ceiling (screaming at the top of his lungs),
and ran downstairs and out of the door, which was from thenceforth
closed against me.

"Matters were in this position when you came to Rome, and Heaven
inspired the good Father Bonifazio to conduct me to you; and then, when
that had happened, through your cleverness, which I had striven after
in vain, when the Academy of San Luca had admitted me, and all Rome
was praising and honouring me above my desert, I went straight away to
the old man, and appeared suddenly before him in his room like a
threatening spectre. That is what I must have seemed like to him, for
he turned as pale as death, and drew back behind a table, trembling in
every limb. In a grave, firm voice, I told him that I was not now the
Beard-curler and Surgeon, but the celebrated Painter, and Member of the
Academy of San Luca, Antonio Scacciati, to whom he could not refuse his
niece's hand. You should have seen the fury into which the old man
fell. He yelled, he beat about him with his arms, he cried out that I
was a remorseless murderer, seeking to take his life, that I had stolen
his Marianna away from him, as I had counterfeited her in the picture
which drove him to madness and despair. That now all the world--all the
world--was looking at his Marianna, his life, his hope, his everything,
with longing, coveting eyes; but that I had better be careful, for he
would burn the house down about my ears, and make an end of me and my
picture together. And on this he began to vociferate, and scream out so
loudly, 'Fire!--murder!--thieves!--help!' that I thought of nothing but
getting out of the house as speedily as possible.

"You see that this old lunatic Capuzzi is over head and ears in
love with his niece. He keeps her shut up, and, if he can get a
dispensation, he will force her to the most horrible marriage
conceivable. All hope is at an end."

"Why not, indeed?" said Salvator, laughing. "For my part, I think,
rather, that your affairs could not possibly be in a better position.
Marianna loves you--you know that well enough--and all that has to be
done is to get her out of the clutches of this old lunatic. Now I
really do not see what should prevent two adventurous, sturdy fellows,
like you and me, from accomplishing this. Keep up your heart, Antonio!
Instead of lamenting, and getting to be love-sick and powerless, the
thing to do is to keep thinking on Marianna's rescue. Just watch,
Antonio, how we will lead