sic we crossed the piazza in the fog. The bride was conducted by
her brother, the bridegroom came next escorting a lady cousin, I
followed, as compare, with Berto's mother, and the others came after. We
entered the municipio and went upstairs into a large room. The sindaco
sat behind a table, the bride and bridegroom sat facing one another in
two armchairs on the opposite side of the table and we ranged ourselves
about the room.

The sindaco had often before sat at that table and received other wedding
parties, nevertheless he appeared at a loss, or perhaps he disapproved of
matrimony. At any rate he was not going to acquiesce in the proceedings
until he had dwelt, as elderly people will, on the serious nature of the
duties the young people were proposing to undertake. He went so far as
to put clearly before them aspects of the case which they might have
overlooked and to read them legal extracts of a discouraging nature.
They were unmoved, and the sindaco, still dissatisfied, asked Berto
point-blank whether he really wished, under the circumstances, to take
Giuseppina to be his wife. Berto replied in the affirmative. Concealing
his surprise, the sindaco turned to Giuseppina and asked her whether she
wished to be married to Berto. She said she did; and indeed it was the
reason why we were all there, as the sindaco must have known if he had
given the matter a thought, for the wedding had been the talk of the town
since Christmas; but the law does not regard hearsay evidence. Finding
there was no help for it, he pronounced the necessary words and, no doubt
with a view of disclaiming personal responsibility should he hereafter be
taxed with marriage-mongering, invited them to sign the book with a pen
made entirely of gold in the form of a feather, which he afterwards
offered them as a wedding present with his best wishes and a paper on
which his clerk had neatly engrossed the legal extracts.

We descended into the piazza now vacated by Peppi Bosco, who had been
playing in it with his municipal music during the ceremony, and, forming
ourselves into a procession as before, walked down the principal street
of the town, and I was thinking of many things. As we passed the club I
remembered how once in the winter Berto had taken me there and introduced
me to all the notabilities of the place and I had wondered how the fog
agreed with the billiard table. We passed the farmacia where Berto
spends his time making up pres