On coming out from the interview the old groom said that he had
himself asked for the audience his master had given him; but it did
not seem at all clear to the other servants when or how he could
have done so. He said that he had spoken to his master on the
subject long before; and how kind and good it was of the Marchese to
think of his old servant's affairs in all his trouble. His master
had arranged for him, he said, what he had long wished for, though
it seemed to all the household that old Niccolo had always rejected
any proposal of the sort. He was to have a pension, and go to live
with a niece of his who was married in Rome.
It was odd that none of his fellow-servants had ever heard anything
of any such niece. But old Niccolo was not a man of a communicative
turn; and perhaps nothing had ever chanced to lead him to speak of
her. Now he was to join her at once; he was to start for Faenza that
very afternoon, so as to catch there the diligence from Bologna to
Rome.
But why such a sudden start? Why should he go off and leave them
all, at a few hours' notice.
Well, the fact was, that the day after the morrow was his niece's
birthday. And he thought he should like to give her the joyful
surprise of seeing her old uncle and learning the new arrangements
on that day. And his dear thoughtful master, who was always so kind
to everybody, had entered into his scheme, and so arranged it.
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