EVERYBODY (_crowding around him_). You've read it already? What did it say? Is it he? Is it she? LAUDISI (_speaking very formally_). There is no doubt whatever, as a former neighbor of Ponza's testifies, that the woman Frola was once in a sanatorium! THE GROUP (_cries of disappointment_). Oh really! Too bad! Too bad! SIGNORA SIRELLI. Signora Frola, did you say? DINA. Are you sure it was she? AGAZZI. Why, no! Why, no, it doesn't say anything of the kind! (_Coming forward and having the document triumphantly_). It doesn't say anything of the kind! (_General excitement_). EVERYBODY. Well, what does it say? What does it say? LAUDISI (_insisting_). It does too! It says "the Frola woman"--the Frola woman, categorically. AGAZZI. Nothing of the kind! The witness says that he _thinks_ she was in a sanatorium. He does not assert that she was. Besides, there is another point. He doesn't know whether this Frola woman who was in a sanatorium was the mother or the daughter, the first wife, that is! EVERYBODY (_with relief_). Ah! LAUDISI (_insistingly_). But I say he does. It must be the mother! Who else could it be? SIRELLI. No, of course, it's the daughter! It's the daughter! SIGNORA SIRELLI. Just as the old lady said herself! AMALIA. Exactly! That time when they took her away by force from her husband!... DINA. Yes, she says that her daughter was taken to a sanatorium on account of a contagious disease. AGAZZI. Furthermore, observe another thing. The witness does not really belong to their town. He says that he used to go there frequently, but that he does not remember particularly. He remembers that he heard something or other!... SIRELLI. Ah! How can you depend on such a man's testimony? Nothing but hearsay! LAUDISI. But, excuse me! If all you people are so sure that Signora Frola is right, what more do you want? Why do you go looking for documents? This is all nonsense! SIRELLI. If it weren't for the fact that the prefect has accepted Ponza's side of the story, I'll tell you.... COMMISSIONER. Yes, that's true. The prefect said as much to me.... AGAZZI. Yes, but that's because the prefect has never talked with the old lady who lives next door. SIGNORA SIRELLI. You bet he hasn't. He talked only with Ponza. SIRELLI. But, for that matter, there are other people of the same mind as the prefect. A GENTLEMAN. That is my situation, my situation exactly. Yes sir! Because I know of just such as case where a mother went insane over the death of her daughter and insists that the daughter's husband will not allow her to see the girl. The same case to a _T_.