number unless it came out first, whereas, if I did not
specify their positions, my two numbers might come out anywhere and if
they did I should win about 250 francs. Angelo accepted as a good omen
the fact that neither of my numbers exceeded 90, and next morning we
called on his cousin and put a franc on 27 and 52.

Now, a lottery is an immoral thing, accordingly I expected to feel as
though I had committed an immoral action, instead of which I felt just as
I usually do. I, therefore, gave my ticket to Angelo in order that, if I
should develop a conscience by the time the numbers came out, I might
silence it by the consciousness of having disclaimed all hope of gain.
This was perhaps a little cowardly, for the effects of a lottery are said
to be most pernicious to those who win. But no harm was done in the end,
the actual numbers drawn the following Saturday being 39, 42, 89, 83, 28,
so Angelo lost and likewise the brigadier and the corporal and the guards
who had put their money on 33.

CASTELLINARIA

CHAPTER II--PEPPINO

The train passed through the tunnel under the headland on which stands
the Albergo Belvedere, and steamed into the station of Castellinaria, a
town that is not so marked on any map of Sicily. I had written to
Carmelo to meet the train and drive me up, but he was not among the
coachmen. I recognized his brother, and said to him--

"Hullo! Rosario, where have you been all these years?"

"Well, you see," he replied, "I have been away. First there was the
military service and then I had a disgrazia; but I have come back now."

I avoided inquiring into the disgrazia till I could ascertain from some
one else whether he meant what we should call a misfortune or something
more serious and merely said I was glad it was all over and asked after
his brother.

"Carmelo is quite well--he is in private service. He told me to meet you
and sent you his salutes and apologies for not coming himself; he will
call on you this evening."

"At the Albergo Belvedere?"

"No, excuse me, the Belvedere is closed; he told me to take you to the
Albergo della Madonna, unless you wish to go anywhere else."

So Rosario drove me with my luggage up the zigzags for an hour and a half
through dust and sunshine, past orchards of lemons and oranges, among
prickly pears and agave overgrown with pink and red geranium, by rocky
slopes of mesembryanthemum, yellow marguerites, broom and sweet peas,
between white w