Giorgio was always at their door, and in the beginning they took
some notice and quietened down.. Because I can tell you, that
woman was not a scrap better than her husband. No, once she
walked out on him, and I don’t blame her for that, things calmed
down a great deal. But what kind of woman leaves her children to
fend for themselves? What sort of world are we living in, priest,
what sort of world?’
‘It is indeed dreadful,’ affirms Vivaldi, ‘but what happened
then?’
‘Dead. Just like that, dead!’
‘Who?’ asks Vivaldi in alarm.
The woman stares at him in horror. ‘My Giorgio of course!
Worked all day as usual. Comes upstairs for his meal and collapses
halfway without so much as a hiccup.’
‘I am very sorry to hear it,’ commiserates Vivaldi.
‘Not a dying word passed his lips. Is that not remarkable,
Father? But at least he didn’t have to suffer like his brother. That
poor boy, did he suffer!’
‘Well, signora,’ interrupts Vivaldi, running out of patience
altogether. ‘The famiglia Giraud, how did things proceed for them?’
‘Oh, yes, well, as I said. His wife was gone and then he
only had the kids. And they didn’t fancy fighting all the time. So
everything went quiet and things got even better once Paolina came
back with the baby.’
‘Ah,’ frowns Vivaldi, ‘her sister Anna.’
‘That’s what she calls her, yes, but I’m not so sure. I don’t
know where the mother is nowadays, but I’m pretty certain she
wasn’t pregnant when she disappeared. But then who am I to know
what happened? Nobody knows everything, do they? But I must say
Paolina has taken good care of Anna. Like a real mother. But what
did they come back for? I mean, everything went fine at the
beginning. Paolina had the whole house organised in no time, the
shop and the workshop, and she even got those good-for-nothing
brothers helping out now and then. But the real miracle was Pietro.
He started working seriously again, and with Paolina in the shop it
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