tsore last night I preferred
flinging myself in a corner of this hospitable porch to hunting any
longer for a chance hostelry, which might turn out to be a nest of
blood-suckers of more sorts than one."

"A stranger, in good sooth," said Bratti, "for the words come all
melting out of your throat, so that a Christian and a Florentine can't
tell a hook from a hanger. But you're not from Genoa? More likely from
Venice, by the cut of your clothes?"

"At this present moment," said the stranger, smiling, "it is of less
importance where I come from than where I can go to for a mouthful of
breakfast. This city of yours turns a grim look on me just here: can
you show me the way to a more lively quarter, where I can get a meal and
a lodging?"

"That I can," said Bratti, "and it is your good fortune, young man, that
I have happened to be walking in from Rovezzano this morning, and turned
out of my way to Mercato Vecchio to say an Ave at the Badia. That, I
say, is your good fortune. But it remains to be seen what is my profit
in the matter. Nothing for nothing, young man. If I show you the way
to Mercato Vecchio, you'll swear by your patron saint to let me have the
bidding for that stained suit of yours, when you set up a better--as
doubtless you will."

"Agreed, by San Niccolo," said the other, laughing. "But now let us set
off to this said Mercato, for I feel the want of a better lining to this
doublet of mine which you are coveting."

"Coveting? Nay," said Bratti, heaving his bag on his back and setting
out. But he broke off in his reply, and burst out in loud, harsh tones,
not unlike the creaking and grating of a cart-wheel: "_Chi
abbaratta_--_baratta_--_b'ratta_--_chi abbaratta cenci e
vetri_--_b'ratta ferri vecchi_?" ["Who wants to exchange rags, broken
glass, or old iron?"]

"It's worth but little," he said presently, relapsing into his
conversational tone. "Hose and altogether, your clothes are worth but
little. Still, if you've a mind to set yourself up with a lute worth
more than any new one, or with a sword that's been worn by a Ridolfi, or
with a paternoster of the best mode, I could let you have a great
bargain, by making an allowance for the clothes; for, simple as I stand
here, I've got the best-furnished shop in the Ferravecchi, and it's
close by the Mercato. The Virgin be praised! it's not a pumpkin I carry
on my shoulders. But I don't stay caged in my shop all day: I've got a
wife and a rave