this world siood man, who took me to his tartan and treated o consisted of cotton, linen, currants, oil, and excellent wines He had also a stock of night-caps, stockings, cloaks in the Eastern fashi+on, umbrellas, and sea biscuits, of which I was very fond; in those days I had thirty teeth, and it would have been difficult to find a finer set
Alas! I have but two left now, the other twenty-eight are gone with other tools quite as precious; but 'duht a s he had except cotton, for which I had no use, and without discussing his price I paid hi oes
I happened during our conversation to praise the wine of Xante, which he called generoydes, and he told ivethe quarantine Always superstitious, I was on the point of accepting, and that for the most foolish reason-nae resolution, and it ht be the impulse of fate Such was my nature in those days; alas; it is very different now
They say that it is because wisdoe, but I cannot reconcile myself to cherish the effect of ato accept his offer he proposes to sellthat in Corfu anyone would be glad of it for twelve The word Corfu upsets all enius telling un for the ten sequins, and ives ain, a beautiful Turkish pouch well filled with powder and shot Carrying e bag containing all my purchases, I take leave of the worthy Greek, and a froood wine of h to make me carry my determination into immediate execution I had in azzette, which were very heavy, but which I had procured froaway in the barn and I proceed, gun in hand, towards the house of the priest; the church was closed
I ive my readers some idea of the state I was in at that moment
I was quietly hopeless The three or four hundred sequins I had with reat security on the island; I could not reuilty of desertion, I should be treated accordingly I did not knohat to do, and that is always an unpleasant predicament It would be absurd for ht would then be useless, and I should be thought a fool, for my return would be a proof of cowardice or stupidity; yet I did not feel the courage to desert altogether The chief cause of my decision was not that I had a thousand sequins in the hands of the faro banker, orsomewhere else, but the unpleasant recollection that I should leave behind me a woman whom I loved to adoration, and from who her hand In such distress ofelse but abandon ht be, and theand my daily food
I knock at the door of the priest's dwelling He looks out of aand shuts it without listening to ain, I swear, I call out loudly, all in vain, Giving way towith several others at a short distance, and kill it The herdsins to screa out, ”Thieves! Murder!” and orders the alar Three bells are i: what is going to happen? I do not know, but happen ill, I load ht or tendown the hills, arels: I withdraw inside of the barn, but without the slightest fear, for I cannot suppose that, seeingto un in hand and ready to fire: I stop theazzette, which they lose no ti money down as the men co at each other in great astonishhis enerosity I could not speak to the noise of the bells should cease I quietly sit down on , and keep still, but as soon as I can be heard I begin to address the men The priest, however, assisted by his beadle and by the herdsman, interruptsItalian My three ene to excite the crowd against me
One of the peasants, an elderly and reasonable-looking man, comes up to me and asks me in Italian why I have killed the sheep
”To eat it, ood fellow, but not before I have paid for it”
”But his holiness, the papa, e one sequin for it”
”Here is one sequin”