United States or Angola ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
I am going to take Silvestro over La Venda to see my mother, and confess to our curate. It is good for the soul." "Silvestro looks well this morning," said Andrea, with his mouth full of bread. "What a colour of dawn! What shining eyes! He would make a proper Madonna for a Mystery eh?" "He would," said Castracane laconically; "a most proper Madonna. With a Bambino on his lap eh, Silvestro."
He had him by the ear and was pricking him with his sabre in the fleshy parts. "Easy, friend," said Castracane; "I'm not running away." He went like a sheep to the Sub-Prefect. Andrea watched him twittering. "What is your name, fellow?" said that heated officer. Andrea's eyes yearned for his mate's. Castracane gave him a terrible look.
I repeat, Padua is a freakish city. The Sub-Prefect writes madrigals in vain. Castracane, the goatherd, sends Silvestro sprawling, and wins the golden Ippolita for a willing bride. What are we to make of it? Deus nobis hæc otia fecit. "L'Anima semplicetta, che sa nulla, Salvo che, mossa da lieto fattore, Volentier torna a ciò che la trastulla." Purg. xvi. 88.
Silvestro went at once. Castracane squared his jaw and waited. Every now and then he muttered to himself, with lazy lifted eyebrows. It was too much trouble to shrug. "Poor little devil it would be a shame! And I knocked him down for nothing. And he loves me, per Bacco! Certainly, I have never been loved before by a man, I mean except by my big old mother out yonder, and she is a woman.
The question seemed absurd. Did they not crucify young children, and eat them afterwards? Did they not kill Gesù Cristo? Everybody knows that they did; and, as for proof, look at them with a dish of pork. Ugh! But Castracane blinked his small eyes, and held to it. "Did you kill him because of Gesù Cristo?" he asked. Silvestro shrugged. "It was partly that, of course." "What else?"
In about half an hour Silvestro, who had been fidgeting in the cave, came out, restless to have stayed so long beyond sight or hearing of his Pilade. His reception by Andrea was shocking. The gaping boy sprang forward with his arms out. "Ha! Here is a terrible affair," he wailed. "Our Castracane is taken, and for your fault; he will be hanged, and for you! Make your supper of it, you Jew-jerker.
Out sped Silvestro into the wood, the Sub-Prefect bareheaded behind him. In a glade not far from the hermitage sat the two archers. The horses were tethered to one tree, Castracane to another. Seeing their chief, the men sprang to attention; their astonishment at what followed was no greater than Castracane's. "Loose him, Signore," says Silvestro. The Sub-Prefect with a knife cut his bonds.
Whither now?" stammered Castracane. Silvestro squeezed his hand. "Oh, dearest, let us go to the cave let us go to the cave on the hill!" Castracane felt his friend trembling. Trembling is infectious; he began to tremble too. "Yes, yes, we will go to our cave," he agreed in a quick whisper. They struggled upwards through the bushwood and starry flowers.
"So you didn't kill the Jew?" Castracane began. "I knew it! But what did you do to run away?" "Ah, you mustn't ask. Indeed, I can't tell you. It was rather bad." Castracane looked keenly at his new friend. "Was it a girl?" he said. Silvestro blushed. "Yes, it was a girl." "Ah, ah! Then I say no more. I like girls myself. But they get you into trouble quicker than anything.
He had not so very long; but you might have given him an hour, it would have made no difference to Castracane then. The guard came reeking to the brow of the hill; Andrea, haltered, was with them. Alessandro, mopping his head and cursing the flies, came last. "Look yonder, Marco," said one. The other said "Ha!" and pounced upon his treasure.
Word Of The Day