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i so the miracles of* antichrist
broken-down man. He had become old, weak of
intellect and timid, so that he never dared to be
alone. He never worked in the shop, he was like a
different person entirely.
He had been seized by a great desire to be grand
and distinguished. Donna Micaela was very kind
towards him and sat prattling with him for hours
together.
" Who could it be," she would ask, " who once
stood on the market-place with plumes in his hat,
and braid on his jacket, and sword at his side, and
who played so beautifully that it was said his music
was uplifting as Etna and mighty as the sea? And
who was it that caught sight of a poor signorina
in mourning, who dared not show her face, and came
forward to her and offered her his arm ? Who could
that be ? Could it be Don Ferrante, who stands in
his haberdasher’s shop all the week wearing bag-cap
and short jacket ? No, that can’t be possible. An
old merchant could not do anything like that!"
Don Ferrante laughed. That was just the way he
liked to have her talk to him. She must also tell
him how it would be when he came to court, what
the king would say and what the queen would say.
" So the ancient Alagona have come to life again."
they would say at court. And who is the reviver
of the race ? They will wonder and wonder. The
Don Ferrante, who is a Sicilian prince and Spanish
grandee, is he one and the same man who stood in
the haberdasher’s shop in Diamante, shouting at the
wagoners ? No, they will say, it cannot be the same !
It cannot possibly be the same !
Don Ferrante liked this, and he could listen to her
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