"
"Dio mio!" cried Teresina. She had blushed scarlet while he was
speaking, and she covered her face with both hands.
"You need not hide your face, Teresina," said Bastianello, with a little
emotion. "You can show it to every one after what you have done. And so
I will go on, and you must listen. Ruggiero is not a great signore like
the Count of San Miniato, but he is a man. And he has two arms which are
good, and two fists as hard as an ox's hoofs, and he can break
horse-shoes with his hands."
"Can you do that?" asked Teresina with an admiring look.
"Since you ask me--yes, I can. But Ruggiero did it before I could, and
showed me how, and no one else here can do it at all. And moreover
Ruggiero is a quiet man and does not drink nor play at the lotto, and
there is no harm in a game of beggar-my-neighbour for a pipe of tobacco,
on a long voyage when there is no work to be done, and--"
"Yes, I know," said Teresina, interrupting him. "You are very much
alike, you too. But what has this about Ruggiero to do with me, that
you tell me it all?"
"Who goes slowly, goes safely, and who goes safely goes far," answered
Bastianello.
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