If
I Thanked Him For Anything, He Took Off His Cap, Bowed With Comical
Dignity, And Answered "Grazie A Voi, Signore." Of Course These
People Never Used The Third Person Feminine Of Polite Italian.
Dr.
Sculco did so, for I had begun by addressing him in that manner, but
plainly it was not familiar to his lips.
At the same time there
prevailed certain forms of civility, which seemed a trifle
excessive. For instance, when the Doctor entered my room, and I gave
him "Buon giorno," he was wont to reply, "Troppo gentile!" -
too kind of you!
My newspaper boy came regularly for a few days, always complaining
of feverish symptoms, then ceased to appear. I made inquiry: he was
down with illness, and as no one took his place I suppose the
regular distribution of newspapers in Cotrone was suspended. When
the poor fellow again showed himself, he had a sorry visage; he sat
down by my bedside (rain dripping from his hat, and mud, very thick,
upon his boots) to give an account of his sufferings. I pictured the
sort of retreat in which he had lain during those miserable hours.
My own chamber contained merely the barest necessaries, and, as the
gentleman of Cosenza would have said, "left something to be desired"
in point of cleanliness. Conceive the places into which Cotrone's
poorest have to crawl when they are stricken with disease. I admit,
however, that the thought was worse to me at that moment than it is
now.
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