Carmella Commands
mella reached the platform. “Any relation to this boy?”
“For heaven’s sake, no, Judge! A relation to that yellow pup! But I’m a friend of his mother. My father is Tommaso Coletta, the big contractor.”
This last sentence she proclaimed loudly and proudly, that all the court might hear. Whereupon the policemen present scratched their heads as they tried to place the name. They must look up Contractor Coletta. Evidently a new figure in the Italian colony, and as such to be reckoned with.
Calling the bail officer to his side, Judge Lawrence arranged to have Mrs. Pieri give a bond based on her sworn equity in the house she owned.
“You may do the interpreting,” he said to Carmella, and added: “What’s your name, young lady?”
“Carmella, in Italian. Kid Kate, in English.”
“Are you a friend of Mrs. Barrington?” he asked.
“Not exactly,” said Carmella firmly. “But I’ve been to her house.”
The judge smiled. Not in months had he enjoyed so enlivening an incident in court. Nor so engaging an interpreter. He had heard of a girl called Carmella-Kid Kate from Mrs. Barrington, at whose home he played auction bridge once a week. Carmella did not know it, but this was to help make the path of Nicolo easier when he came to trial. Judge Lawrence had small patience with foreign-speaking offenders who were brought into his court—but a defendant who
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