Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/253

 "Let us see!" exclaimed Antonio, (for Capuzzi's deliverers were our two artists,) "let us see!"

And, feeling of the thin carcase of his enemy, he pinched his right leg so forcibly that the patient made a terrible outcry.

"Ah, my worthy sir, your left leg is broken; the case is very serious, and you are in danger of dying or remaining crippled for life."

"Alas! my dear Jesus!" sighed Capuzzi, in a mournful voice.

"Courage," replied Antonio; "although I am a painter and an academician of San-Luca, I have not forgotten surgery. "We will carry you to Salvator's house, and I will see that you are well taken care of."

"But, my excellent master Antonio," said Capuzzi, sadly, "I know that you have but little cause to be my friend."

"On the contrary," interrupted Salvator; "but, in the presence of suffering, every other sentiment must give way to humanity. Come, Antonio, let us fulfil this duty."

They then took up the old man, one by the head, and the other by the feet, and they carried him away, not without laughing secretly at his groans. Dame Catherine delivered them a fine discourse upon charity, without sparing reflections upon Capuzzi.

"You have received," said she to him, "no more than you deserve; God punishes you for tormenting your niece; for you are a jealous brute, a true tyrant; and if you do not die in consequence of this accident, may you profit by the lesson; provide yourself with friends, if you can, and try to let your little Marianna see a little of the sun. Is it not an odious thing to treat as you do so pretty a girl, so sweet and so loving? And are you not ashamed to shut her up under the guard of such a monster as Pitchinaccio? Do you not fear that all the young people in the city will rise some day against a like oppression? And tell me, then, if you dare, why you dress up your miserable dwarf in a duenna's robe? What