oped we should
not cause the speaker to die of starvation before that day by preventing
him from earning his bread. The appearance of the proprietor among his
puppets confirmed me in the conclusion I had arrived at as to their size;
he may have been a small man, but he was about the size of the giant. He
must have been a strong man, for, with all their armour, the figures must
be very heavy.

The proprietor's appeal went to all our hearts; silence was restored and
the princess repeated to the warrior what we already knew--that she loved
him and desired to kiss him. Something of the kind was exactly what poor
Michele had been dreading. He turned to her and, almost choking with
despair, said, "Misericordia," not meaning to be hostile, but that the
killing of her giant had already delayed him, and if he were to allow
himself to yield to her blandishments he would be too late for the
Saracens. No doubt he also had a vow. But when a lady has made up her
mind on a matter of this kind, to thwart her is to invite disaster--think
of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. Not that Michele thought of them, nor
would it have influenced him if he had, for he was a paladin and
incapable of fear; but he had the instincts of a gentleman, so, in spite
of his anxiety to be off to the wars, he rose as well as he could, which
was unsteadily, and staggered towards the princess who made every effort
to meet him. In time they drew close enough to fall into one another's
arms, and the curtain descended as they were accomplishing not a
passionate but a quite creditable embrace.

Then there was a scene between three kings with golden crowns who
conversed at length of battles and the King of Athens, of Adrianopoli and
the Grand Turk, of princesses and of journeys by sea and land. These
were the things they spoke about as they stood together in the hall that
had served for the first scene with a vista of columns behind, and when
they had done they followed one another off. Then we also followed one
another out of the theatre, not because of the Saracens, nor because we
had any vow, nor because we feared a repetition of the uproar, nor even
because of the coming-on disposition of the Princess of Bizerta, but
because one open window was not enough.

TRAPANI

CHAPTER VI--FERRAU AND ANGELICA

My next experience in a marionette theatre was at Trapani. I approached
the subject with Mario, a coachman whom I have known since he was a boy.