I call that very credulous," said the
chess-player, quietly.
"Did you ever see such an addle-pate. He can't understand the
difference between believing and disbelieving," rejoined Spadoni
triumphantly, and carrying the great bulk of the bystanders with
him.
"But as to the poor girl being dead, there is unhappily no shadow of
doubt at all," said the Baron Manutoli; "I saw old Signor Fortini
the lawyer just now, who told me that he was at the Porta Nuova when
the body was brought in."
"And is it true that the Marchese Ludovico was with him, and fainted
dead away at the sight of the body?" said a very young man.
"It is true that Ludovico was there with Fortini at the gate, but I
heard nothing about his fainting; and should not think it very
likely."
"Well, I don't know about that, I should have thought it likely
enough by all accounts," said the Conte Leandro Lombardoni, whose
face was looking more pasty and his eyes more fishy than usual.
"Much you know about it. Why, in the name of all the saints, should
it be likely? What should Ludovico faint for?" rejoined Manutoli,
fiercely.
"What for? Well, one has heard of such things. And as for what I
know about it, Signor Barone, maybe I have the means of knowing more
about it than anybody here," said the poet.
"Here is Lombardoni confesses he knows all about it," cried one.
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