The terrible climate of the
mountains!" However, I won his permission to leave the house, and
acted upon it that same afternoon.
Shaking and palpitating, I slowly
descended the stairs to the colonnade; then, with a step like that
of an old, old man, tottered across the piazza, my object being to
reach the chemist's shop, where I wished to pay for the drugs that I
had had and for the tea. When I entered, sweat was streaming from my
forehead; I dropped into a chair, and for a minute or two could do
nothing but recover nerve and breath. Never in my life had I
suffered such a wretched sense of feebleness. The pharmacist looked
at me with gravely compassionate eyes; when I told him I was the
Englishman who had been ill, and that I wanted to leave to-morrow
for Catanzaro, his compassion indulged itself more freely, and I
could see quite well that he thought my plan of travel visionary.
True, he said, the climate of Cotrone was trying to a stranger. He
understood my desire to get away; but - Catanzaro! Was I aware that
at Catanzaro I should suddenly find myself in a season of most
rigorous winter? And the winds! One needed to be very strong even to
stand on one's feet at Catanzaro. For all this I returned thanks,
and, having paid my bill, tottered back to the Concordia. It
seemed to me more than doubtful whether I should start on the
morrow.
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