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the bells of san pasquale. 121
afraid, but more grim and cross than ever. Because
it seemed that all felt they must go to him in the
shop, and tell him what they thought and hear his
opinion, as he was an Alagona, and had ruled the city
many years.
The whole day panic-stricken, trembling people
came into his shop. And all came up to him and
said: " What a terrible ringing, Don Ferrante.
What will become of us, Don Ferrante?"
There was hardly any one of the inhabitants of
Diamante, who did not come into Don Ferrante’s
shop to consult with him. As long as the ringing
lasted, they stood leaning on the counter without
buying for as much as a soldo.
Even Ugo Favara, the spleeny advocate, came
into the shop and taking a chair sat down behind the
counter. And the whole day Don Ferrante had
him sitting there, deathly pale, entirely motionless,
suffering unheard-of torture without uttering a word.
But every five minutes Torino-il-Martello came in
and struck the counter saying that now the time had
come when Don Ferrante would have his
punishment.
Don Ferrante was a hard man, but he could not
escape the bells. And the longer he heard them,
the more he began to wonder why all the people
crowded into his shop, as if they meant something
in particular. It was as if they wanted to make him
responsible for the ringing and for the evil it
portended.
He had not told any one, but he supposed his
wife had circulated it. He began to believe that
everybody thought of the same thing, although they
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