Rosa: A Story of Sicilian Customs

ALL that night Rosa had not closed her eyes for thinking that before another night he would have left her.

To live without him, not to see him for four, five months, as many as it would take to go to America, — oh, this was a thorn in the heart of the poor girl!

And yet she must be resigned. Totò, though still very young, was an able seaman. As a boy he had been a great worker, and had never shunned labor, however hard or dangerous it might appear to him. He had almost always sailed in small freight ships, taking cargoes of wine at Castellamare del Golfo, coal at Follonica or at Castiglione, wood at Trieste ; and he had always done his duty. That was why, when he sought to embark in a large vessel, and captain Giuseppe wished to look at his hands, the latter was well satisfied with those rough and callous palms, finding there the surest signs of the industry of the lad.

Totò had also another merit, that of being the son of a sailor, — which means that he had in his blood, as is the saying, the art of seamanship.

The girl knew all this, and she also knew that, with his uncommon abilities, he would make his way, and some day might sail as boatswain. And then, what a fine thing to be the wife of the boatswain of a brigantine or of a ship :

The next morning, when Totò came to take leave. Rosa had not the strength to speak. Her heart beat so hard that it seemed as if it would set itself free from her breast; her face was aflame, and her eyes were dilated.

“ Do not grieve,” her mother told her. “ Do not take it like this, my child. Two or three months pass quickly, and you will see Totò safe and well. May the Madonna go with him, and the Souls of the Beheaded Bodies help him on his voyage !”

“ And nowadays,” said Totò, “ what distance is there between Palermo and America? Once, indeed, those might be called long voyages, when it took three months to go and three to come, without any tidings. But now ! I know how to write, and before the Maria is out of the strait of Gibraltar, in one way or another, I shall send you a sheet of paper. There is always some ship to be met on the ocean, and who knows ” —

“ And then,” added donna Maricchia, the mother of Rosa, “ with the steamships returning this way, you might even have a letter every day. America and Palermo are like adjoining rooms, as the saying is. Do you understand, my daughter ? There is no longer any distance.”

Rosa was silent, and two great tears shone in her eyes.

“ But can we go on like this, blood of the devil! Since two years we are betrothed, and at every new parting we have the same scenes. As true as the Lord, I repent that I —

Rosa did not let that oath be finished, for she gave a sudden start as if by a magnetic spring ; and her eyes, which until then she had not had strength to lift, were now fixed upon his face with a look of reproof and tenderness as if to say, “Would you repent, perhaps, having loved me ? ”

Totò gazed at the ground, and after a brief pause kissed the hand of his future mother-in-law, pressed that of Rosa, and went away. Rosa burst into tears.

In the afternoon, before twilight, the father, mother, and daughter took a rowboat at Santa Lucia in order to go to wish Totò a good voyage. The father of Rosa was an old sea-dog, and because of that had consented to the marriage of his daughter to a sailor; for he never would have permitted a match with a youth of the land. “ What are these landsmen ! ” he thought. “ Quarrelsome folks, and full of follies. They love cards and women ; they mix with bad companions. May the Lord save all good Christians from such ! And in the evening, soaked with drink, they fight about nothing, and beat their wives and children. Give us sea-room from them, give us sea-room. What say our Sicilian proverbs? ‘Take your neighbor’s sweepings and put them in your house ; ’ and, ‘ Like to like, and each to his own.' ”

The boat cleaved placidly the blue waves, which were lightly crisped by the wind that, at Palermo, is apt to blow during the later hours of the day. The slow and measured beat of the oars was translated upon Rosa’s face in a certain agitation which might well have been interpreted as impatience to reach the Maria as soon as possible. The father divined as much, and, striding over the bench against which the boatman braced his feet, he took one of the oars and gave a stroke so powerful that it turned the boat to one side, obliging the boatman to strain his oars, so that in a few moments they reached the ship lying at anchor.

Totò, who was watching at the prow, was not slow to perceive them ; and when they came alongside he was ready to appear at the rail. What was said between him and the newly arrived is easy to imagine. Rosa, who before had been red with uneasiness, was now white as a washed rag, and had only a few broken words for her lover, who looked at her again and again without being able fully to account for her unusual agitation. The visit was brief, because the father, as a man of the world, well knew that when a parting has to take place, it is better to cut short all delays.

“ It is late ; let us go,” he said, in a tone which admitted of no reply. And the customary good wishes having been exchanged, — “ Good journey and happy return ! ” “ Good luck stay with you, and may we meet again in health ! ” — the small boat put forth for shore.

Rosa was completely overcome ; she could not utter a word, she could not weep. Totò mounted again upon the forward bridge, shading his eyes with his left hand, and saluting with his light. Rosa’s parents also made salutations ; the man cutting the air from right to left with his hand, the woman opening and shutting her fingers. But as the rowboat went farther away from the ship, and the figure of Totò lost, in the uncertain light, its distinct outlines, a remembrance came to trouble Rosa’s mind: those last words, “ I repent of ”— and she gave a start which frightened her poor parents.

The young man, for his part, having gone sadly down below, forward, was recalling with an ineffable melancholy a certain song which he had often heard sung by sailors at their departure: —

It is the custom of Palermitan mariners never to set sail on a Friday ; and this custom is not only from respect to the old proverb, “ Of a Friday and of a Tuesday, neither marry nor go on a journey,” but also in memory of the hapless fate of a captain from the Molo, who, presuming to disregard the prejudice, would sail on a Friday, and was miserably drowned. The ships wait, therefore, for the earliest hours of Saturday morning, and then sail. So did the Maria, of whose crew was Totò.

