Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/246

 a dispensation from the pope, he will forcibly marry her. I am the most unfortunate of men!"

"On the contrary,"" said Salvator, "you are near the realization of your hopes; Marianna loves you; it will only be necessary to withdraw her from the tyranny of Capuzzi.—Return to your studio, keep quiet, and come and see me again to-morrow, at day break, to draw up our plan of attack."

Salvator made such good use of his time, that on the following day he related to his friend Antonio all the details of Capuzzi's mode of living:—"Poor Marianna is on the rack; her exhales in sighs, and from morning to night he besieges her with silliness, or sings, in order to soften her, the ridiculous airs which he has himself composed. More than this, he is so jealous, that he will not allow the poor child to have any other human creature to serve her, than the hideous Pitichinaccio, disguised as a duenna. If the hoary wretch absents himself, gratings and bolts do their office within, whilst a kind of porter, a reformed robber, guards the house door. To enter by force is hardly practicable; and yet, to-morrow night, I will, dear Antonio, place you once more in the presence of Capuzzi and your beautiful Marianna."

"Good heaven! can it be! by what means?"

"Chance," continued Salvator, "has already connected me with Pasquale Capuzzi. Look, that dilapidated and worm-eaten spinet in the corner, belongs to the old madman, to whom I still owe the price of it, ten ducats. Wishing to amuse, by a little music, the tiresome moments of my convalescence, dame Catherine procured for me this miserable instrument, which was brought from Ripetta street. I did not think at first either of the price of the thing or of the proprietor, and it was only yesterday that I learned that honest Capuzzi had taken me for a dupe. Now, give me the whole of your attention. Every clay, towards dark, when