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"I
don't like him, for that matter; so there's no harm
done. But I can't stand the way he behaves to
you. If it weren't for the scandal it would make
in the party first to beg a man to come and then
to quarrel with him, I should call him to account
for it."
"Let him alone, Cesare; it isn't of any consequence,
and after all, it's as much my fault as his."
"What is your fault?"
"That he dislikes me so. I said a brutal thing
to him when we first met, that night at the
Grassinis'."
"YOU said a brutal thing? That's hard to
believe, Madonna."
"It was unintentional, of course, and I was very
sorry. I said something about people laughing at
cripples, and he took it personally. It had never
occurred to me to think of him as a cripple; he is
not so badly deformed."
"Of course not. He has one shoulder higher
than the other, and his left arm is pretty badly
disabled, but he's neither hunchbacked nor clubfooted.
As for his lameness, it isn't worth talking
about."
"Anyway, he shivered all over and changed
colour.


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