[Vittoria by George Meredith]@TWC D-Link bookVittoria CHAPTER II 20/21
One--I knew her--betrayed Filippo Mastalone, and sang the night of the day he was shot.
I heard the white demon myself.
I could have taken her long neck till she twisted like a serpent and hissed.
May heaven forgive me for not levelling a pistol at her head! If God, my friends, had put the thought into my brain that night!" A flush had deadened Corte's face to the hue of nightshade. "You thunder in a clear atmosphere, my Ugo," returned the old man, as he fell back calmly at full length. "And who is this signorina Vittoria ?" cried Corte. "A cantatrice who is about to appear upon the boards, as I have already remarked: of La Scala, let me add, if you hold it necessary." "And what does she do here ?" "Her object in coming, my friend? Her object in coming is, first, to make her reverence to one who happens to be among us this day; and secondly, but principally, to submit a proposition to him and to us." "What's her age ?" Corte sneered. "According to what calendar would you have it reckoned? Wisdom would say sixty: Father Chronos might divide that by three, and would get scarce a month in addition, hungry as he is for her, and all of us! But Minerva's handmaiden has no age.
And now, dear Ugo, you have your opportunity to denounce her as a convicted screecher by night.
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