"Can you do that?" asked Teresina with an admiring look.

"Since you ask me--yes, I can. But Ruggiero did it before I could, and
showed me how, and no one else here can do it at all. And moreover
Ruggiero is a quiet man and does not drink nor play at the lotto, and
there is no harm in a game of beggar-my-neighbour for a pipe of tobacco,
on a long voyage when there is no work to be done, and--"

"Yes, I know," said Teresina, interrupting him. "You are very much
alike, you too. But what has this about Ruggiero to do with me, that
you tell me it all?"

"Who goes slowly, goes safely, and who goes safely goes far," answered
Bastianello. "Listen to me. Ruggiero has also seven hundred and
sixty-three francs in the bank, and will soon have more, because he
saves his money carefully, though he is not stingy. And Ruggiero, if you
will have him, will work for you, and I will also work for you, and you
shall have a good house, and plenty to eat and good clothes besides the
gold--"

"But Bastianello mio!" cried Teresina, who had suspected what was
coming, "I do not want to marry Ruggiero at all."

She clasped her hands and gazed into the sailor's eyes with a pretty
look of confusion and regret.

"You do not want to marry Ruggiero!" Bastianello's expression certainly
betrayed more surprise than disappointment. But he had honestly pleaded
his brother's cause. "Then you do not love him," he said, as though
unable to recover from his astonishment.

"But no--I do not love him at all, though he is so handsome and good."

"Madonna mia!" exclaimed Bastianello, turning sharply round and moving
away a step or two. He was in great perturbation of spirit, for he loved
the girl dearly, and he began to fear that he had not done his best for
Ruggiero.

"But you did love him a few days ago," he said, coming back to
Teresina's side.

"Indeed, I never did!" she said.

"Nor any one else?" asked Bastianello suddenly.

"Eh! I did not say that," answered the girl, blushing a little and
looking down.

"Well do not tell me his name, because I should tell Ruggiero, and
Ruggiero might do him an injury. It is better not to tell me."

Teresina laughed a little.

"I shall certainly not tell you who he is," she said. "You can find that
out for yourself, if you take the trouble."

"It is better not. Either Ruggiero or I might hurt him, and then there
would be trouble."

"You, too?"

"Yes, I too." Bastianello spoke the words rather roughly