"I will not have my beautiful child have this grief put upon her!--you,
Excellenza, will help my appeal to the Council--they cannot refuse
me--what use am I to anybody or myself? I say that the daughter of my
old friend Natalie shall not have her lover taken from her; it is I,
Calabressa, who claim to be his substitute!"
"Friend Calabressa, I desire you to sit down and listen. The story is
brief that I have to tell you. This man Brand is chosen by the usual
ballot. The young lady does not know for what duty, of course, but
believes it will cost him his life. She is in trouble; she recollects
your giving her some instructions; what does she do but start off at
once for Naples, to put her head right into the den of the black bear
Tommaso!"
"Ah, the brave little one! She did not forget Calabressa and the little
map, then?"
"I have seen her and her mother."
"Her mother, also? Here, in Naples, now?"
"Yes."
"Great Heaven! What a fool I was to come through Naples and not to
know--but I was thinking of that little viper.
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