Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. Naples
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
Madonna. How I envied him his faith! He
showed me the two medallions his wife had hung
round his neck the day the cholera broke out, one
was a Madonna del Carmine, the other was Santa
Lucia, the patron saint of his wife, his wife’s name
was Lucia. She had worn the little medallion
ever since she was a child. I said I knew Santa
Lucia well, I knew she was the patron saint of the
eyes. I had often wished to light a candle before
her shrine, I who had lived for years in fear of
losing my sight. He said he would tell his wife
to remember me in her prayers to Santa Lucia,
who had lost her own eyes but had restored the
light to so many others. He told me that from
the moment he left his house in the morning, his
wife was sitting by the window looking out for
his return. She had nobody but him in the world,
she had married him against the wish of her
parents, he had wanted to send her away from
the infected city but she had refused to leave him.
I asked him if he was not afraid of death. He
said not for himself but for the sake of his wife.
If only death from cholera was not so hideous!
Better to be taken at once to the cemetery than
to be seen by eyes that loved you!
“I am sure you will be all right,” I said, “you
have at least somebody who prays for you, I have
nobody.”
A shadow passed over his handsome face.
“Promise me if . . .”
“Don’t let us talk about death,” I interrupted
him with a shudder.
The little Osteria dell’Allegria behind Piazza
Mercato was a favourite resting-place of mine.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
