hen he pulled out his purse,
counted my wages, and told me to take my things from his house in an
hour. I threw the money in his face--the beast!"

"Hush, Tista," said Don Paolo. "Do not be angry--we will arrange it all
before night. He cannot do without you, and after all it is my fault.
Calm yourself, Tista, my boy--we will soon set that straight."

"Yes--in an hour I will have left the house. Then it will be straight
enough, as you call it. Oh! I would like to strangle him! Dear Don
Paolo, nobody but you can arrange this affair--"

"Hush, hush, Tista. I cannot hear you talk in this way. Come, we will go
back to Marzio. He will listen to reason--"

"Do you know what he said to me not a quarter of an hour before you came
in?" asked Gianbattista quickly, laying his hand on the priest's arm.
"He said I might have Lucia and welcome if I would kill you! Do you
understand? I wish you could have seen the look in his eyes!"

"No, no, my boy--he was angry. He did not mean it."

"Mean it! Bacchus! He would kill you himself if he were not such a
dastardly coward!"

Don Paolo shook his head with an incredulous smile, and looked kindly
into the young man's eyes.

"You have all lost your heads over this unfortunate affair, Tista. You
are all talking of killing each other and yourselves as though it were
as simple as 'good-morning.' It is very wrong to talk of such things,
and besides, you know, it is not really worth while--"

"It seems simple enough to me," answered the young man, frowning and
clenching his hand.

"Come with me," urged the other, making as though he would descend the
steps. "Come back to the workshop, and we will talk it all over."

"Wait a minute, Don Paolo. There is one thing--one favour I want to ask
of you." Gianbattista lowered his voice. "You can do it for us--I am
sure you will. I will call Lucia, and we will go with you--"

"Where?" asked the priest, not understanding the look of the young man.

"To church, of course. You can marry us in ten minutes, and the thing
will be all over. Then we can laugh at Sor Marzio."

Don Paolo smiled.

"My dear boy," he answered, "those things are not done in a moment like
roasting chestnuts. There are banns to be published. There is a civil
marriage at the Capitol--"

"I should be quite satisfied with your benediction--a _Pater Noster_, an
_Oremus_ properly said--eh? Would it not be all right?"

"Really, Tista!" exclaimed the good man, holding up his ha