"Il Siciliano! Si, Signore. We call him that, but he has never been in Sicily, and was born in America."
"Do you want him, Signore? But he is not here to-day. He is at sea to-day."
"But he is not a boatman, Signore. He does not go with the travellers. He is a fisherman."
"Bernari, Signore. She is married to Antonio Bernari, who is in prison."
"He is always after the girls, Signore. And now he has put a knife into one."
"Diavolo! He is jealous. He has not been tried yet, perhaps he never will be. His wife has gone into Naples to-day to see him."
"And her name, her Christian name? It's Maria, isn't it?"
"No, Signore, Maddalena--Maddalena Bernari."
Artois said nothing for a minute. Then he added:
"I suppose there are plenty of Maddalenas here in Mergellina?"
"Si Signore. Marias and Maddalenas--you find them everywhere. Why, my own mamma is Maddalena, and my wife is Maria, and so is my sister."
"Exactly. And your name? I want it, so that when next I take a boat here I can ask for yours."
"Fabiano, Signore, Lari Fabiano, and my boat is the _Stella del Mare_."
"I shall take the _Star of the Sea_ very soon."
"This evening, Signore; it will be fine for sailing this evening."
"If not this evening, another day. A rivederci, Fabiano."
The man went back to his companions, and, as Artois walked on began talking eagerly to them, and pointing after the stranger.
Artois did not know what he would do later on in the evening, but he had decided on the immediate future. He would walk up the hill to the village of Posilipo, then turn down to the left, past the entrance to the Villa Rosebery, and go to the Antico Giuseppone, where he could dine by the waterside. It was quiet there, he knew; and he could have a cutlet and a zampaglione, a cup of coffee and a cigar, and sit and watch the night fall. And when it had fallen? Well, he would not be far from the island, nor very far from Naples, and he could decide then what to do.
He followed out this plan, and arrived at the Giuseppone at evening. As he came down the road between the big buildings near the waterside he saw in the distance a small group of boys and men lounging by the three or four boats that lie at the quay, and feared to find, perhaps, a bustle and noise of people round the corner at the ristorante. But when he turned the corner and came to the little tables that were set out in the open air, he was glad to see only two men who were bending over their plates of fish soup. He glanced at them, almost without noticing them, so preoccupied was he with his thoughts, sat down at an adjoining table and ordered his simple meal. While it was being got ready he looked out over the sea.