Cornelius O'Dowd Upon Men And Women And Other Things In GeneralLever, Charles
General
Cornelius O'Dowd Upon Men And Women And Other Things In General
Lever, Charles
Biography -- Humor; Essays; Italy -- Description and travel
“‘How should I know their names? I can only say that one was the cook,
the other the waiter.’
“‘There!’ said the Prefect, tossing two sheets of printed and
written-over paper towards him--‘there! tell the landlord to fill in the
fellows’ names and surnames, and send that document to the Podesta. They
shall have four weeks, and with hard labour.’
“The Englishman went his way rejoicing. He despatched the missive, and
felt his injuries were avenged.
“Two days after, however, a friend dropped in, and in the course of
conversation mentioned that he had just come from Spalla de Monte, where
he had dined so well and met such an intelligent waiter; ‘which, I own,’
said he, ‘surprised me, for I had heard of their having insulted some
traveller last week very grossly.’
“The Englishman hurried off to the Prefecture. ‘We are outraged,
insulted, laughed at!’ cried he: ‘those fellows you ordered to prison
are at large. They mock your authority and despise it.’
“A mounted messenger was sent off at speed to bring up the landlord to
Messina, and he appeared the next morning, pale with fear and trembling.
He owned that the Prefect’s order had duly reached him, that he had
understood it thoroughly; ‘but, Eccellenza,’ said he, crying, ‘it was
the shooting season; people were dropping in every day. Where was I to
find a cook or a waiter? I must have closed the house if I parted with
them; so, not to throw contempt on your worship’s order, I sent two
of the stablemen to jail in their place, and a deal of good it will do
them.’”
While I was laughing heartily at this story, my companion turned towards
the gendarme and said, “Have you made a note of his teeth? you see they
are tolerably regular, but one slightly overlaps the other in front.”
“Signor Générale,” said the other, reddening, “I’ll make a note of
_your_ tongue, which will do quite as well.”
“Bravo!” said the Garibaldian; “better said than I could have given you
credit for. I’ll not keep you any longer from your dinner. Will you bear
me company,” asked he of me, “as far as Chiavari? It’s a fine day, and
we shall have a pleasant drive.”
I agreed, and we started.
The road was interesting, the post-horses which we took at Borghetto
went well, and the cigars were good, and somehow we said very little to
each other as we went.
“This is the real way to travel,” said my companion; “a man to smoke
with and no bother of talking; there’s Chiavari in the hollow.”
I nodded, and never spoke.
“Are you inclined to come on to Genoa?”
“No.”
And soon after we parted--whether ever to meet again or not is not so
easy to say, nor of very much consequence to speculate on.
THE ORGAN NUISANCE AND ITS REMEDY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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