During the night, in the home of Rosa, the only one who slept was the father ; he. having swallowed a few mouthfuls of salad — his usual supper since he had left off going to sea — and smoked his favorite pipe, went to bed and began to snore. Rosa lay awake all night in agitation, and counted every quarter hour as it was struck by the clock of the parish church of Santa Lucia. What a long night that was ! From Ave Maria to midnight she saw with her mind’s eyes her Totò, motionless, bewildered, not knowing wliat to do ; after midnight had struck, she saw him arise with agility, await the pilot’s cry, “ Weigh anchor! ” and run. first of all the sailors, to turn the handle of the capstan ; among the voices of the crew she could distinguish clearly his, and she herself joined in the strange chant that accompanies that task : —

She saw him climb rapidly among the yards, give a hand to unfurl the sails ; and, watching him, she trembled for his life, at that hour, in that thick darkness, and with the ship already beginning to pitch. Then she remembered that there are blessed souls who watch over the poor sailors ; and to them she uttered a prayer, the warmest prayer that she ever had made, promising them a “ journey ” if they would bring him back safe to her. The “ Souls of the Beheaded Bodies ” could not fail to aid Totò, if they help all the devout, who recommend themselves to them.

“ Yes, we will go to the church of the Beheaded, my daughter,” her mother whispered to her,and you shall see that, by virtue of them, Totò will have a fine voyage, and will return safe and happy.”

“ Surely we will go. mamma, and we will also go to the church of the Madonna of the Drowned.”

“ But that of course ! ” replied the mother. “ Does one go to the Beheaded without stopping at the church of the Drowned ? Every one says that it is not a real journey unless a stop is made at that church.”

The dialogue went on, growing warmer, upon the subject of Totò, his voyage, and the Souls of the Beheaded.

“ But will you never make an end of these discourses, tireless ravens ! ” suddenly broke out the father, who had been awakened from his first sleep by the unaccustomed chatter, although the women had endeavored to speak in an undertone. “ You have talked all night long without once stopping. Think whether, on account of a passage from here to New York, there has to be made such a fuss. If it is to go on like this every night, it will be cold weather for me.”

Rosa was silent, and donna Maricchia replied coldly, “ Sleep, sleep. When you have nothing to say, you talk against your own flesh and blood. Do we annoy you ? ”

“ Do you annoy me ! The whole night, long you are here at my bedside as if to mourn for a death. Totò is not dead, is he ? ”

Rosa started, and said no more.

The next morning, very early, the old sailor went to the fishing-ground at the Borgo, and, straining his lynx eyes, he could not discover anything along the whole horizon. Raisi Peppi, a fisherman of his acquaintance, who guessed the reason of his coming at that hour, told him that the Maria had gone away with a good wind, and now, he added, was certainly making ten knots an hour.

The life of the seafaring people of Sicily has little in common with that of the landsmen, and differs from it in sentiments, in customs, and in habits.

Of a character superior to that of any other Sicilian working class, the sailor, the fisherman, occupies himself only with his family and with his business. The land, however he may invoke it in moments of peril, has no attraction for him, does not interest him, does not give him any thought except for his beloved wife and children. The fisherman, who in stormy days is obliged to draw his boat to the beach, has there his favorite haunt where he passes the entire day, now smoking a castaway cigar stump or taking a pinch from his faithful pewter snuffbox, now mending broken nets and seines and worn-out floats. He takes little thought of public affairs, as of a thing which does not concern him ; he does not care for the personages and acts of the national and the city government (which he always confuses in his mind as one). He respects the law rather by instinct than upon reflection. Peace and quiet, natural, not the consequences of political disturbance, are dear to him ; and he resigns himself, unconscious of any sacrifice, to the privations and hardships to which he is condemned by the treacherous sea, sometimes because of the scarcity of fish, sometimes because of the impossibility of going out to cast the nets.

Nor is the sailor unlike the fisherman in the avoidance of quarrels and in the love of patriarchal peace. When he has shipped as seaman and has taken the advance for the coming voyage, he puts all the money into the hands of his wife, or, if unmarried, of his mother, — keeping for himself what little may suffice for his needs. He is, proverbially, as ready to break his oaths as he is to make them ; as soon as he sets foot on land, he is weary, impatient to return to the dangers which he had lately sworn never to challenge again. His house, during the few days that he dwells in it, is his sacred temple; and he does not leave it until he sails again for some port, where he will expect, on his arrival, to receive good news from his family.

The women lead a singular life during the absence of the husbands, the betrothed, the brothers. They who are accustomed to live out of doors, in front of their houses, from the moment that their dear ones take leave shut themselves inside, and nothing is seen of them.

However long the voyage may be, they never show themselves, do not even visit each other. Only on Sundays and festival days they break in upon this cloistral life, going to confession or to hear mass. But they never do this in broad daylight; instead, they go to the first mass, in the morning darkness, when no indiscreet eye can gaze upon them.

Those months and days are a continual agitation for them. When they receive visits from their near relatives, they always inquire about the weather, whether it is good or bad ; about the sea, whether it is quiet and favorable for vessels outward or inward bound ; how many days other ships have taken to reach Gibraltar, and such like matters. They anxiously await replies, as they sew, or sweep the room, or set the dishes in order on the shelves. Morning and evening they recite their prayers with devotion ; and they never forget, in repeating the rosary, to mention the dear voyager, in whose favor they propitiate the souls of purgatory by ejaculations, or the Virgin with an Ave Maria.

Three months and more had elapsed since Totò quitted Palermo; and not only Rosa, but also donna Maricchia had refrained from sitting, as is the custom, before the door. Rosa had the habit of combing her hair with her shoulders toward the street: but her hair-dressing, which had been the admiration of passers. was now become an indoors affair, which no one was any longer permitted to witness. It had been her practice to seat herself in a low chair, let, down her black and abundant tresses, loosen them, brushing them to right and left and backward; then, without the aid of a mirror, she parted them with marvelous accuracy, and gathered them at the back of the head in two great braids splendid for glossiness and volume, which she pinned in a circle like the bottom of a basket. Rosa was a sight to see after her toilet was finished, with her wide brow, her large eyes, black and bright, her cheeks always rose-tinted, and her lips like the most beautiful coral of Trapani or Sciacca. She cared little for ornaments, and wore none except a slender hoop of gold on the third finger of the left hand, — the finger that communicates with the heart, as her mother had told her at the time when Totò gave the ring to her. But to make up for the lack of jewels she knotted around her neck a silk kerchief, whose fringes hanging on her breast and shoulders gave her a grace which was the main charm of her attire.

