me cordial courtesy which it was his habit to show to every one. He
went to meet his guest, velvet cap in hand, and after a skirmish of
compliments which proved an easy victory for Pasotti, Gilardoni returned
to the belvedere with him.

Pasotti, on the other hand, felt a lively dislike for the Professor, not
so much because he knew him to be a Liberal, as because, though
Gilardoni did not go to Mass as often as he himself did, he lived like a
Puritan, loving neither the table nor the bottle, neither tobacco nor
certain loose discourses. Moreover he did not play _tarocchi_. One
evening, when talking in the kitchen-garden with Don Franco, of the
tremendous bouts of eating and drinking which Pasotti and his friends
often celebrated in the taverns of Bisnago, the Professor had said
something which was overheard by the big curate, one of the gluttons,
whose boat, in which he himself sat fishing, happened to be gliding
along very softly, close to the walls. "Miserable knave!" the most
worthy Controller had exclaimed when the words were repeated to him, his
face wearing the expression of a _bargnif bilioso_, of Satan with a
bilious attack. The exclamation had been followed by a contemptuous
snarl, after which the Controller spat protestingly. This, however, did
not prevent him from overflowing on the present occasion with excuses
for having unduly postponed his visit, nor from immediately spying out
the volume resting on the rustic table of the belvedere. Gilardoni saw
him glance at it and, as the book in question was one of those forbidden
by the government, he took it up almost instinctively as soon as he had
started the conversation, and rested it on his knee in such a manner
that Pasotti could not read the title. This precaution disturbed
Pasotti, who was just then praising the little villa and the garden in
all their particulars, and in the tone best adapted to each part; the
beets, with amiable familiarity, the aloes, with serious and frowning
admiration. An angry light flashed in his eyes, and then disappeared.

"Fortunate man," he sighed. "If my affairs would permit it, I myself
should like to live in Valsolda."

"It is a peaceful spot," said the Professor.

"Yes, a peaceful spot; and, besides, nowadays those who have served the
Government are not comfortable in the big towns. People make no
distinction between a faithful official who attends strictly to his own
duties, as I have done, and a police-spy. We are expos