‘After all this he asked for the girl herself.
‘“You must take her,” said the father, and Sor Cassandro went to take her. But she was a sprightly, impulsive girl, and the moment he came near her she screamed out—
‘“Get away, horrid old man!”[6] and wouldn’t let him approach her.
‘“Leave her alone to-night, and try to-morrow. I’ll try to bring her round in the meantime.”
‘Sor Cassandro came next day; but the girl was more violent than ever, and would say nothing but “Get away, horrid old man!”
‘Finding this went on day after day without amendment, Sor Cassandro indignantly asked for his presents back.
‘“You shall have them!” cried the girl, and the clothes she tore up to rags, and the trinkets she broke to atoms and threw them all at him.
‘But for the rest of his life, wherever he went, the boys cried after him, “Sor Cassandro, la friggitora! Sor Cassandro, la friggitora!”’
[1] ‘Lo Sposalizio di Sor Cassandro.’ For ‘Sor’ see p. 194. [↑]