It was like this that she had been observed, in passing, by monsù Nino, the most skillful young barbor of that quarter of the city; and he had experienced such a sense of pleasurable surprise that, feigning to have forgotten something, he retraced his steps and looked again at her. She, who had been sitting with her back to the street, had turned around, and when monsù Nino passed for the second time he was able to behold her in all her beauty and her enchanting simplicity, —a real rosebud of a Rosa, a sight which caused him a new and mysterious delight. The next day he went by that way and looked, but did not succeed in seeing her; and so for the next day and several days after. Monsù Nino, a bachelor, and not unversed in love-making as a pastime, — for on account of his good looks, and also of a certain way that he had, he was rather fortunate in small conquests, — began to think of this lovely girl, and remembered perhaps too many times in the course of the day her whom he would have been glad to see frequently. But Rosa, unconscious of herself, unacquainted with men and things, stayed in a corner of the catodio (the windowless ground-floor room of the Sicilian people) and thought only of the Totò of her heart. He, safely arrived at New York, had written her a letter announcing that the merchandise from Palermo was unloaded, and that an American cargo would probably be taken on board either there or at Boston, to which city, according to what the boatswain had told him, the Maria was to go. For Totò were Rosa’s thoughts, for Totò her vows, upon Totò all her hopes were fixed ; and when he wrote to her again and told her that the trip to Boston had not been made, and that the ship, already loaded with grain, would sail the next night, she, beside herself with joy, ran to light a lamp before the Mother of Mercies, in order that the Madonna might keep over him her holy hands. The news arrived on Saturday, the day of all the good gifts that Heaven concedes, — the day during which, according to the devotees of the Virgin, the sun appears seven times.

The following Monday, the mother and daughter made ready for the journey to the Souls of the Beheaded. These souls, it may be explained, are those of persons who have been executed, according to or against justice. The Sicilian populace believe that they are beneficent spirits, tutelar genii who aid and defend those who recommend themselves to them, who pray to them, or who make a pilgrimage to the church that bears their name, on the banks of the river Oreto. The legends concerning them are among the most curious known ; and one must hear the gossips relate these stories in order to comprehend the singular devotion which is felt for these souls by women and by men, especially sailors.

Towards six o’clock in the morning, Rosa and her mother, wrapped in brown shawls, issued together from the house, and made their way toward Porta di Termini, called in these days Porta Garibaldi. According to the rite, complete silence must be observed ; and the women remained mute until, having gone beyond the Borgo, they heard the sinister baying of a dog. At the first bark, as at a presage of great woe, they trembled for the poor sailor ; considering that the howl of a dog during the journey to the Souls of the Beheaded is of ill omen. So, too, would be a harsh voice, a negative reply between two passers, the appearance of a humpbacked woman or of a priest. Trembling like reeds, neither Rosa nor her mother dared to break the silence ; each trusting that the sound had been unnoticed by her companion, and that at all events the Blessed Souls would give no doubtful sign of their protection. They arrived at Porta di Termini, where donna Maricchia broke the silence by crossing herself in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and beginning at once to recite the rosary, Ave Maria, gratia plena.” And Rosa responded, “ Sancta Maria, mater Deum.” At every Ave Maria they told off a bead of the rosary, and at the tenth they bowed their heads with a Gloria Patri, and recited the refrain : —

Having finished in this manner the first of the fifteen parts of the rosary, they recited the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, which coincided with their arrival at the little church of the Annegati (those who were drowned), where they entered and prayed for Totò upon the high seas. As they set forth again upon their journey, they experienced a certain satisfaction in ending it with the litanies of Loreto, in sight of the church. There they entered and prostrated themselves with devotion, offering the rosary. The neat little church was thronged with women, all kneeling, ail whispering prayers. Donna Maricchia and Rosa collected their minds for an instant; then lifting their eyes to the high altar, they prayed with more fervor than ever before in their lives. Afterward they rose to their feet together, as if at a sign of command.

The journey was accomplished ; there remained to be learned the prognostications as to Totò’s voyage; and they could not do without these, under the frightful impression of the baying of that dog, — a baying which, if it could not really be called a howl, must at least be taken as a warning to use precautions. The auguries are to be had, clear and explicit, in the chapel to the right of the church, by listening. There the two women betook themselves, and drew near, trembling, to the slab set in the right-hand wall, through which, it is believed, are heard the answers of the souls to petitions ; and there Rosa and her mother applied their ears after having made some interrogations. What they heard, or what they believed they heard, may not be known; but from the smiling faces with which they went away It is presumable that the Souls of the Beheaded had given good tidings of the voyage of the beloved one. It is sure that before quitting the mysterious place the women gathered a flower from the oleander-tree planted there, and gave a small coin in alms to a blind woman crouching before the gate, who was quick to thank them with the words, “ May God repay it to you in blessings and in health, and may the Souls of the Beheaded accompany you by land and by sea.”

Monsù Nino felt some impatience to see again the beautiful girl who had seemed to him a celestial apparition. He passed frequently, without defining his motives, through the street of the Collegio di Maria, and he always looked at that door, gazing with all his might, feigning to be obliged to turn back ; but the door was hermetically closed, and he was not given to see a living soul. Among his thoughts was first, pertinaciously first and ever present, that of Rosa ; he cherished it, and found it more and more agreeable and charming. In his shop — over which he had recently exchanged the old-fashioned sign of Barber for the more pretentious one of Parlor — he was somewhat absent-minded ; and it happened to him more than once to pass a dry shaving-brush over the face of a customer, or to take off the apron before he had dressed the hair. Serious matters for a tonsorial artist! At home, his abstraction was still greater ; and when, as he reëntered the house, his father asked him how many shaves he had made that day, he, who was accustomed to keep a minute account of everything, delayed to answer, not really remembering whether he had shaved any one, or if so, how many.

“Has anything happened to you?” his mother inquired one day, amazed at the change in him. “ You have seemed to me odd for some weeks.”

“ No, mamma. It is that I have in my head a sort of confusion; I don’t know what it means.”

“ But why don’t you let a doctor see you ? Rather, it would be better to go to your old employer, who, as a barber, ought to know more than the doctors. Go to him.”

