t success done before him. For his patients died
as well as the patients of other people, and then they already saw the
gates of heaven open before them ere they died, and in fact everything
else that the saint wanted them to see.

"I can't tell you," said Antonio next day to Salvator, "how my heart
boils with rage since my blood has been spilled. Death and destruction
overtake that villain Capuzzi! I tell you, Salvator, that I am
determined to _force_ my way into his house. I will cut him down if he
opposes me and carry off Marianna."

"An excellent plan!" replied Salvator, laughing. "An excellent plan!
Splendidly contrived! Of course I presume you have also found some
means for transporting Marianna through the air to the Spanish Square,
so that they shall not seize you and hang you before you can reach that
place of refuge. No, my dear Antonio, violence can do nothing for you
this time. You may lay your life on it too that Signor Pasquale will
now take steps to guard against any open attack. Moreover, our
adventure has made a good deal of noise, and the irrepressible laughter
of the people at the absurd way in which we have read a lesson to
Splendiano and Capuzzi has roused the police out of their light
slumber, and they, you may be sure, will now exert all their feeble
efforts to entrap us. No, Antonio, let us have recourse to craft. _Con
arte e con inganno si vive mezzo l'anno, con inganno e con arte si vive
l'altra parte_ (If cunning and scheming will help us six months
through, scheming and cunning will help us the other six too), says
Dame Caterina, nor is she far wrong. Besides, I can't help laughing to
see how we've gone and acted for all the world like thoughtless boys,
and I shall have to bear most of the blame, for I am a good bit older
than you. Tell me now, Antonio, supposing our scheme had been
successful, and you had actually carried off Marianna from the old man,
where would you have fled to, where would you have hidden her, and how
would you have managed to get united to her by the priest before the
old man could interfere to prevent it? You shall, however, in a few
days, really and truly run away with your Marianna. I have let Nicolo
Musso as well as Signor Formica into all the secret, and in common with
them devised a plan which can scarcely fail. So cheer up, Antonio;
Signor Formica will help you."

"Signor Formica?" replied Antonio in a tone of indifference which
almost amounted to contempt. "S