Late that night the shutters on the balcony of the town hall were flung open and Don Calogero appeared…To the invisible crowd in the shadows below he announced that the plebiscite at Donnafugata had had the following results: Voters: 515; voting yes: 512; voting no: zero…
At this point calm descended on Don Fabrizio, who had finally solved the enigma; now he knew who had been killed at Donnafugata, at a hundred other places, in the course of that night of dirty wind: a new-born babe, good faith. Just the very child who should have been cared for most, whose strengthening would have justified all the silly vandalisms…Six months before they used to hear a rough despotic voice saying “Do what I say or you’re for it!” Now there was already an impression of such a threat being replaced by a money-lender’s soapy tones: “But you signed it yourself, didn’t you? Can’t you see? It’s quite clear. You must do as we say, for here are the IOUs. Your will is identical with mine.”
I concur – I really hated this one when I read it back when it came out.