Carmella Commands
“They say,”—and this is what Carmella told Tommaso—“that four thousand dollars is too much. They will give you three thousand five hundred. It is not enough, padre mio. Tell them five thousand.”
“But why should I say five if four is too much? I will stick to four. Tell them again my price. They pay it or I do not sell.”
“What’s that?” asked Mr. Hastings.
“My dad says you make him sick. You wait and talk instead of say what you will do. While you talk over there, his price goes up. His price it is now five thousand. And if you talk more, it is six thousand.”
The two men glanced at each other, and Mr. Richmond’s eye seemed to droop in a code that his companion seemed to understand. Carmella, instinctively decoding the droop, had new courage.
“Listen, Miss Kate,” said Mr. Hastings. “Tell your father that he can’t rob us. We’ll offer him five thousand and that’s final.”
Carmella turned to her father and talked volubly. She explained that the two were trying to rob him, and that they offered only four thousand, although she had heard them say the land was worth twice that.
Tommaso spoke fervently. He declared that anyone who tried to rob him should be put in jail, and could do no business with him till time should be no more. Carmella turned to the two men:
“My dad he say six thousand now, and you pay his
[47]
