The Sicilian - Mario Puzo [99]
The Abbot had his own small coffee room and the three men sat comfortably. Cheese and bread were brought for the two younger men.
The Abbot turned and smiled sadly at Guiliano. “One of my many sins. I fathered this man when I was young. Ah, nobody knows the temptations of a parish priest in Sicily. I did not resist them. The scandal was covered up and his mother was married to an Andolini. A great deal of money passed and I was able to rise in the Church. But the irony of heaven no man can foretell. My son grew up to be a murderer. And that is a cross I have to bear though I have so many of my own sins to answer for.”
The Abbot’s tone changed when he turned to Andolini. He said, “Listen to me carefully, my son. For a second time you owe your life to me. Understand your first loyalty. It is now to Guiliano.
“You cannot go back to the Don. He will ask himself, Why did Turi spare your life and kill the other two? He will suspect treachery and that will be your death. What you must do is confess everything to the Don and ask to remain with Guiliano’s band. That you will give him information and serve as a link between the Friends of the Friends and Guiliano’s army. I will go to the Don myself and tell him the advantages of this. I will also tell him that you will remain faithful to Guiliano but that will not be to his disadvantage. He will think you will betray this man here who spared your life. But I tell you that if you do not remain faithful to Guiliano I will damn you to hell forever. You will bear your father’s curse to the grave.”
He addressed himself again to Guiliano. “So now I ask you a second favor, my dear Turi Guiliano. Take my son into your band. He will fight for you and do your bidding and I swear he will be faithful to you.”
Guiliano thought about this carefully. He was sure he could, with time, secure Andolini’s affection, and he knew the man’s devotion to his father, the Abbot. The chances of betrayal were therefore small and could be guarded against. Stefan Andolini would be a valuable subchief in the operations of his band but even more valuable as a source of information about the empire of Don Croce.
Guiliano asked, “And what will you tell Don Croce?”
The Abbot paused for a moment. “I will speak to the Don. I have influence there. And then we shall see. Now will you take my son into your band?”
“Yes, by my sworn word to you,” Guiliano said. “But if he betrays me your prayers will not be swift enough to catch him on his way to hell.”
Stefan Andolini had lived in a world of little trust which perhaps was why over the years his face had become formed in such a murderer’s mask. He knew that in the coming years he would be like a trapeze artist, constantly teetering on the wire of death. There was no safe choice. It comforted him that the spirit of mercy that radiated from Guiliano’s person had saved him. But he had no illusions. Turi Guiliano was the only man who had ever made him afraid.
From that day Stefan Andolini was a member of Guiliano’s band. And in the years to come he became so known for ferociousness and religious piety that his nickname, Fra Diavalo, became famous all over Sicily. The piety came from the fact that every Sunday he went to Mass. He usually went in the town of Villaba, where Father Benjamino was the priest. And in the confessional he told the secrets of Guiliano’s band to his confessor to be relayed to Don Croce. But not the secrets Guiliano ordered him not to tell.
BOOK III
MICHAEL
CORLEONE
1950
CHAPTER 16
THE FIAT SKIRTED the town of Trapani and took a road along the beach. Michael Corleone and Stefan Andolini came to a villa, larger than most, with three outlying houses. There was a wall around the villa with only a gap left on the beach side.