Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/289

 had not quitted him, forced him to be seated again. The clown weeping bitterly, spoke of cutting his throat or drowning himself in the Tiber; but, unfortunately, the sight of blood irritated his nerves, and, on the other hand, he thought that he could not throw himself into the water without immediately beginning to swim.

Then doctor Graziano came upon the stage, and asked him the cause of his grief.

"Alas!" said Pasquarello, "are you ignorant then, that a vile scoundrel has carried off honest Signor Pasquale Capuzzi di Senegaglia's niece?"

"But," replied Graziano, "has justice not placed her hand upon this guilty man?"

"Yes, certainly," said Pasquarello, "as cunning as he may be, Antonio Scacciati could not escape the chastisement prepared for him by the worthy Signor Capuzzi. Antonio is arrested, his secret marriage with the pretty Marianna is declared null by the Holy Father, and the fugitive dove has gone back to Capuzzi's cage."

"What! can it be true!" exclaimed Pasquale, seeking to shake off the grasp of his neighbors, "that beggar Antonio is under key? Oh Formica, I bless thee!"

"Be so kind as not to move about so," said one of the guardians of the poor madman, gravely; "your cries prevent the other spectators from enjoying the spectacle."

Doctor Graziano continued his questions:—"The pope," answered Pasquarello, "has given the necessary dispensation for the marriage of Capuzzi with Marianna. All is ended! But the poor child has pined since this fatal marriage, and Capuzzi is slowly killing her by his jealousy."

Whilst listening to this conversation, Capuzzi raved like a demoniac, but his two neighbors held fast and did not allow him to escape. Suddenly, Pasquarello exclaimed in a lamentable voice, that Marianna was dead. At the same time funeral voices uttered a formidable de profundis in the dis-