Carmella Commands
thing that would indicate to her father, if he understood it, how she had fooled him before. One of her problems was to discover just how much English Tommaso did understand. There were many times when it would be convenient to know.
Should he discover the truth, even though the trick was winning some thousands of dollars for him, Carmella could not guess what would happen. He might buy her a gift, or he might punish her. He might even do both. Of all the human beings she knew, Carmella admired her father the most, and understood him least. He was so silent, so determined, so heavy of hand.
She climbed into the rear seat beside Mr. Hastings and beckoned her father to follow. She would have liked to ride with Dixon, but she knew that she must be between the two men.
Without even a “good morning,” Mr. Hastings turned to Carmella and said:
“Has your father got the deed with him?” The girl translated, and Tommaso tapped his breast pocket.
“Let’s see it,” said Mr. Barrington’s agent. “I don’t want to foozle things out at the recorder’s office, now that we’ve decided to pay your dad’s hold-up.”
Always he talked to Carmella. And she thrilled at being her father’s agent in so vast an enterprise. She was to Tommaso what Hastings was to Barrington. Her anxiety could not entirely kill her sense of glory.
In previous affairs her task as family interpreter
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