It struck him that Giovanni might occupy himself by
looking them over, while he himself finished the letter he had
begun.
"There are those deeds relating to San Giacinto," he said, "you
might look through them before they are put away. Montevarchi
borrowed them for a day or two and has just sent them back."
Giovanni took the bundle and established himself in a comfortable
chair beside a low stand, where the light of a lamp fell upon the
pages as he turned them. He made no remark, but began to examine
the documents, one by one, running his eye rapidly along the
lines, as he read on mechanically, not half comprehending the
sense of the words. He was preoccupied by thoughts of Corona and
of what had lately happened, so that he found it hard to fix his
attention. The prince's pen scratched and spattered on the paper,
and irritated Giovanni, for the old gentleman wrote a heavy,
nervous handwriting, and lost his temper twenty times in five
minutes, mentally cursing the ink, the paper and the pen, and
wishing he could write like a shopman or a clerk.
Giovanni's attention was arrested by the parchment on which the
principal deed was executed, and he began to read the agreement
with more care than he had bestowed upon the other papers.
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