Grazia had been smiling at her grandmother’s invective but at her final words the girl’s face became grave. Paolo, who had also been smiling at his mother’s rant, suddenly pushed his knife through the prongs of his fork, while Efes Maria, his face carefully set in a mask of tragedy, glanced spitefully at Giovanna.

Giovanna blushed. ‘I’m not married any longer, Porredda,’ she said. ‘Ask your son.’

It sounded as if Giovanna were blaming Paolo for what she was about to do, because he had supported the separation case and was promising an instant divorce.

‘I have no son,’ Porredda replied angrily. ‘That’s the devil’s son.’

At this, they all laughed, including Minnia and even the maid, who came in carrying a plate of cheese. Despite her rage, Porredda took the plate and passed it courteously to Bachisia.

‘My friend,’ the old woman said sadly, ‘you are so very generous, but you are well-off. Your husband is a tower of strength and you’re surrounded by a crown of stars. Look at them. If you only knew what it was to be poor and to have to beg in your old age. Do you understand? In old age.’

‘Bravo!’ cried Paolo.

‘That’s not what matters, Bachisia Era,’ replied Porredda. ‘The reason you do not trust divine providence is because you don’t believe in God. How do you know whether you’re going to be a beggar or a rich woman? Won’t Costantino Ledda come back?’

‘He’ll be a beggar too,’ Bachisia said coldly.

‘God knows whether he will return,’ remarked the lawyer brutally. They all knew that Costantino was ill with consumption.

So as to seem upset, as she may indeed have been, Giovanna hid her face in her hands.

‘The real marriage is the religious one, anyhow,’ she muttered. ‘If God has punished us it’s as Costantino himself said. Because we were married outside God’s law.’

‘Tell him that when he comes back,’ cried Porredda. ‘Paolo himself says that, for the time being, you can’t marry another man. If Costantino returns he’ll kill you or have you sent to prison.’

‘That will be my punishment,’ Giovanna murmured, resignedly. ‘No one can escape their fate.’

‘As I’ve told you dozens of times, all this is nonsense,’ Paolo said. ‘If you want Brontu, take him, but don’t marry him. Then if Costantino returns and you’re tired of Brontu, you can go back to Costantino. Man and woman should be united spontaneously and separate when they don’t get on. Man—’

‘You’re an animal,’ screamed Porredda, though it was not the first time she had heard her son talk in this way. ‘It’s the end of the world, the Day of Judgement. God is tired, and with good cause. He’ll send the flood to punish us. They say there’s already been an earthquake.’