rs,
although the remarkable antics of this creature afforded me much
entertainment--which was the reason I continued to go back to him. I on
one occasion walked gently up the stairs, knocked at the door, and
opened it, when there met me a girl--an angel of light! You know my
Magdalene!--it was she. I stood rooted to the spot. No, no, Salvator, I
won't treat you to any 'Ohs' or 'Ahs.' I need but say that on the
instant, when I saw the loveliest of all ladies, I fell into the
deepest, fondest affection for her. The old fellow said, with simpers,
that she was the daughter of his brother Pietro, who had died in
Senegaglia, that her name was Marianna, and that, as she had no mother,
and neither brothers nor sisters, he had taken her into his house. You
may imagine that from that time forth Capuzzi's dwelling was my
paradise. But, scheme as I might, I could never be alone with Marianna
for a single instant; yet her eyes, as well as many a stolen sigh, and
even many a pressure of the hand, left me in no doubt of my happiness.
The old man found this out, and it was not a very difficult matter. He
told me that he was by no means pleased with my behaviour to his niece,
and asked me what I meant by it. I candidly confessed that I loved her
with all my soul, and could imagine no more perfect bliss on earth than
to make her my wife. On this, Capuzzi eyed me up and down, broke into
sneering laughter, and said that he could not have imagined that ideas
of the kind could have haunted the brain of a wretched hairdresser. My
blood got up: I said he knew very well that I was by no means a mere
wretched hairdresser, but a skilled surgeon, and, more than that, as
concerned the glorious art of painting, a faithful scholar and pupil of
the grand Annibale Caracci, and the unsurpassed Guido Reni. On this the
despicable Capuzzi broke out into louder laughter, and squeaked out, in
his abominable falsetto: 'Very good, my sweet Signor Beard-curler, my
talented Signor Surgeon, my charming Annibale Caracci, my most beloved
Guido Reni, _go to all the devils_, and don't show that nose of yours
inside my door again, unless you want every bone in your body broken.'
And the demented old totterer actually took hold of me with no less
an idea in his head than that of chucking me out of the door and
downstairs. But this was rather more than could be endured. I was
furious, and I seized hold of the fellow, turned him topsy-turvy, with
his toes pointing to the