‘Not an obolus, by Jupiter!’ he murmured, in a language which was not Tuscan or even Italian. ‘I thought I had one poor piece left. I must get my breakfast for love, then!’
He had not gone many steps farther before it seemed likely that he had found a quarter of the market where that medium of exchange might not be rejected.
In a corner, away from any group of talkers, two mules5 were standing7, well adorned8 with red tassels9 and collars. One of them carried wooden milk-vessels, the other a pair of panniers filled with herbs and salads. Resting her elbow on the neck of the mule6 that carried the milk, there leaned a young girl, apparently11 not more than sixteen, with a red hood12 surrounding her face, which was all the more baby-like in its prettiness from the entire concealment13 of her hair. The poor child, perhaps, was weary after her labour in the morning twilight14 in preparation for her walk to market from some castello three or four miles off, for she seemed to have gone to sleep in that half-standing, half-leaning posture15. Nevertheless, our stranger had no compunction in awaking her; but the means he chose were so gentle, that it seemed to the damsel in her dream as if a little sprig of thyme had touched her lips while she was stooping to gather the herbs. The dream was broken, however, for she opened her blue baby-eyes, and started up with astonishment16 and confusion to see the young stranger standing close before her. She heard him speaking to her in a voice which seemed so strange and soft, that even if she had been more collected she would have taken it for granted that he said something hopelessly unintelligible17 to her, and her first movement was to turn her head a little away, and lift up a corner of her green serge mantle19 as a screen. He repeated his words —
‘Forgive me, pretty one, for awaking you. I’m dying with hunger, and the scent20 of milk makes breakfast seem more desirable than ever.’
He had chosen the words ‘muoio di fame,’ because he knew they would be familiar to her ears; and he had uttered them playfully, with the intonation21 of a mendicant22. This time he was understood; the corner of the mantle was dropped, and in a few moments a large cup of fragrant23 milk was held out to him. He paid no further compliments before raising it to his lips, and while he was drinking, the little maiden24 found courage to look up at the long dark curls of this singular-voiced stranger, who had asked for food in the tones of a beggar, but who, though his clothes were much damaged, was unlike any beggar she had ever seen.
While this process of survey was going on, there was another current of feeling that carried her hand into a bag which hung by the side of the mule, and when the stranger set down his cup, he saw a large piece of bread held out towards him, and caught a glance of the blue eyes that seemed intended as an encouragement to him to take this additional gift.
‘But perhaps that is your own breakfast,’ he said. ‘No, I have had enough without payment. A thousand thanks, my gentle one.’
There was no rejoinder in words; but the piece of bread was pushed a little nearer to him, as if in impatience25 at his refusal; and as the long dark eyes of the stranger rested on the baby-face, it seemed to be gathering26 more and more courage to look up and meet them.
‘Ah, then, if I must take the bread.’ he said, laying his hand on it, ‘I shall get bolder still, and beg for another kiss to make the bread sweeter.’
His speech was getting wonderfully intelligible18 in spite of the strange voice, which had at first almost seemed a thing to make her cross herself. She blushed deeply, and lifted up a corner of her mantle to her mouth again. But just as the too presumptuous27 stranger was leaning forward, and had his fingers on the arm that held up the screening mantle, he was startled by a harsh voice close upon his ear.
‘Who are you — with a murrain to you? No honest buyer. I’ll warrant, but a hanger-on of the dicers — or something worse. Go! dance off, and find fitter company, or I’ll give you a tune28 to a little quicker time than you’ll like.’
The young stranger drew back and looked at the speaker with a glance provokingly free from alarm and deprecation and his slight expression of saucy29 amusement broke into a broad beaming smile as he surveyed the figure of his threatener. She was a stout30 but brawny31 woman, with a man’s jerkin slipped over her green serge gamurra or gown, and the peaked hood of some departed mantle fastened round her sun-burnt face, which, under all its coarseness and premature32 wrinkles, showed a half-sad, half-ludicrous maternal33 resemblance to the tender baby-face of the little maiden — the sort of resemblance which often seems a more croaking34 shudder-creating prophecy than that of the death’s-head.
There was something irresistibly35 propitiating36 in that bright young smile, but Monna Ghita was not a woman to betray any weakness, and she went on speaking, apparently with heightened exasperation37.
‘Yes, yes, you can grin as well as other monkeys in cap and jerkin. You’re a minstrel or a mountebank38, I’ll be sworn; you look for all the world as silly as a tumbler when he’s been upside down and has got on his heels again. And what fool’s tricks hast thou been after, Tessa?’ she added, turning to her daughter, whose frightened face was more inviting39 to abuse. ‘Giving away the milk and victuals40, it seems; ay, ay, thoud’st carry water in thy cars for any idle vagabond that didn’t like to stoop for it, thou silly staring rabbit! Turn thy back, and lift the herbs out of the panniers, else I’ll make thee say a few Aves without counting.’
‘Nay, Madonna,’ said the stranger, with a pleading smile, ‘don’t be angry with your pretty Tessa for taking pity on a hungry traveller, who found himself unexpectedly without a quattrino. Your handsome face looks so well when it frowns, that I long to see it illuminated41 by a smile.’
