It was
time that he should find some foundation for them, if they were ever
to be built at all, which most of those who knew Signor Quinto Lalli
deemed not a little improbable; for he was of the sort of men who
never do make fortunes.
He was fifty years old when he had met with the little girl in
question, and had done nothing yet towards laying the foundations of
any sort of fortune. Unstable, improvident, unthrifty, fond of
pleasure, and not fond of work, nothing had succeeded with him.
Nevertheless, a cleverer man in his own line, or a shrewder judge of
the article he dealt in, than Quinto Lalli did not exist in all
Italy. And his judgment did not fail him when he fell in with little
Bianca degli Innocenti.
Persons unacquainted with Italian things and ways might suppose that
the above modification of the "particle noble" in Bianca's family
name was indicative of a very aristocratic origin. Italians,
however--and specially Tuscans--would draw a different conclusion
from the premises. The family "Degli Innocenti" is very frequently
met with in Tuscany; but the bearers of the name do not, for the
most part, take great heed of their family ties. The "Innocenti," in
a word, is the name of the foundling-hospital in Florence; and those
of whose origin nothing is known save that they have been brought up
by that charity, are often called after it, and known by no other
name.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234