Stories by Foreign Authors: German — Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 196 pages of information about Stories by Foreign Authors.

Stories by Foreign Authors: German — Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 196 pages of information about Stories by Foreign Authors.

Hardly one hour had passed since noon, and yet for the last two Antonio had been sitting waiting on the bench before the fishers’ tavern.  He must have been very much preoccupied with something, for he jumped up every moment to step out into the sunshine, and look carefully up and down the roads, which, parting right and left, lead to the only two little towns upon the island.  He did not altogether trust the weather, he then said to the hostess of the osteria; to be sure, it was clear enough, but he did not quite like that tint of sea and sky.  Just so it had looked, he said, before the last awful storm, when the English family had been so nearly lost; surely she must remember it?

No, indeed, she said, she didn’t.

Well, if the weather should happen to change before night, she was to think of him, he said.

“Have you many fine folk over there?” she asked him, after a while.

“They are only just beginning; as yet, the season has been bad enough; those who came to bathe, came late.”

“The spring came late.  Have you not been earning more than we at Capri?”

“Not enough to give me macaroni twice a week, if I had had nothing but the boat—­only a letter now and then to take to Naples, or a gentleman to row out into the open sea, that he might fish.  But you know I have an uncle who is rich; he owns more than one fine orange-garden; and, ‘Tonino,’ says he to me, ’while I live you shall not suffer want; and when I am gone you will find that I have taken care of you.’  And so, with God’s help, I got through the winter.”

“Has he children, this uncle who is rich?”

“No, he never married; he was long in foreign parts, and many a good piastre he has laid together.  He is going to set up a great fishing business, and set me over it, to see the rights of it.”

“Why, then you are a made man, Tonino!”

The young boatman shrugged his shoulders.

“Every man has his own burden,” said he, starting up again to have another look at the weather, turning his eyes right and left, although he must have known that there can be no weather side but one.

“Let me fetch you another bottle,” said the hostess; “your uncle can well afford to pay for it.”

“Not more than one glass; it is a fiery wine you have in Capri, and my head is hot already.”

“It does not heat the blood; you may drink as much of it as you like.  And here is my husband coming; so you must sit a while, and talk to him.”

And in fact, with his nets over his shoulder, and his red cap upon his curly head, down came the comely padrone of the osteria.  He had been taking a dish of fish to that great lady, to set before the little curato.  As soon as he caught sight of the young boatman, he began waving him a most cordial welcome; and he came to sit beside him on the bench, chattering and asking questions.  Just as his wife was bringing her second bottle of pure unadulterated Capri, they heard the crisp sand crunch, and Laurella was seen approaching from the left-hand road to Anacapri.  She nodded slightly in salutation; then stopped, and hesitated.

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Stories by Foreign Authors: German — Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.