“Ma, you oughtn't to begin by getting up a prejudice against him. I'm
sure he is good-hearted and means well. Both of his faces show it.”
“I'm not so certain about that. The one on the left--I mean the one on
it's left--hasn't near as good a face, in my opinion, as its brother.”
“That's Luigi.”
“Yes, Luigi; anyway it's the dark-skinned one; the one that was west of
his brother when they stood in the door. Up to all kinds of mischief
and disobedience when he was a boy, I'll be bound. I lay his mother had
trouble to lay her hand on him when she wanted him. But the one on the
right is as good as gold, I can see that.”
“That's Angelo.”
“Yes, Angelo, I reckon, though I can't tell t'other from which by their
names, yet awhile. But it's the right-hand one--the blond one. He has
such kind blue eyes, and curly copper hair and fresh complexion--”
“And such a noble face!--oh, it is a noble face, ma, just royal, you may
say! And beautiful deary me, how beautiful! But both are that; the dark
one's as beautiful as--a picture. There's no such wonderful faces
and handsome heads in this town none that even begin. And such hands,
especially Angelo's--so shapely and--”
“Stuff, how could you tell which they belonged to?--they had gloves on.”
“Why, didn't I see them take off their hats?”
“That don't signify. They might have taken off each other's hats. Nobody
could tell. There was just a wormy squirming of arms in the air--seemed
to be a couple of dozen of them, all writhing at once, and it just made
me dizzy to see them go.”
“Why, ma, I hadn't any difficulty. There's two arms on each shoulder--”
“There, now. One arm on each shoulder belongs to each of the creatures,
don't it? For a person to have two arms on one shoulder wouldn't do him
any good, would it? Of course not. Each has an arm on each shoulder. Now
then, you tell me which of them belongs to which, if you can. They don't
know, themselves--they just work whichever arm comes handy. Of course
they do; especially if they are in a hurry and can't stop to think which
belongs to which.”
The mother seemed to have the rights of the argument, so the daughter
abandoned the struggle. Presently the widow rose with a yawn and said:
“Poor thing, I hope it won't catch cold; it was powerful wet, just
drenched, you may say. I hope it has left its boots outside, so they can
be dried.”
Then she gave a little start, and looked perplexed.
“Now I remember I heard one of them ask Joe to call him at half after
seven--I think it was the one on the left--no, it was the one to the
east of the other one--but I didn't hear the other one say any thing.
I wonder if he wants to be called too. Do you reckon it's too late to
ask?”
“Why, ma, it's not necessary. Calling one is calling both. If one gets
up, the other's got to.”
“Sho, of course; I never thought of that. Well, come along, maybe we can
get some sleep, but I don't know, I'm so shook up with what we've been
through.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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