“ Really there is no need ; however, I will see. But meanwhile ”—

“ ‘ But meanwhile ’ ? Is there something on your mind ? Speak. Confide in your mother.”

“ Nothing, nothing.” And Nino cut short the conversation ; and, an unusual thing for him, went to bed soon after Ave Maria.

In order to procure sleep he tried various expedients ; and when he had slept, he found it easier to awaken than to slumber again. He thought of the old sailor’s daughter, whom he had seen again that morning; he contemplated her with the eyes of his mind and admired her, — a sweet vision that brought to him joy together with a soft tranquillity. And why was all this ? He himself did not know.

Nino had seen hundreds of girls in his quarter of the city ; and he had forgotten the number of those who on Sunday, when he went to the parish church of Santa Lucia to hear mass and took his place near the sacristy, shot certain sly glances at him that were enough to tempt a saint. Yet those girls, even the most beautiful among them, did not at all resemble Rosa; indeed, were not worth a hair of her head. No one was more simple and more majestic, more charming and modest. He did not understand that this admiration was love ; and he hardly stopped to consider why the daughter of a sailor, seen only once, should be for him the object of so much contemplation. The word “ love,” moreover, appeared to him vulgar and trite, for he had loved several girls in his quarter of the city, and twice had been even betrothed.

However, his impatience to see her again increased as the days went by, but brought him almost no hope of meeting her. In time, a lucky opportunity came to give him a brief comfort.

It was the Friday of Holy Week ; and according to traditional rite they were to carry through the Borgo the dead Christ and the Madonna Addolorata, — a procession equaled by few in Sicily, and at whose passage no eye remains dry. Rosa had been invited by the mother of Totò, who lived in a house with a balcony, not far distant. Whatever might have been Rosa’s purpose to remain in retirement, she could not disregard the invitation without danger of offending Totò. The refusal of any plan, in itself suitable, made by the future mother-in-law during her son’s absence is a grave offense toward his family, and still worse any pretext whatever for not going to the house ; for this, as a presumable sign of little trust and no regard for the mother of the betrothed, would certainly make a break between the two families and prevent the marriage.

Rosa, therefore, accompanied by donna Maricchia, went to the house of her future mother-in-law, and, on meeting her, kissed her hand and imprinted resonant kisses upon her lips. Totò’s mother received her gladly, and said the kindest things to donna Maricchia, whose schoolmate she had been when they were little girls.

The crowd began to turn from Corso Scinà into the street of the Collegio di Maria; and it constantly increased, so that when there appeared the gigantic palm-tree that surmounts the bier of the dead Christ, the street was all one moving tapestry of caps, hats, kerchiefs, shawls, and veils. The urchins went before, rejoicing, and behind them came venders of pumpkin seeds, waffles, beans, toasted carob pods, biscuits, small cakes, and the inevitable and always well-patronized anise water.

The pious procession was headed by two drummers in red robes, carrying drums muffled with a large black cloth, which impressed the public with their deep and gloomy sound, like a voice smothered in the throat. Behind came the Mysteries, borne by girls and boys: one dressed as San Giovanni Battista, another as an apostle, others as Santa Rosalia, la Maddalena, Santa Lucia, and as angels winged in all sorts of ways; each one carrying an emblem of the Passion, the cross, the ladder, the nails, the lance, the sponge. There were some who scattered flowers, and others who bore a basket with sacred images. Everybody admired an archangel Michael, very grand in silk, ribbons, tassels, gold and silver tinsel, and dazzling colors. Then followed the confraternities of the Crucified and of the Mother of Sorrows: workmen elegantly dressed, freshly shaven and combed, who held each a taper, under leadership of the most expert among them. These chiefs are called bacchette, because of a long wand crowned with a holy image in metal, which they move backward, forward, right, and left amid the procession, straightening the ranks; officials who have their authority from the superior and his aids.

Among these bacchette, not unnaturally, was monsù Nino, who, on account of his youth and his irreproachable toilet, attracted much attention. When the confraternity of the Crucified had gone some way in the street of the Collegio di Maria, it was obliged to halt and wait for the rest of the procession, left a little way behind in the Corso Scinà. Then monsù Nino saw the necessity of readjusting the line of the brethren, which showed some irregularity in its movement. Here he drew out, there he pushed in, a comrade; elsewhere he straightened a taper, or, in an undertone, recommended precision ; going back and forth with an air of importance, as if to say, “ Do you see ? If I were not here, who knows how things would go ! ” Chancing to raise his eyes to a balcony, he saw Rosa, — none but her. At that sight, perhaps because it was unexpected, he remained disconcerted and confused. Recovering himself somewhat, he felt a strong beating of the heart, quickly followed by a sense of profound satisfaction and of unaccustomed joy. As he turned back, he had leisure to look again at Rosa, but furtively and for a moment only, for he could not stop, neither dared he expose himself to the danger of being observed. Red with agitation, he took out his pocket handkerchief to wipe the copious perspiration from his face, and then it was that Rosa looked at him for the first and only time, and without taking much notice. Monsù Nino, who had quite lost his compass, as is the saying, no longer refrained from casting ardent glances at her; so that when the procession began to move, he stood still. But finally, as if swept along by the stream, he went onward, — needless to say with what regret on his part; for he would have liked to linger near that sweet vision, a cause of joy such as he had never felt.

There passed the confraternity of the Crucified and that of the Mother of Sorrows ; there came the Augustine friars from the monastery of the Consolation, then the clergy of the parish of Santa Lucia. And the curiosity of the bystanders was aroused by the splendid stole of the priest, where against a black groundwork stood out rich and elaborate embroideries in gold, with two magnificent precious stones set near the ends. But when the funeral march from Ione was heard, and the Jews were seen to advance, in dark armor, with visors closed, at the right and the left of the monument of Jesus Christ, a shudder ran through the bones of every one. and curiosity became sacred fear.

“ Oh, see those shut visors ! ” exclaimed Rosa, frightened.

“Look ! ” rejoined her future motherin-law. “ Those warriors are poor fellows who for two lire will even act as Jews.”

“ But why do not they let themselves be seen ? ”

“ That would be the last touch. If they were recognized, they would be hooted at for the rest of their lives; and you know, Rosa, that the nickname of Jew is not a fine compliment in Sicily.”

