Page:De Amicis - Heart, translation Hapgood, 1922.djvu/77

 reading the newspaper. We sat down. Votini placed himself between me and the boy. All at once he recollected that he was well dressed, and wanted to make his neighbor admire and envy him.

He lifted one foot, and said to me, “Have you seen my officer's boots?” He said this in order to make the other boy look at them; but the latter paid no attention.

Then he dropped his foot, and showed me his silk tassels, glancing slyly at the boy the while, and said that these tassels did not please him, and that he wanted to have them changed to silver buttons; but the boy did not look at the tassels either.

Then Votini fell to twirling his handsome white hat on the tip of his forefinger; but the boy—and it seemed as though he did it on purpose—did not deign even a glance at the hat.

Votini, who began to be irritated, drew out his watch, opened it, and showed me the wheels; but the boy did not turn his head.

“Is it of silver gilt?” I asked him.

“No,” he replied; “it is gold.”

“But not merely of gold,” I said; “there must be some silver with it.”

“Why, no!” he retorted; and, in order to compel the boy to look, he held the watch before his face, and said to him, “Say, look here! isn't it true that it is entirely of gold?”

The boy replied briefly, “I don't know.”

“Oh! Oh!” exclaimed Votini, full of wrath, “what pride!”

As he was saying this, his father came up, and heard him; he looked steadily at the lad for a moment, then