Carmella Commands
“All the doings of that girl,” said Mrs. Barrington, registering contempt.
“Like enough,” agreed her husband, returning to the sporting pages.
Carmella’s elation over a dream-come-true kept her buoyant for many days. She visioned Tommaso as one of the big business men of Little Italy. Perhaps, in time, he would grow beyond its boundaries and establish a home in a fashionable part of the city. Other Italians had. But her mother! Carmella could not see Maria fitting such a setting.
Yet of late, she reflected, she had been vaguely puzzled by a look of comprehension on her mother’s face when she and the younger children were speaking English.
Maturing perceptibly in her sense of triumph over the new firm, Carmella began to display an increasing independence. Maria watched anxiously, afraid to speak, yet afraid of the consequences if she did not. She had seen many daughters of Little Italy wander in strange and perilous paths for lack of guidance.
One evening Carmella did not wait for the telephone to ring, but went to it herself, leaving the dishes untouched. Tommaso was at a lodge meeting. Sitting in the kitchen, Maria heard her call Amelia, and then:
“I’m coming over to study.”
“What’s that? Stay all night. Fine!”
“What? Oh, yes, I’ll bring my things.”
[252]
