ore!"

He said it through his teeth. Maurice turned to Gaspare. He felt the
boy's stern disapproval of what he had done, and wanted, if possible, to
make amends.

"Gaspare," he said, "here is a hundred lire for you. I want you to go to
the auction and to bid for anything you think worth having. Buy
something for your mother and father, for the house, some nice things!"

"Grazie, signore."

He took the note, but without alacrity, and his face was still lowering.

"And you, signore?" he asked.

"I?"

"Yes. Are you not coming with me to the auction? It will be better for
you to be there to choose the things."

For an instant Maurice felt irritated. Was he never to be allowed a
moment alone with Maddalena?

"Oh, but I'm no good at----" he began.

Then he stopped. To-day he must be birbante--on his guard. Once the
auction was in full swing--so he thought--Salvatore and Gaspare would be
as they were when they gambled beside the sea. They would forget
everything. It would be easy to escape. But till that moment came he must
be cautious.

"Of course I'll come," he exclaimed, heartily. "But you must do the
bidding, Gaspare."

The boy looked less sullen.

"Va bene, signorino. I shall know best what the things are worth. And
Salvatore"--he glanced viciously at the fisherman--"can go to the
donkeys. I have seen them. They are poor donkeys this year."

Salvatore returned his vicious glance and said something in dialect which
Maurice did not understand. Gaspare's face flushed, and he was about to
burst into an angry reply when Maurice touched his arm.

"Come along, Gaspare!"

As they got up, he whispered:

"Remember what I said about to-day!"

"Macche----"

Maurice closed his fingers tightly on Gaspare's arm.

"Gaspare, you must remember! Afterwards what you like, but not to-day.
Andiamo!"

They all got up. The Musica della citta was now playing a violent jig,
undoubtedly composed by Bellini, who was considered almost as a child of
San Felice, having been born close by at Catania.

"Where are the women in the wonderful blue dresses?" Maurice asked, as
they stepped into the road; "and the ear-rings? I haven't seen them yet."

"They will come towards evening, signorino," replied Gaspare, "when it
gets cool. They do not care to be in the sun dressed like that. It might
spoil their things."

Evidently the promenade of these proud beauties was an important
function.

"We must not miss them," Maurice said