“No, no,” J. protested; “è un bel pezzo di donna (she is a fine piece of a woman).”
Lucia gave him a keen look. “The signore should not laugh at the poor girl. Il buon Dio does not give a handsome face to every woman.”
“Fortunately, for the peace of the world, that is true.”
“But the signore is an artist? one sees that from his manner of looking at things. Well, if the innkeeper’s Anna is a pretty girl, call me a bruttona (big ugly thing). If my daughter had not been out of the common, do you think a rich gentleman would have married her? Yes, yes, I am telling you the truth. She does no work, they live in a palazzo, my daughter has servants to wait on her, do you believe it? she does not even comb her own hair! And she has jewels, such diamonds! For every child she gives him, he gives her a great pearl, each bigger than the last.”
“How many children have they?”
“Ha fatto quattro maschi e tre femmine (She has borne four males and three females), all straight and well formed. The youngest is Lucia, for the poor old nonna (grandmother) at Ischia.”
“Where do they live?”
She pointed across the sea. “What do I know of foreign countries? I am of the island. Here I was born, here I shall die.”
“You must be very proud of your grandchildren.” This is always a safe remark.
“Ha ragione, eccellenza, guardi (You are right, excellency, observe), I am only a poor ignorante, but I made the great matrimonio for my daughter. Eva was always here with me, upon the flanks of Epomeo, guiding the foreigners, but for me she would be here still, as my mother and her mother before her were here. In those days before the terremoto many strangers came to Epomeo. From the first moment the young Inglese saw the girl he was innamorato. He came every day, he pretended to sketch the mountain. I knew he was no artist; why, any one could see he was un gran signore by the way he spent his money. One day he asked leave to paint my daughter. I said, ’Scuse, Signore, you are a rich gentleman, I am only a beggar, ma io sono padrona della mia figlivola (I am the mistress of my little daughter). The day Eva takes a husband he will be padrone; till that time, scusi, Signore, ma sono padrona io!’ Would you believe it? a week from that day Eva and the Inglese were married by the priest who married her father and mother and who gave her the holy rite of baptism.”