At the sound of a watchman’s rattle the bier halted, and those upon the balcony had time to contemplate the features of the Christ, which, apart from the piety that it excited, was a marvelous work of art.

Donna Maricchia was weeping, as also the mistress of the house ; Rosa wiped away her tears, and her father was somewhat pale in the face and very grave.

Another turn of the watchman’s rattle, and the bier was raised, creaking, while the palm-tree shook. Not long after appeared and advanced the litter of the Madonna Addolorata : a tall, erect, majestic figure, with hands lightly clasped as if mourning a deep and immeasurable grief. The hands and face were of wax, and waxen of color, which gave to the image a gloomy appearance. It was dressed in a robe that in front was of white linen in very minute plaits ; behind trailed a black velvet mantle, imposing in its majesty. As it passed, the women fell on their knees and sobbed.

A week had elapsed since monsù Nino had seen Rosa for the third time, and although he had made efforts to see her again, he had not succeeded. Rosa’s door was always closed, as if the catodio were an enchanted castle. If at first his nights had been interrupted by long hours of wakefulness, now the wakefulness was rarely lost in a brief sleep. The woman concerning whom he had not sought to know the nature of his feelings was now—he could no longer doubt it — no less than the object of his most potent passion. And how could he have failed to be charmed by her beauty ? What girl was tall and flexible as she, or more noble of bearing? Her hair,— oh, it must be the eighth wonder of the world, if he, who had handled so much hair, had never seen any more abundant, more glossy and black! To love her, then, was necessary; not to he loved in return was a distress to which he could in no wise resign himself.

But how could he gain her love if she was inaccessible? In so much doubt, it appeared to him a happy idea to open his mind to a friend, a young shoemaker, who had been one of his best customers ever since monsù Nino had set up shop on his own account, and who, because of the intimate friendship, had ended by becoming his chosen compare di San Giovanni, his sworn ally.

“ And if I don’t succeed in making her love me,” was the conclusion of monsù Nino’s discourse, “as true as the Lord I ’ll kill myself ! ”

“ But why kill yourself and kill yourself ! When did a man ever kill himself for a woman ? ”

“ Surely I will kill myself ! ”

“ When I was betrothed to Peppa, head of a queen, — they called her so, you know, because really she had a queenly way with her head, — and on account of some obstacles I could not marry her, I did not kill myself. What an idea ! ”

“ And therefore ? ” asked Nino, looking steadily at him.

“ Therefore don’t take the thing with your teeth ! Seek to meet her and move her feelings; try every means possible and imaginable.”

“ And if I do not succeed ? ’’

“ Then put Iter out of your mind. You know that there are so many women in the world that if a division were to be made of them, we should have three apiece! ”

“ That sounds like you ! Jesting apart, I cannot, I will not., live without the love of Rosa. How can I gain it?”

“ What a child you are ! Have not you your guitar ? Do you not know how to sing the most beautiful Sicilian songs ? Well, take another young fellow with you, — for instance, the son of gnu’ Paolo, the coachman ; I make three, and we can give Rosa a fine serenade. If she is not deaf, if her heart is not made of stone, to hear your voice, and,” he added, smiling, “ mine, her feelings must be touched.”

Monsù Nino saw open before him such a brilliant horizon as he had never imagined. He, with his rare skill in playing the guitar and with his inexhaustible repertory of songs, had aided so many friends and triumphed over so many obstacles.

“You are a godsend of a fellow! ” exclaimed monsù Nino, enraptured, and he printed a hearty kiss on the lips of the shoemaker.

That evening, two hours before midnight, a trio of young men, monsù Nino with the guitar, gnu’ Ciccio the coachman with the triangle, and compare Vanni the shoemaker with the Jew’s-harp, made their way, quiet as oil, through the street of the Collegio di Maria. When they were arrived before the house of Rosa, they improvised an instrumental piece, melancholy and pathetic; when this was ended, another, and with it a song. At, the sound, the neighbors looked out, surprised at a serenade given to Rosa, who was betrothed, and soon to be married. The comments, therefore, were not few, and had a certain tinge of malignity. All at once a voice sang : —

It was gnu’ Ciccio, with his silvery tones, who opened the serenade. At the end of the song he was greeted by a murmur of approbation, not only from the neighbors, but also from passers attracted by the melancholy nocturne. Monsù Nino’s emotion was so great that, although it was his part to begin the serenade, he had not the power to sing, even after gnu’ Ciccio. So compare Vanni, at the top of his voice, began : —

The public took a lively interest in this song, in which was heard an intonation of deep sadness rendered with artistic ability of no mean order. A general exclamation of “ Good ! ” echoed through the silence of the night as far as the Marina.

The music ceased for a moment, and there was heard a confused talking of the people, ignorant as to the object of this unusual serenade.

“Which of the three was the lover?”

“ For whom was the serenade? ”

“ Was there an understanding between the singer and the girl ? ”

And the questions thickened, without receiving any certain reply. Curiosity was partially appeased when gnu’ Ciccio and compare Vanni began another song:

“ I am come to sing at lovely Rosa’s door, For in the world none is so fair as she.”

As the ottava went on, the people understood something, and when the singer accentuated the name of Rosa in the final lines,

a “ Goo-oo-ood ! ” still louder and more earnest, rewarded the song. Monsù Nino prepared to close the performance with another ditty which he had selected from his immense stock of minstrelsy. He, who had always found songs for all the girls of that quarter of the town, with their own names interwoven, —he, a real celebrity in his line, could not fail to find a song suitable for the Rosa of his heart.

A delighted clapping of hands approved the song; but monsu Nino quietly withdrew from the crowd, which had now become large, and made his way through silent and deserted streets.

The next day there was great talk about the serenade ; but the household to which it had been addressed knew nothing of it, and no one took upon himself to speak to them about it. Only after two days a comare of the neighborhood, chatting of things greater and less with donna Maricchia, and asking her when her daughter’s wedding was to be celebrated, let slip a reference to the serenade. Donna Maricchia indignantly protested that she had heard nothing of it, begged that her husband should be kept in ignorance, and added excitedly, “ Oh, if he should hear of it! A serenade at our house ! Oh, are we fashionable Palermitans, that they should come to sing a nocturne to us ? What a shame. O Lord, what a shame !”

