Noemi was thinking with profound pity of poor far-away Jeanne.
III
The innkeeper at Jenne was a worthy, gravely courteous man, in
spectacles, who, having been to America, could be said to know the
world, but who seemed to have escaped its corrupting influences. To the
new-comers he spoke of Benedetto favourably, on the whole, but with a
certain diplomatic reserve. He did not call him "the Saint," he called
him "Fra Benedetto." The Selvas learned from him that Benedetto occupied
a cabin belonging to the innkeeper himself, in payment of which he
tilled a small piece of ground. Those who wished to see him must
wait until eleven o'clock. Now he was mowing the grass. His life was
regulated in the following manner: At dawn he went to hear the parish
priest say Mass, then he worked until eleven. He ate only bread, herbs,
and fruit and drank only water. In the afternoon he worked in the fields
of widows and orphans. In the evening, seated before his door, he talked
of religion.
At half-past eleven, the Selvas and Noemi accompanied by the innkeeper's
wife--a fine, big woman, very neat, very simple, and gay in a quiet
way--went to visit Sant' Andrea, the church of Jenne.
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