When Marianna saw her uncle in this terrible condition, she gave a loud cry, and a flood of tears burst from her eyes. Without paying any attention to her lover, who was present, she took the old man's hands, pressed them to her lips, and lamented over the sad misfortune which had befallen him. Such was this good girl's compassion for the old fellow who tortured her with his insane fondness for her. All the same the inborn nature of woman within her displayed itself, for a few significant looks of Salvator's were amply sufficient to let her understand the whole position of matters. It was only then that she gave a stolen glance at the happy Antonio, blushing deeply as she did so, and it was marvellous to see how a somewhat roguish smile victoriously dispelled her tears. On the whole, Salvator had never thought that she was so delightful, so wonderfully lovely (notwithstanding the Magdalene picture) as he now found her actually to be. And whilst he almost envied Antonio his good fortune, he felt doubly the necessity of getting the poor girl out of the clutches of the accursed Capuzzi, at whatever cost. The latter, welcomed in this charming manner (which he by no means deserved) by his delightful niece, forgot his troubles; he smiled, and ogled, working his lips so that his moustaches went up and down; and he groaned and whined, not so much from pain as from amorousness. Antonio skilfully prepared the bed for his patient, and when he had been laid down upon it, tightened the bandages--and did so to such an extent on the left leg, that the old gentleman had, perforce, to lie as motionless as a wooden doll. Salvator went away, leaving the lovers to their happiness. The old gentleman was lying buried in cushions, and Antonio had, moreover, so bound a thick cloth soaked in ice-water about his head, that he could not hear a trace of what the lovers were whispering; so they now, for the first time, uttered all that was in their hearts, and vowed eternal fidelity, with tears and the sweetest kisses. The old man could not possibly have any suspicion, as Marianna, every now and then, kept asking him if there was anything he wanted, and even permitted him to press her little white hand to his lips. When it was high day, Antonio hastened away, according to his own statement, to order what was further necessary for the patient, but, in reality, to consider how he might possibly manage to keep him in a still more helpless state, if he could, so that Salvator and he might reflect upon what steps were to be taken in the next place. * * * * * * A fresh plot which Salvator and Antonio form, and carry out upon Signor Pasquale Capuzzi and his associates; and the results thereof. On the following morning Antonio came to Salvator, all vexation and anger. "Well, how goes it?" Salvator cried to him. "What are you hanging your head for, superlatively happy man, who can kiss and caress his darling every day?"