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"I don't know exactly how to describe it. Puzzled. It's an absurd
comparison, but suppose you threw a stone up into the air and it didn't
come down but just stayed there..."
"It would be rather bewildering," I smiled.
"Well, that's the sort of look he had."
It was difficult to know what to do with him. He had no money
and no means of getting any. His effects were sold, but for too little to
pay what he owed. He was English, and the Italian authorities did not
wish to make themselves responsible for him. The British Consul in
Naples had no funds to deal with the case. He could of course be sent
back to England, but no one seemed to know what could be done with
him when he got there. Then Assunta, the servant, said that he had
been a good master and a good tenant, and as long as he had the
money had paid his way; he could sleep in the woodshed in the
Cottage in which she and her husband lived, and he could share their
meals. This was suggested to him. It was difficult to know whether he
understood or not. When Assunta came to take him from the hospital
he went with her; without remark. He seemed to have no longer a will
of his own. She had been keeping him now for two years.
"It's not very comfortable, you know," said my friend. "They've
rigged him up a ramshackle bed and given him a couple of blankets,
but there's no window, and it's icy cold in winter and like an oven in
summer. And the food's pretty rough. You know how these peasants
eat: macaroni on Sundays and meat once in a blue moon."
"What does he do with himself all the time? "
"He wanders about the hills. I've tried to see him two or three
times, but it's no good; when he sees you coming he runs like a hare.
Assunta comes down to have a chat with me now and then and I give
her a bit of money so that she can buy him tobacco, but God knows if
he ever gets it."
"Do they treat him all right? " I asked.
"I'm sure Assunta's kind enough. She treats him like a child. I'm
afraid her husband's not very nice to him. He grudges the cost of his
keep. I don't believe he's cruel or anything like that, but I think he's a
bit sharp with him. He makes him fetch water and clean the cow-shed
and that sort of thing."
"It sounds pretty rotten," I said.
"He brought it on himself. After all, he's only got what he
deserved."