I
see you are uneasy about your ring; but don't worry your mind; it is
not worth taking; you think it an antique, but it's a counterfeit - a
mere sham."
Here the doctor would have put in a word, for his antiquarian pride was
touched.
"Nay, nay," continued the other, "we've no time to dispute about it.
Value it as you please. Come, you are a brave little old signor - one
more cup of wine and we'll pay the reckoning. No compliments - I insist
on it. So - now make the best of your way back to Terracina; it's
growing late - buono viaggio! - and harkee, take care how you wander
among these mountains."
They shouldered their fusils, sprang gaily up the rocks, and the little
doctor hobbled back to Terracina, rejoicing that the robbers had let
his seal ring, his watch, and his treatise escape unmolested, though
rather nettled that they should have pronounced his veritable intaglio
a counterfeit.
The improvvisatore had shown many symptoms of impatience during this
recital. He saw his theme in danger of being taken out of his hands by
a rival story-teller, which to an able talker is always a serious
grievance; it was also in danger of being taken away by a Neapolitan,
and that was still more vexatious; as the members of the different
Italian states have an incessant jealousy of each other in all things,
great and small.
