Their
connection with the history of the Saracinesca arose from what
they did, and not from the thoughts which prompted their actions.
It is sufficient to say that Gouache conceived the mad idea of
asking Montevarchi's consent to his marriage and to explain the
immediate consequences of the step he took.
Matters were rapidly approaching a climax. San Giacinto had seen
the lawyers at Frascati, and he had brought his wife back to Rome
very soon in order to be on the spot while the case was being
prepared. The men of the law declared that the matter was a very
simple one and that no court could withhold its decision a single
day after seeing the documents which constituted the claim. The
only point about which any argument could arise related to the
identity of San Giacinto himself, and no difficulty was found in
establishing substantial proof that he was Giovanni Saracinesca
and not an impostor. His father and grandfather had jealously kept
all the records of themselves which were necessary, from the
marriage certificate of the original Don Leone, who had signed the
deed, to the register of San Giacinto's own birth. Copies were
obtained, properly drawn up and certified, of the parish books and
of the few government documents which were officially preserved in
the kingdom of Naples before 1860, and the lawyers declared
themselves ready to open the case.
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