“‘With those!’” he had shouted. “‘Should I have anything in common with those?’”
And he had certainly meant to say that he had nothing to do with robbers and murderers. The judge had smiled kindly at him, as if he had only waited for that answer to set him free.
And Gandolfo told, how among all the stolen things that lay on the table, there had also been a little Christ image. It was a yard high, richly covered with jewels and adorned with a gold crown and gold shoes. Just at that moment one of the officers bent down to draw the image to him; and as he did so, the crown fell to the floor and rolled all the way to Don Gaetano.
Don Gaetano picked up the Christ-crown, held it a moment in his hands and looked at it carefully. It seemed as if he had read something in it.
He did not hold it more than one minute. In the next the guard took it from him.
Donna Micaela looked up almost frightened. The Christ image! He was there already! Should she so soon get an answer to her prayer?
Gandolfo continued: “But when Don Gaetano looked up, every one trembled as at a miracle, for the man was transformed.
“Ah, signori, he was so white that his face seemed to shine, and his eyes were calm and tender. And there was no more anger in him.
“And he began to pray for his fellow-prisoners; he began to pray for their lives.
“He prayed that they should not kill those poor fellow-creatures. He prayed that the noble judges should do something for them that they might some day live like others. ‘We have only this life to live,’ he said. ‘Our kingdom is only of this world.’
“He began to tell how those men had lived. He spoke as if he could read their souls. He pictured their life, gloomy and unhappy as it had been. He spoke so that several of the judges wept.
“The words came strong and commanding, so that it sounded as if Don Gaetano had been judge and the judges the criminals. ‘See,’ he said, ‘whose fault is it that these poor men have gone to destruction? Is it not you who have the power who ought to have taken care of them?’
“And they were all dismayed at the responsibility he forced upon them.
“But suddenly the judge had interrupted him.
“‘Speak in your own defence, Gaetano Alagona,’ he said; ‘do not speak in that of others!’