“ The shame is n’t yours, dear donna Maricchia. Where you set your feet they are not worthy to put their faces, these idle fellows that disturb the peace of families and turn the heads of girls ! ”

“ And were there many of those fellows, comare ? ”

“ Three, they say ; but I did not see them.”

“ But the impudent one who permitted himself to do all this, — who is he ? ”

“ They say it was monsù Nino the barber.”

“ Monsù Nino ? The son of that good creature Melchiorra ? ”

“ The very same.”

Donna Maricchia was red as a pepper, and sent out fire in all directions.

“ A serenade to my daughter Rosa ! I can’t give myself peace about it. And on the eve, as it were, of her marriage with a pearl of a lad like Totò! O Lord, what a horror! And if my husband should know it, if Totò should hear of it! For pity’s sake, comare, say nothing to any one about it ! ”

“ The eggs ! ” cried a man, all out of breath, before the door of donna Maricchia’s house. “ The eggs ! ” And he tossed his cap in the air in sign of joy.

A vender of household linen who was passing by heard the voice without understanding either the exclamation or the gesture; but donna Maricchia and Rosa broke forth in a long “ O-oh ! ’ of delight, and in a “ Thank the Lord ! which expressed their gratitude to God for Totò’s safe return to Palermo. The man, in fact, who had sighted the Maria in the gulf, had run here and there to the families of the crew, in order to be the first to bring the joyful tidings.

The announcement is made by throwing the cap into the air, in token of supreme contentment, and asking for a reward for the news, which in old times was given in the form of eggs, and now may be either in eggs or in money. So that without a word of the sight of the ship, or of her entrance into the port of Palermo, the herald began, in an extremely elliptic manner, with the end of his message, asking for the meed of his happy news.

The two women had been thinking, for the moment, of making a small purchase of cloth to complete the bridal outfit, and were undecided whether to call to the peddler, when the boatman appeared. (It is always boatmen who bring the news of the arrivals in port to the families of the sailors.)

“ May the Lord repay you, zu Turi ! ” exclaimed donna Maricchia, who had recognized in the bearer of the tidings an old oarsman of her husband’s crew.

“And has the Maria come in?” asked Rosa, trembling with joy.

“ Quite otherwise, donna Rusidda mine ; she is in sight, however, and in three or four hours will be in port.”

“ Three or four hours! Madonna santissima ! so long as that .! ”

“ Of course. The Maria is at Cape Gallo ; and I tell you it took my eyesight to make her out. I know her, that brigantine ; she has a wide white streak on her hull, and a blue pennon with white lettering, — Maria. These things, you can barely see them, you know ; but that that brigantine is the Maria I give you my word. Now, the wind is not quite favorable, and she must tack in order to come into port.”

“Tack ! ” said Rosa. “ Do not ships tack all the time, on the sea ? ”

“ All the time ! No. You were born yesterday, donna Rusidda. Ask your father, who knows more about it than I do. When sailing ships arrive with a head wind, they must profit by the little flaws that they may meet anywhere in the gulf of Palermo. Do you know the stairway of Monte Pellegrino ? As we cannot climb straight up the steep mountain, we get there by a zigzag road : suppose that the mountain were a plain, and the plain a sea.”

“ But then ? ”

“ Then, if by tacking they meet a fresh breeze, toward noon the Maria will be anchored in port. Meanwhile it is late, and I leave you with holy peace.”

“Wait, zu Turi,” said donna Maricchia, a little embarrassed. “ You see I have no eggs, for my hens have all died with this accursed pip ; this Italian government sends cholera even to the hens. Excuse me, and I thank you.” So saying, she put a lira into the hand which was held out to her as Turi returned his thanks.

As he went away he met the father of Rosa, who, having sighted the Maria, was hastening to tell his family.

“ First come, first served ! ” exclaimed the boatman, smiling. “ I got the eggs this time.”

“ What! Do they know it already, zu Turi ? ”

“ But I went to tell them ! ”

“ So much the better,” answered the father contentedly, and. quickening his steps, he was soon at home.

“ Have you heard? ” he asked, as his wife and daughter came toward him.

“ Now we must go to meet Totò,” said Rosa, without fear of contradiction.

“ Go to meet him ! ” observed the father, who was not disposed to do so.

“ What did you expect to do ? ” rebutted donna Maricchia. “ We must go to meet the Maria ; if not, difficulties might arise.”

“ With whom ? ” asked her husband.

“ With the relatives of Totò. You know how touchy his mother is. If she were to go, and not see us, what offense she might take ! ”

“ Touchy or not, offense or not.” interrupted Rosa. “ I want to go to see him; and you will not deny me this pleasure, will you?”

“ Have your own way about the trip,” concluded the father. “ Get ready, and we will go.”

In an instant the two women were prepared; and after a few steps they were at the landing of the Borgo, where zu Turi was awaiting them.

When the rowboat arrived at the Molo, the brigantine Maria, with all sails set, was entering superbly into port, Niue or ten boats, filled with the families of the crew, saw her pass at a short distance from them, giving and taking salutations. Totò had hardly time to receive his welcome, when, at the command of captain Ammaina, he, first of the sailors, leaped up the yards to obey orders. His manoeuvres were so brilliant as to fill with admiration the spectators, who did not fail to praise the dash of the young mariner, his readiness in taking in the sails, and his skill in furling them as he lay flat upon the spars. Totò was bronzed by the sun ; and the dark color of his face, and his head covered by a fine new cap, gave him an attractive appearance. Rosa was beside herself with joy ; and seeing that she was the object of the persistent glances of the visitors to the ship, she lowered her eyes and blushed. Totò understood it all, and although unwillingly, he begged his future father-in-law not to inconvenience himself any longer, for it was a busy moment; and soon, when the ship was anchored, he would come to find them.

“You are right,” said the father, and at once, upon his sign to the boatman to row, they left the throng and went home.

