Free The Witch of Napoli by Michael Schmicker Page B

grabbed Lombardi’s pen, and laboriously scratched out her name on the contract. Lombardi passed it to Rossi who affixed his signature as witness, then turned to Alessandra.
    “I expect you in Torino within the month. I will arrange a train ticket for you.”
    “I’ll return with you.”
    Lombardi raised an eyebrow. “That’s not possible. I leave for Torino tomorrow. You will need to secure your husband’s permission for your employment in Torino. I am sure that will take some time, though I trust you will be successful.”
    “I’ll have it by tomorrow.”
    Lombardi stared at Alessandra, then waved his hand. “As you wish. A ticket in your name will be left at the station master’s office. Ask for the
capostazione
.” Rossi passed him the signed contract and the professor slipped it into his portfolio.
    “Please understand,
Signora
Poverelli. My offer of employment is for you alone. Your husband is not to follow you to Torino, to visit you while you are in my employ, nor attempt to attend any of the sittings I will arrange. If he shows up, you may consider your employment terminated.”
    We all crowded around Alessandra to congratulate her, including Lombardi. He was smiling now. The negotiations were finished and he had his precious scientific experiment in hand.
    “Will you be making a statement to the newspapers?” Rossi asked.
    “Yes,” Lombardi replied. “I meet
Signor
Venzano at the
Mattino
at noon to deliver this statement.” He pulled a paper out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Rossi. “In it, I describe the levitation of the bell and the phantom blow to my face, but at this point I am not prepared to reveal the hallucination I had of my mother.”
    Outside the window, the protestors had started singing
Inno dei Lavoratori
, the workers anthem, then the singing abruptly stopped, and I suddenly heard shouting and then the clatter of horses’ hooves on pavement, followed by loud screams and curses.
    I raced over to the window and stuck my head out. The police were stampeding the crowd, bashing protestors with their clubs and sending them running for their lives. Several students already lay bleeding on the ground. I watched a policeman draw his saber and urge his steed up the steps in pursuit of Rossi’s student, Niccolo. He ducked into the building just as Rossi joined me at the window. In the hall outside Rossi’s office, you could hear the sound of running feet. Rossi turned to Lombardi.
    “
Signore
, for our safety, we must all leave this building now, quickly.”
    We followed Rossi down the back stairs and ran out into the courtyard where we found students grabbing rocks and sticks and hurrying back into the building. Lombardi paused to catch his breath, panting from the exertion. Rossi urged us forward. I looked over at Alessandra and there was fire in her eyes.
    “We should stand with them, Tommaso!”
    She reached down, grabbed a stone from a pile, whirled around, and stood there defiantly, then let out a yell and flung it towards the gate which the police were battering down.
    “Free Passanante!”
    I started laughing. I yanked her hand and we started running again.
    “God, I’m going to miss you, Alessandra!” I said.

Chapter 18
    L ombardi’s conversion sent a shock wave through scientific circles in Europe.
    The
Mattino
ran his statement in the evening edition, and I kept a copy. Here, I’ll read it to you.
    I am aware that my decision to pursue the investigation of
Signora
Poverelli will cause a stir of surprise and incredulity in the scientific and academic community. If there ever was an individual in this world opposed to the claims of spiritism by virtue of scientific education and, I may add, by instinct, I was that person. I have made it the indefatigable pursuit of a lifetime to defend the thesis that every force is a property of matter. But I glory in saying that I am a slave to facts. There is no doubt in my mind that genuine psychical phenomena are being