The travelling dress was finished and taken home; and while the hunchback was taking it up by the stairs, la Bella Grazia was getting in by the hole behind the picture; but she had first made a great doll,[7] and dressed it just like herself, and stuck it in the window. The gobbo, who stood down below to see the gentry drive off, looked up and saw her, as he thought, at the window, and made signs for her not to stay there too long.
Presently the stranger and his lady came down; the hunchback was standing before the carriage door, as I have said, and two stablemen were standing by also.
‘You give me your good grace?’[8] asked the stranger.
‘Yes, yes!’ readily responded the hunchback, delighted to find a rich gentleman so civil to him.
‘You say it sincerely, with all your heart?’ again asked the stranger.
‘Yes, yes, yes! with all my heart,’ answered the hunchback.
‘Then give me your hand upon it.’
And the hunchback, more and more delighted, put out his hand, the two stablemen standing by looking on attentively all the time.
As soon as the carriage had driven away, the hunchback’s first care was to look up at the window to see if the girl had gone in; but the doll was still there.
‘Go in! go in!’ he cried, waving his hand. But the figure remained unmoved. Indignant, he took a stick and ran up to punish the girl for her disobedience, and when the blows fell thick and fast and no cries came, he discovered the trick that had been played.