Page:The Vicomte de Bragelonne 2.djvu/43

 Pittrino, grateful, and fed with maccaroni, set about propagating the reputation of this national dish, and from the time of its founder he had rendered, with his indefatigable tongue, signal services to the house of Cropoli.

As he grew old he attached himself to the son as he had done to the father, and by degrees became a kind of over-looker of a house in which his remarkable integrity, hit acknowledged sobriety, and a thousand other virtues useless to enumerate, gave him an eternal place by the fireside, with a right of inspection over the domestics. Besides this, it was he who tasted the maccaroni, to maintain the pure flavor of the ancient tradition; and it must be allowed that he never permitted a grain of pepper too much or an atom of parmesan too little. His joy was at its height on that day when called upon to share the secret of Cropoli the younger and to paint the famous sign.

He was seen at once rummaging with ardor in an old box, in which he found some pencils, a little gnawed by the rats, but still passable; some colors in bladders, almost dried up; some linseed-oil in a bottle, and a palette which had formerly belonged to Bronzino, that dieu de la pittoure, as the ultra-montane artist always called him.

Pittrino was puffed up with all the joy of a rehabilitation.

He did as Raphael had done—he changed his style, and painted, in the fashion of the Albanian, two goddesses rather than two queens. These illustrious ladies appeared so lovely on the sign—they presented to the astonished eyes such an assemblage of lilies and roses, the enchanting result of the change of style in Pittrino—they assumed the poses of sirens so Anacreontically—that the principal échevin, when admitted to view this capital piece in the salle of Cropole, at once declared that these ladies were too handsome to figure as a sign in the eyes of passengers.

To Pittrino he added, "His Royal Highness Monsieur, who often comes into our city, will not be much pleased to see his illustrious mother so slightly clothed, and he will send you to the oubliettes of the state; for, remember, the heart of that glorious prince is not always tender. You must efface either the two sirens of the legend, without which I forbid the exhibition of the sign. I say this for your sake, Master Cropole, as well as for yours, Signor Pittrino."

What answer could be made to this? It was necessary to