Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/231

 of the door, awaken the girls, and light a fire. The door was finally opened to the poor traveller, who took three steps inside the door and fainted with exhaustion. The good lady Catherine loved Salvator, and placed his talents far above those of other painters. The accident of her old lodger caused her extreme pain, and she cried out for them to quickly seek a confessor. By chance, her son, who ordinarily worked at Tivoli, was in the house that night. This young man thought that a physician was more necessary than a confessor, and he ran to the Place d'Espagne to beg the doctor Splendiano Accoramboni to come immediately to the artist, whom they had swaddled up in a very warm bed. The good Catherine sprinkled him with holy water, and surrounded him with holy relics, whilst the young girls, bathed in tears, endeavored to pour through the lips of the sick man some drops of an old cordial. Day began to break when the doors were thrown open, to allow the famous doctor to pass. The young girls discreetly retired, not without throwing on poor Salvator uneasy glances.

It is not, perhaps, useless to describe the new character who makes his appearance on the stage at the little house in Bergognona street. In spite of all the natural dispositions towards the most perfect physical developement, doctor Splendiano Accoramboni had not been able to exceed the respectable height of four feet. It is yet truth to tell that in his childhood he had given promises of acquiring the finest proportions; and before his head became a little deformed by I know not what accident, had acquired, thanks to his puffy cheeks and his double chin, an exaggerated volume; before his nose had become violet by the corrosive action of the Spanish tobacco; before his paunch, swelled with maccaroni, had attained uncomfortable dimensions, the celebrated doctor Splendiano very advantageously wore the costume of an abbot. He was, to tell the truth, such a pretty young man, that the old Roman ladies, who petted him, rivalled each other in calling him a duck, their dear little fellow. This