“Pho! pho! a single Venetian sequin is worth two parpaîole of Genoa.”
Nevertheless, the notion of four crowns to be earned so easily was not without its charm for either wife or husband, and at last, after farther objections on one side, and supplications on the other, the mules were brought out and re-harnessed. Teresa, enveloped in her mantle, to protect her from the night air, arranged herself as well as she could on the bench between the grumbling couple; and at length they set off on their expedition. All the clocks in Turin were striking eleven as they passed the gate of the city.
In her impatience to arrive and procure good tidings for transmission to Fenestrella, Teresa would fain have found herself carried away by the speed of impetuous coursers towards Alexandria. But alas! the vehicle in which she had secured a place lumbered heavily along the road. The mules paced steadily along, lifting their legs with measured precision, so as to put in motion the little chime of bells, which imparted a still cooler character to the nonchalance of their movements. For some time, indeed, the fair traveller took patience, hoping the animals would become gradually excited, or that the driver might urge them with a touch of the whip. But finding his incitement limited to a slight clicking of the tongue, she at length took courage to inform him that it was essential to make all speed towards Asti, that she might arrive by day-break at Alexandria.
“Take my word for it, my pretty maid,” replied the man, “that ’tis not a whit more amusing to us than to yourself, to pass the night in counting the stars. But the cobbler must stick to his last. My cargo, young lady, consists of crockery ware, which I am conveying for sale to the fair of Renigano, and if my mules were to take to the trot, I should have only potsherds to produce at the end of my journey.”
“Are you, then, a crockery merchant?” exclaimed Teresa, in a tone of consternation.
“China merchants,” remonstrated the wife.
“Alas! alas!” exclaimed the disappointed girl—“is it then impossible for you to go a little faster?”
“Except by knocking to pieces my whole freight.”
“It is so important for me to arrive in time at Alexandria!”
“And for us to keep an eye to our goods.”