the animals in my picture to whom the
Goddess of Fortune is dispensing her gifts. That it was I who helped
you to win your Marianna, though indirectly, is well known, not only to
this man, but to all Rome,--which is quite reason enough to persecute
you since they cannot do anything to me. And so, Antonio, having
brought this misfortune upon you, I must make every effort to assist
you, and all the more that you are my dearest and most intimate friend.
But, by the saints! I don't see in what way I can frustrate your
enemies' little game"----

Therewith Salvator, who had continued to paint at a picture all the
time, laid aside brush, palette, and maulstick, and, rising up from his
easel, began to pace the room backwards and forwards, his arms crossed
over his breast, Antonio meanwhile being quite wrapt up in his own
thoughts, and with his eyes fixed unchangeably upon the floor.

At length Salvator paused before him and said with a smile, "See here,
Antonio, I cannot do anything myself against your powerful enemies, but
I know one who can help you, and who will help you, and that is--Signor
Formica."

"Oh!" said Antonio, "don't jest with an unhappy man, whom nothing can
save."

"What! you are despairing again?" exclaimed Salvator, who was now all
at once in the merriest humour, and he laughed aloud. "I tell you,
Antonio, my friend Formica shall help you in Florence as he helped you
in Rome. Go away quietly home and comfort your Marianna, and calmly
wait and see how things will turn out. I trust you will be ready at the
shortest notice to do what Signor Formica, who is really here in
Florence at the present time, shall require of you." This Antonio
promised most faithfully, and hope revived in him again, and
confidence.

Signor Pasquale Capuzzi was not a little astonished at receiving a
formal invitation from the Accademia de' Percossi. "Ah!" he exclaimed,
"Florence is the place then where a man's merits are recognised, where
Pasquale Capuzzi di Senigaglia, a man gifted with the most excellent
talents, is known and valued." Thus the thought of his knowledge and
his art, and the honour that was shown him on their account, overcame
the repugnance which he would otherwise have felt against a society at
the head of which stood Salvator Rosa. His Spanish gala-dress was more
carefully brushed than ever; his conical hat was equipped with a new
feather; his shoes were provided with new ribbons; and so Signor
Pasquale appeare