ns; his brother proved that, on the contrary,
he had done them as much damage as any Turk among the allied armies of
200,000 men. So he was pardoned, and one of his friends gaily kicked the
executioner off the stage. The brothers embraced and then, with their
hands on their breasts, bowed to the audience to acknowledge the
applause; but they did not know they were brothers, they had not yet
recognised each other; that was to be another emotional moment to come
later on.

The kicking the executioner off the stage and the embracing and bowing of
the brothers were so absurdly natural that I inquired about them, and it
seemed that Gildo had thought of these effects and carried them out.

"But then," said the buffo, "Gildo is an artist. You should see him with
Truffaldino."

"What is Truffaldino? Another cavaliere errante?"

"He is the paladin who is a buffo. You should see him toss his crown
from one side of his head to the other and put both his hands on his
heart when he makes love to Angelica. He only plays the fool a little
the first night, and more and more as the drama proceeds, until he dies
by being pulled to pieces by four horses. It is all done by Gildo, and
the audience laugh every night that Truffaldino appears."

Then we were taken to Vienna, where Guido Santo and Argantino had
arrived, but we only saw Argantino.

"Where is Guido?" I asked. "I want to see him."

"Yes, well, you won't see him this evening," replied the buffo. "He's
only in the next room, but he's much too busy to come."

"What is he doing?"

"Baptising Christians--those who couldn't make up their minds before
whether they would be converted or not."

"Very well, we won't interrupt him."

So I had to be content with Argantino, who came with his book, his rod of
magic and his wings. After flying about for some time in a hall with
columns, he settled down, and someone entered and told him the
disquieting news about Pope Gregorio III being shut up in Paris. But,
knowing that it was the will of heaven that the inhabitants should not
perish, he summoned his confidential family devil Nacalone by opening the
book, just as a rich man of to-day liberates infernal power by opening
his cheque-book. Nacalone was as comic as the mask Pasquino, and tumbled
to show his willingness to obey. He had a string to his back so that he
could be turned upside down and made to stand on his head. He received
his instructions and flew off to exec