It is useless for the city to expect more from a man than he can
accomplish. When I have got thawed, I will endeavour to do my duty.
Good night, Signor Conte!" said the little impresario, preparing to
follow his servant with the lanthorn, as well as the enormous
quantity of wraps around him would allow him to do so.
"Come now, Signor Ercole, you won't be so ill-natured. You know how
much interest I take in the matter. Think how long I have waited
here for you, and nobody else has cared enough to do that. Come now,
be good-natured, and tell a fellow. Just one word. Look here now,"
added the Conte Leandro, seeing that he was on the point of losing
the gratification for the sake of which he had undergone the penance
of standing sentinel in the cold for the last hour, and that his
only hope was to bring forward les grands moyens,--"see now, the
only thing to bring you round is a glass of hot punch. Now, while
you go home and get your things off, I will go to the cafe and get
you a good glass of punch, hot and strong--smoking hot! and have it
brought to your house, all hot, you know, in a covered jug. But
before I go; you will just say the one word: Have you been
successful? Come now. Just one word."
Signor Ercole Stadione, the impresario, would much have preferred
not saying that one word just then.
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