, that nothing shall
part us! You will make him see reason, Tista, will you not? I cannot go
to him, or I would; and mamma, poor mamma, is so afraid of him when he
is in his humours. There are only you and Uncle Paolo to manage him; and
after the way he insulted Uncle Paolo last night, it will be all the
harder. Think of it, Tista, while you are at work, and bring me word
when you come to dinner."

"Never fear, love," replied Gianbattista confidently; "what else should
I think of while I am hammering away all day? A little kiss, to give me
courage."

In a moment he was gone, and his quick step resounded on the stairs as
he ran down, leaving Lucia at the door above, to catch the last good-bye
he called up to her when he reached the bottom. His fresh voice came up
to her mingled with the rattle of the lumbering carts in the street. She
answered the cry and went in.

Just then the sleepy Signora Pandolfi emerged from her chamber, clad in
the inevitable skirt and white cotton jacket, her heavy black hair
coiled in an irregular mass on the top of her head, and held in place
by hair-pins that seemed to be on the point of dropping out.

"Ah, Lucia, my darling! Such a night as I have passed!" she moaned,
sinking into a chair beside the table, on which the coffee-pot and the
empty cups were still standing. "Such a night, my dear! I have not
closed an eye. I am sure it is the last judgment! And this scirocco,
too, it is enough to kill one!"

"Courage, mamma," answered Lucia gaily. "Things are never so bad as they
seem."

"Oh, that monster, that monster!" groaned the fat lady. "He would make
an angel lose his patience! Imagine, my dear, he insists that you shall
be married in a fortnight, and he has left me money to go and buy things
for your outfit! Oh dear! What are we to do? I shall go mad, my dear,
and you will all have to take me to Santo Spirito! Oh dear! Oh dear!
This scirocco!"

"I think papa will go mad first," said Lucia. "I never heard of such an
insane proposition in my life. All in a moment too--I think I am to
marry Tista--papa gets into a rage and--_patatunfate!_ a new
husband--like a conjuror's trick, such a comedy! I expected to see the
door open at every minute, Pulcinella walk in and beat everybody with a
blown bladder! But Uncle Paolo did quite as well."

"Oh, my head!" complained the Signora Pandolfi. "I have not slept a
wink!"

"And then it was shameful to see the way papa grew quiet and submissiv