Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/274

 case of need, several individuals. This man, seduced by the glitter of the sequins, began to keep a vigilant nocturnal watch. But his expectation was without result; for, from the commencement, nobody came within reach of his blows. Salvator and Antonio, busied with their approaching expedition to the theatre at the People's Gate, had, from that very day, discontinued the serenades under Capuzzi's balcony. Marianna, who suspected nothing, complained of this deprivation; she graciously avowed to her uncle that she felt nothing but antipathy towards Salvator and Antonio, she did not think herself, on that account, compelled to give up her taste for music, and that she greatly regretted the loss of the symphonies which the two artists executed so well. The unfortunate Capuzzi, believing that his conquest was assured if he succeeded in restoring to his ward the evening concerts which she was pleased to like, ran to seek his two advisers, in order to organize, with their assistance, a serenade of his own composition, for the following night.

This night, which was to advance his affairs so much, was the evening before the day that he was to offer a fresh proof of devotion to her least desires, by conducting her to Nicolo Musso's theatre. All seemed to be going on well; unfortunately, too much distracted by his happiness, Capuzzi had forgotten the frightful orders which he had so vigorously given to master Michael; so that, as soon as he had gone cautiously from his house, had taken his place, with Splendiano and the dwarf, under the shadow of the opposite house, and as soon as a first and fatal prelude had awoke the silence of the night, the bravo, who was prowling about, cursing fortune which seemed to refuse him his victims, fell like a thunder clap upon our amateurs, who were far from thinking about him, and came near killing them, as I have just related.

This famous mistake delivered the artists from two obstacles. Doctor Accoramboni dreamed in his bed of the pyramid of Cestius, and Pitichinaccio thought that his last hour had come. Capuzzi tried to oppose bad fortune with a good heart alone;