After the serenade and the consequent applause, our Figaro felt in somewhat better spirits. The music was a success : Rosa’s family must have understood that it was a tribute to her, and the public had been with him. Gnu’ Ciccio and compare Vanni had assured him that it was a splendid affair, and must produce something good. He therefore waited.

Yet his mind was gnawed by the doubt lest Rosa loved that commonplace Totò too much to decide to love himself. “ These daughters of sailors,” he thought, a are attached to the sea folk, and will have nothing to do with us polite people. See how they take iron instead of gold ! A sailor instead of a barber, a common fellow instead of an elegant man ! Only to touch my hands, always soft and perfumed, there is felt the difference between them and those rough, tarry ones ! But no, this cannot go on. Rosa shall be mine, as true as the Lord ! Monsù Nino will never yield to all the Totòs of this earth, let come what may! ”

And raving like this, he planned a strange thing, one which would give the whole Borgo something to talk about, and would even get into the newspapers of Palermo : another serenade, on the very evening of his rival’s return, and when the latter would be in the house of the bride, — a bold resolution that would show what courage he had. When he spoke of it to his friends, they all sought to dissuade him : he would expose himself to an ugly risk ; and then, in fact, Totò was the formally betrothed lover. The serenade would be a real challenge, a provocation to bloodshed ; the public itself would disapprove him, and the thing might end badly.

But monsù Nino had lost his reason ; and between his mad love for Rosa and the mistaken idea of his own dignity, he insisted so resolutely that his comrades had to agree ; also in order not to appear to draw back from a difficult situation. And indeed, monsù Nino was a friend, and also a compare di San Giovanni, and even at the risk of their skins they must not forsake him.

The day following this resolution, precisely the day of the arrival of the Maria, while Totò, happy to find himself in Rosa’s presence, was relating little by little, between her languorous glances and his fiery ones, the adventures, he heard a sudden sound of instruments, and a Sonorous voice that ex abrupto began the praises of a girl. Astonished he listened, and with him the relatives of the bride ; they could hear plainly the words : —

The voice paused ; then the strophe was followed by a loud and sustained sound of the guitar, the triangle, and this time a hand-organ. Who was it ? Who dared to come to sing before that house ? And who was this symbolic Rose? The hearers looked at each other with amazement, unable to account to themselves for the things ; the voice began again :

The street, the house, the name, all concurred to prove that the praises were indeed for Totò’s Rosa. — for her who less than any one else knew what was meant by this new performance. Needless to say that the face of Totò began to cloud with the suspicion that something extraordinary had taken place during his absence. The voice pursued : —

Totò, beside himself, quivering with anger, looked from one to another of the family, with sinister thoughts. Rosa comprehended nothing; donna Maricelna asked, with ill-dissembled scorn, “ Oh, who are these impertinent fellows that permit themselves to come to sing before our house ? ”

“ They must be rowdies ! ” exclaimed the master of the house ; while from outside was heard : —

The song ended in the midst of clapping of hands. Totò was furious.

“ Calm yourself,” Rosa said softly to him. “ It can only be some idlers who go about amusing themselves at night.”

“ Calm yourself,” repeated donna Maricchia, while her husband muttered threats.

At this point the musicians went away. and everything outside resumed its former stillness. Totò, partly because of the gentle words of his betrothed, and partly because he did not wish to disturb those precious moments, was silent; yet within his heart he was agitated by the unexpected event, and by the need to clear up the affair in all its particulars.

The conversation was brief; his answers were short and not always to the point. At ten o’clock he had already left the house.

The occurrence was too serious to be passed over; and the good Totò, even with the most peaceable intentions, could not have disregarded the duty, or rather the right, to have reparation.

Therefore, as soon as he had quitted Rosa, with his breast filled with anger, he hastened to the house of an intimate friend ; and having related what had happened, he received from the latter, who knew something about the ugly affair, minute information as to tbe facts: bow that madcap of a monsù Nino had permitted himself the two serenades, although sharply reproved for it by all the neighbors, and despite the danger of getting his ribs broken by somebody born of a Friday. “ What is to be done about it ? concluded the friend, as if asking himself.

“ What is to be done about it ? Blood of the devil ! ” raged Totò. “Is it necessary to inquire what is to be done ? I ’ll go myself to face the scoundrel, and cure him of the liking to sing about the ‘ rose ’ of my boots. A piece of twisted rope with a Turk’s-head knot at the end of it is what I ’ll take to his back. Blood of the devil! ”

The friend discovered from these words that, unfortunately, Totò, as a seaman, knew nothing of the customs of the land. “To treat a barber as you would a sailor!" he thought within himself, “but that is not the way.” After a little reflection, “ Listen.” he said. “ Some things, either you do them or you don’t; and if they are done — forgive me if I speak plainly — they have to be done according to the rules.”

“ So that ? ”

“ So that, in my judgment, it is not the regular thing that you should think of flogging a fellow who, for one reason or another, has tried to make love to your betrothed. And I call her yours because he knew very well that Rosa was yours, and could not be for another. According to the rules, you must go further than you imagine.”

Which would be to say ? ”

“ You must force him to a duel. That ’s all.” A detailed explanation followed as to the conduct to be maintained in such an event, the methods and resolves to be adopted, and the precautions to be taken; and Totò was so thoroughly taught the laws of popular chivalry that, as he listened, he kindled fiercely against monsù Nino, and determined to challenge and defeat him at all hazards.

After a night of horrible anguish from ill-repressed wrath, hatred of the offender, and perhaps not on account of the difficulty in which he was placed, but because of the sorrow that it would occasion to his mother and to Rosa, he issued at daybreak from the house, with the pretext of having to go on board his ship, and betook himself straight to the shop of monsu Nino.

At that hour the shop was closed ; and Totò walked back and forth, the prey to an indescribable agitation. It appeared to him that he saw his rival, with an infernal sneer, coming to meet him with words of icy irony ; and that he, wild with excitement, threw himself with a murderous weapon upon the offender and killed him ; then, with blood-stained hands, he seemed to flee toward the home of Rosa, present himself, sated with revenge, to the women, but to see them draw back horrified, hide their faces in their hands, and run away from him. At this point he realized the ferocity of his imaginary crime, and a shudder of horror seized him, while he raised his eyes to heaven as if to give thanks that all this had been only a fantastic vision.