‘Va via! I know what paste you are made of. You may tickle42 me with that straw a good long while before I shall laugh, I can tell you. Get along, with a bad Easter! else I’ll make a beauty spot or two on that face of yours that shall spoil your kissing on this side Advent43.’
As Monna Ghita lifted her formidable talons44 by way of complying with the first and last requisite45 of eloquence46, Bratti, who had come up a minute or two before, had been saying to his companion, ‘What think you of this pretty parrot, Nello? Doesn’t his tongue smack47 of Venice?’
‘Nay, Bratti,’ said the barber in an undertone, ‘thy wisdom has much of the ass10 in it, as I told thee just now; especially about the ears. This stranger is a Greek, else I’m not the barber who has had the sole and exclusive shaving of the excellent Demetrio, and drawn48 more than one sorry tooth from his learned jaw49. And this youth might be taken to have come straight from Olympus — at least when he has had a touch of my razor.’
‘Orsu! Monna Ghita!’ continued Nello, not sorry to see some sport; ‘what has happened to cause such a thunderstorm? Has this young stranger been misbehaving himself?’
‘By San Giovanni!’ said the cautious Bratti, who had not shaken off his original suspicions concerning the shabbily-clad possessor of jewels, ‘he did right to run away from me, if he meant to get into mischief50. I can swear I found him under the Loggia de’ Cerchi, with a ring on his finger such as I’ve seen worn by Bernardo Rucellai himself. Not another rusty51 nail’s worth do I know about him.’
‘The fact is,’ said Nello, eyeing the stranger good-humouredly, ‘this bello giovane has been a little too presumptuous in admiring the charms of Monna Ghita, and has attempted to kiss her while her daughter’s back is turned; for I observe that the pretty Tessa is too busy to look this way at present. Was it not so, Messer?’ Nello concluded, in a tone of courtesy.
‘You have divined the offence like a soothsayer,’ said the stranger, laughingly. ‘Only that I had not the good fortune to find Monna Ghita here at first. I begged a cup of milk from her daughter, and had accepted this gift of bread, for which I was making a humble52 offering of gratitude53, before I had the higher pleasure of being face to face with these riper charms which I was perhaps too bold in admiring.’
‘Va, va! be off, every one of you, and stay in purgatory54 till I pay to get you out, will you?’ said Monna Ghita, fiercely, elbowing Nello, and leading forward her mule so as to compel the stranger to jump aside. ‘Tessa, thou simpleton, bring forward thy mule a bit: the cart will be upon us.’
As Tessa turned to take the mule’s bridle55, she cast one timid glance at the stranger, who was now moving with Nello out of the way of an approaching market-cart; and the glance was just long enough to seize the beckoning56 movement of his hand, which indicated that he had been watching for this opportunity of an adieu.
‘Ebbene,’ said Bratti, raising his voice to speak across the cart; ‘I leave you with Nello, young man, for there’s no pushing my bag and basket any farther, and I have business at home. But you’ll remember our bargain, because if you found Tessa without me, it was not my fault. Nello will show you my shop in the Ferravecchi, and I’ll not turn my back on you.’
‘A thousand thanks, friend!’ said the stranger, laughing, and then turned away with Nello up the narrow street which led most directly to the Piazza del Duomo.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
agitation
|
|
| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
piazza
|
|
| n.广场；走廊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
vendor
|
|
| n.卖主；小贩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
frustration
|
|
| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
mules
|
|
| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
mule
|
|
| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
adorned
|
|
| [计]被修饰的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
tassels
|
|
| n.穗( tassel的名词复数 )；流苏状物；（植物的）穗；玉蜀黍的穗状雄花v.抽穗， （玉米）长穗须( tassel的第三人称单数 )；使抽穗， （为了使作物茁壮生长）摘去穗状雄花；用流苏装饰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
hood
|
|
| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
concealment
|
|
| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
posture
|
|
| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
unintelligible
|
|
| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
intelligible
|
|
| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
mantle
|
|
| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
scent
|
|
| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
intonation
|
|
| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
mendicant
|
|
| n.乞丐；adj.行乞的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
fragrant
|
|
| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
presumptuous
|
|
| adj.胆大妄为的，放肆的，冒昧的，冒失的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
saucy
|
|
| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
brawny
|
|
| adj.强壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
premature
|
|
| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
maternal
|
|
| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
croaking
|
|
| v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
irresistibly
|
|
| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
propitiating
|
|
| v.劝解，抚慰，使息怒( propitiate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
37
exasperation
|
|
| n.愤慨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
mountebank
|
|
| n.江湖郎中；骗子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
inviting
|
|
| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
victuals
|
|
| n.食物；食品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
illuminated
|
|
| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
tickle
|
|
| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
advent
|
|
| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
talons
|
|
| n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
requisite
|
|
| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
eloquence
|
|
| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
smack
|
|
| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
jaw
|
|
| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
mischief
|
|
| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
rusty
|
|
| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
purgatory
|
|
| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
bridle
|
|
| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
beckoning
|
|
| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |