Giovanna began to eat, but with a lump in her throat that made swallowing a difficult matter.
Paolo, meanwhile, had not spoken a word, but sat bowed over his plate, which, by the time Giovanna had managed to get down her first mouthful, was entirely clean.
"Why, you are a perfect hurricane, my son!" said Aunt Porredda. "What a ravenous appetite you have, to be sure! Do you want some more—yes?—and more still—yes——?"
"Well done!" cried Uncle Efes Maria. "It looks as though you had found very little to eat in the Eternal City!"
"Eh, that is precisely what I was saying just now," said Aunt Porredda. "Beautiful streets, if you will; but—when it comes to buying anything—the pennies have to be counted down! I've been told all about it! On my word, they say that there are no provisions stored in the houses as there are here, and you all know for yourselves that with no provisions in the house it is not easy to satisfy one's appetite!"
Aunt Bachissia nodded affirmatively; she knew only too well what happens when there is nothing in a house to eat.
"Is that true or not, Dr. Porreddu?"
"True, perfectly true," said he, laughing, and eating, and waving his large, white hands with their long nails, in the air.
"It is that that makes him such a leech, a regular vampire," said Uncle Efes Maria, turning to his guests. "I'll not have a drop of blood left in my veins. Body of the devil! how the money must go in Rome!"