Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/235

 "Oh my excellent, my illustrious master, you are saved!"

"Where am I?" murmured Salvator. But the young man, begging him not to speak in his present state of weakness, hastened to anticipate his questions.

"You were sick on arriving from Naples here; but thanks to God, simple remedies and devoted care would soon have put you on your feet again, if chance had not delivered you into the hands of doctor Pyramid, who was taking strong measures to consign you to the ground."

"Who is this," said Salvator, "who is this doctor Pyramid? Is he not a kind of monkey whom I caught sight of during my delirium, and who seemed to wear upon his head the obelisk of Saint Peter's Square?"

"Would to God," replied the young man, "the name of Pyramid came from his head-dress! You do not know that this infernal doctor has a monomania for pictures, and that he uses, to augment his gallery, quite a new proceeding? Misfortune to painters, above all foreigners, whom the chance of a bad digestion, or the consequences of an orgie place in his hands; he muffles them up in a disease of his own invention, the danger of which is wholly in his remedies. Under a fine air of disinterestedness, he stipulates for a picture as the price of his cure, and he is often the heir of the unfortunates whom he hastens to the cemetery in the neighborhood of the Pyramid of Cestius. That is the field in which the doctor Splendiano Accoramboni sows and reaps, surnamed Pyramid by those who escape from his claws. Dame Catherine, who is not rich, had made him believe that you brought a magnificent picture from Naples, and the hope of becoming possessor of it stimulated the zeal of this executioner. Very fortunate for you, in your delirium you broke over his head his poisonous phials, and, believing you in extremity, dame Catherine called in father Bonifazio, to whom I owe the happiness of being near you. We combatted, by a moderate bleeding, the inflammation of your blood, then we brought you to this little chamber which you formerly occupied. Here, here is your