And behold monsù Nino advancing, preoccupied and excited. When he was near, Totò spoke.

“ Friend,” said he, “ are you monsù Nino ? ”

“ Have you commands to give to monsu Nino ? ”

“ A request. Have you perhaps some pretensions to Rosa ? ”

“ Surely.”

“And she returns your feeling? ”

“ No.”

“ And do you know that she is betrothed ? ”

“ I know it.”

“ And that her betrothed is your servant ? ”

“ So much honor and pleasure.”

“ And now what do you propose to do ? ”

“Continue to love her until she decides for you or for me. And whoever is offended shall pay for the drinks. ’

Here Totò lost patience, and, contrary to the advice received, called his rival schtfiusu.

“ Schifitisu yourself ! ” retorted monsù Nino, who knew all the value of the word and the exceptional gravity of the outrage. He felt in his pockets for a weapon,and not finding any. calmed himself somewhat; then approached Totò, bit his ear slightly, and embraced and kissed him. Then having received a kiss and embrace in return, he detached himself from the sailor, and said to him in a low voice, “ Put yourself on horseback, and go to the street of the Cavallacci.”

The excitement of mind of the two rivals may be comprehended from their dialogue, which is in Sicily the ritual for such cases. The term “ schifiusu ” east in a man’s face is the greatest insult that can be uttered to him ; for it means an abject man. in everyway despicable, capable of any base action, of any vileness, including that of having secret relations with the police. The embrace and the kiss are given for life and for death; the bite of the ear signifies, Let us go to fight with knives, and either you or I must die ; then they go to their homes to arm themselves, which is called setting one’s self on horseback.

There was no time to lose ; and both, as if it had not been any affair of theirs, went away: Totò by the Corso So in a, for he was already armed ; and monsù Nino to his house, from which, after taking a long and pointed knife, he set forth by the same Corso to overtake his antagonist.

It will appear, and certainly it is, strange and almost incredible that two men, hating each other mortally, meditating the fiercest purposes of revenge, and who the next moment may be wounded or slain, should join so cynically and go together to the scene of their destruction. And yet so it is. It is not possible, without knowledge of the nature and of certain theories of the Sicilian people, to understand the reason of their procedure and the laws by which it is governed. It is true that in the duel of higher society something similar takes place ; but there everything is arranged and foreseen, and also there are witnesses, who are never present at the duels of the common people. Here the combatants go off together, even arm in arm, to the chosen spot, quietly and silently, as if they were on their way to work or to the most harmless rendezvous. With no witnesses but themselves, they brandish their weapons and maintain their cause. Who falls was in the wrong ; and nothing will ever be known of the deed of blood, because neither victor nor vanquished will ever breathe a word of it, as a duty of pmerità.

Totò and monsù Nino arrived like good friends at the remotest spot of the Cavallacci, a road of sinister fame, especially in the past, for these encounters, They threw their clothes on the ground, and stood in their under-drawers; they agreed that the blows should be given at the trunk, as it was a question of grave offense. In a moment they paced the distance, opened with a sharp and dreadful click the blades of their claspknives, crossed them, and the give and take of Mows began. Monsù Nino, resolved to make an end, struck at the breast of his opponent; the latter, however, because reluctant to kill a man, and because, notwithstanding the lessons of his friend, he was but little versed in the etiquette of chivalry, aimed at the arms.

The Sicilian proverb calls “ blow of an inexpert ” a stroke which hits the mark, given by one who does not understand the art of the duel; thus Totò, who had handled only the sailor’s knife which he wore in his belt, succeeded in setting in a good blow on the arm, so that the knife fell from the hand of monsù Nino and the blood spurted copiously. Totò, horrified at what he bad done, threw away his weapon, and, approaching the wounded mail with pity, hastened to compress the arm in order to stop the bleeding.

“ Blow of an inexpert ! ” monsù Nino told him.

Totù answered with a kiss ; not such as that with which the vulgar victor of a duel takes leave of the wounded or the dead, hut the tender kiss of one who has been impelled to the desperate pass only by a hard and unavoidable necessity. Still compressing the wound, he gently laid monsù Nino upon a rock, and did not. move from his side until the latter regained his color and was able to go home. Then Totò gave the wounded man his arm, led him away from the illomened place, and as soon as he saw a carriage made him mount into it, directing the coachman to carry him home, and paying the fare beforehand.

The encounter was soon heard of at the Borgo, and was the theme of talk for a week. “ Well done,” said one. “Totò did wrong.” said another; “he ought to have left him stretched on the ground like a dog.”“ Blow of an inexpert ! ” added a third.

The satisfaction of those who had no patience with overbearing ways was extreme when Totò’s great success became known. “Look!” they exclaimed. “What are we coming to! To wish to take away, in that outrageous manner, for mafia, the bride of a fellow who never harmed any one! It takes these evil days to see such an infamy.”

On the other hand, the habitués of monsù Nino’s shop, having learned of the defeat of their friend, came in throngs to visit him ; and, as the reports of his wound had been exaggerated, were rejoiced to find him tranquil, and even cheerful.

“ What could you expect, ? ” he said, jesting. “ Blow of an inexpert. But if he had come straight at me, as true as the Lord, I should have cut him to the heart.”

Everybody knew of the duel except the police, who, even if they had heard of it, never would have found out anything; for when such affairs take place no one ever opens his mouth, neither the offended nor the offender nor the families of either, because an informer is considered infamous. Fortunately, things went well for all: for Totò, who, without ever before having wielded a weapon, had conquered a man who was reckoned one of the most able duelists of the quarter ; for monsù Nino, who after all might have gotten a knife through his body, and came off with only a scratch ; for from that moment they became friends, monsù Nino having come to himself again, and apologized to Totò for his wrong-doing. Also for the public things had gone well. — for the public that in this victory of the humble sailor recognized the hand of God, who loves justice and mercy.

And Rosa?

Rosa, who shed so many tears at hearing of the misdeeds of the barber and of the dangers encountered by her lover, is now happy to be the wife of Totò the boatswain.

G. Pitrè.