The boy ran off.
‘Thank you,’ Maria said to Zen, once he was out of earshot.
Zen looked at her in astonishment.
‘For what?’
‘For killing that brute.’
‘But I — ’
‘It needed to be done. Now we can all rest easy.’
‘ Signora, I — ’
‘You’re a real man, the kind they don’t make any more. Your wife is a lucky woman. May God bless and keep you always.’
‘Look, I think you — ’
But Maria was no longer attending to him. Her face was averted and full of joyful expectation.
‘Ah, here comes the train!’ she said.