The trinkets are
called collectively "the gold."
Ruggiero did not find a ready answer to so strong an argument. Little
guessing that his brother was almost as much in love with Teresina as he
himself was with her mistress, he saw no reason for undeceiving him
concerning his own feelings. Since Bastianello had discovered that he,
Ruggiero, was suffering from an acute attack of the affections, it had
become the latter's chief object to conceal the real truth. It was not
so much, that he dreaded the ridicule--he, a poor sailor--of being known
to love a great lady's daughter; ridicule was not among the things he
feared. But something far too subtle for him to define made him keep his
secret to himself--an inborn, chivalrous, manly instinct, inherited
through generations of peasants but surviving still, as the trace of
gold in the ashes of a rich stuff that has had gilded threads in it.
"If I did begin with the gold," he said at last, "and if she would not
have me when I spoke afterwards, she would give the gold back."
"Of course she would. What do you take her for?" Bastianello asked the
question almost angrily, for he loved Teresina and he resented the
slightest imputation upon her fair dealing.
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