Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/261

 hastened to the promenades and pressed towards the People's Gate, around Nicolo Musso's theatre. The pretty Marianna had forced Capuzzi to keep his promise. In consequence, the old man, perfumed and trimmed up, imprisoned in his Spanish doublet, his pointed hat leaning towards his ear and ornamented with a new yellow feather, walked with visible anxiety in his tight shoes, drawing along in his wake Marianna, whose attractions were hidden from sight, under the double veils with which the Argus had required that she should envelope herself. On the other side walked doctor Splendiano Accoramboni, nearly hidden by his gigantic wig. Behind them, and on Marianna's heels, from whom he did not take his eyes, hobbled the abortion, Pitichinaccio, dressed up in a fire colored skirt, and with his head covered with flowers of every shade.

Signor Formica was, that evening, in his gayest mood; it was a pleasure to hear him mingle with his comic scenes, couplets which he sang, imitating the voices of the most celebrated artists. Old Capuzzi trembled with joy; his passion for the theatre came back to his memory; and, in his exaltations, he bruised Marianna's hands with kisses, swearing that he would take her every evening to Nicolo Musso's entertainment. His applause, his laughter, drew all eyes towards him; Signor Splendiano alone kept his professional gravity, and with his eyes and by gesture, he rebuked Capuzzi's and Marianna's bursts of laughter; giving out, entirely unheeded, the names of twenty diseases which a too great extension of the jaws might occasion. But his patients laughed as much at his morose face as at Signor Formica. As for the infinitely little Pitchinaccio, he had sadly roosted himself behind doctor Pyramid's wig, and called upon the devil to take him from between two women, who were much amused at his grotesque appearance. A cold sweat ran from his forehead to his livid cheeks, and sharp sounds, badly articulated, sufficiently expressed the disagreeableness of his situation.

When the play was finished, Pasquale Capuzzi prudently 22*