"May the sharks get his body and the devil get his soul!"
"That will be as it shall be," answered Bastianello. "And it is sure
that if God wills, the grampuses will eat him. But we do not know the
end. What I would say is this, that it is time you should speak to the
girl, because I see how white you get when we talk of her, and you are
consuming yourself and will have an illness, and though I could work for
both you and me, four arms are better than two, in summer as in winter.
Therefore I say, go and speak to her, for she will have you and she will
be better with you than near that apoplexy of a San Miniato."
Ruggiero did not answer at once, but pulled out his pipe and filled it
and began to smoke.
"Why should I speak?" he asked at last. There was a struggle in his
mind, for he did not wish to tell Bastianello outright that he did not
really care for Teresina. If he betrayed this fact it would be hard
hereafter to account for his own state, which was too apparent to be
concealed, especially from his brother, and he had no idea that the
latter loved the girl.
"Why should you speak?" asked Bastianello, repeating the words, and
stirring the ashes in his pipe with the point of his knife.
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