ad conduct. "I know," she said, "I
know very well, Signor Pasquale, who you've been taking home again. Now
that you've got your beautiful niece Marianna in the house with you,
you think you've no further call to have women-folk about you, and you
treat that poor Pitichinaccio most shameful and infamous, putting him
in petticoats. But look to it. _Ogni carne ha il suo osso_ (Every house
has its skeleton). Why if you have a girl about you, don't you need
women-folk? _Fate il passo secondo la gamba_ (Cut your clothes
according to your cloth), and don't you require anything either more or
less from your Marianna than what is right. Don't lock her up as if she
were a prisoner, nor make your house a dungeon. _Asino punto convien
che trotti_ (If you are in the stream, you had better swim with it);
you have a beautiful niece and you must alter your ways to suit her,
that is, you must only do what she wants you to do. But you are an
ungallant and hard-hearted man, ay, and even in love, and jealous as
well, they say, which I hope at your years is not true. Your pardon for
telling you it all straight out, but _chi ha nel petto fiele non puo
sputar miele_ (when there's bile in the heart there can't be honey in
the mouth). So now, if you don't die of your broken leg, which at your
great age is not at all unlikely, let this be a warning to you; and
leave your niece free to do what she likes, and let her marry the fine
young gentleman as I know very well."

And so the stream went on uninterruptedly, whilst Salvator and Antonio
cautiously undressed the old gentleman and put him to bed. Dame
Caterina's words were like knives cutting deeply into his breast; but
whenever he attempted to intervene, Antonio signed to him that all
speaking was dangerous, and so he had to swallow his bitter gall. At
length Salvator sent Dame Caterina away, to fetch some ice-cold water
that Antonio wanted.

Salvator and Antonio satisfied themselves that the fellow who had been
sent to Pitichinaccio's house had done his duty well. Notwithstanding
the apparently terrible fall, Capuzzi had not received the slightest
damage beyond a slight bruise or two. Antonio put the old gentleman's
right foot in splints and bandaged it up so tight that he could not
move. Then they wrapped him up in cloths that had been soaked in
ice-cold water, as a precaution, they alleged, against inflammation, so
that the old gentleman shook as if with the ague.

"My good Signor Antonio,