Read "The House by the Medlar-Tree" by Giovanni Verga online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Ntoni Malavoglia did meet Don Michele, and "gave him his change," and a very ugly business it was. It was by night, when it rained in torrents, and so dark that even a cat could have seen nothing at the turn on the down which leads to the Rotolo, whence those boats put out so quietly, making believe to be fishing for cod at midnight, and where 'Ntoni and Rocco Spatu, and Cinghialenta and other good-for-nothing fellows well known to the coast-guard, used to hang about with pipes in their mouths -- the guards knew those pipes well, and could distinguish them perfectly one from another as they moved about among the rocks where they lay hidden with their guns in their hands.
"Cousin Mena," said Don Michele, passing once more down the black street -- "Cousin Mena, tell your brother not to go to the Rotolo of nights with Cinghialenta and Rocco Spatu."