And just
then he said to me, 'You have a beautiful pair of masters you and your
brother.' 'Why?' I asked, and I held the boat-hook ready. But I would
not have hurt the boy, because he is one of ours. So he told me that he
had just seen the Count up there in the garden of the hotel, trying to
kiss Teresina and offering her the gold, and I gave him half a cigar to
tell me the rest, because he would not, and made faces."
"May he die murdered!" exclaimed Ruggiero in a low voice, his face as
white as canvas.
"Wait a little, she is a good girl," answered Bastianello. "Teresina
threw the gold upon the ground and told the Count that he was an
infamous one and a liar. And then she went away. And I think the boy was
speaking the truth, because if it were a lie he would have spoken in
another way. For it was as easy to say that the Count kissed her as to
say that she would not let him, and he would have had the tobacco all
the same."
"May he die of a stroke!" muttered Ruggiero.
"But if I were in your place," said his brother calmly, "I would not do
anything to your padrone, because the girl is a good girl and gave him
the good answer, and as for him--" Bastianello shrugged his shoulders.
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