22
THE FOOL'S REVENGE.
TORELLI.
True to the letter! I was the outsider;
The third, and luckiest, was Bertuccio!
MANFREDI.
The hump-backed hypocrite!
ORDELAFFI.
The owl that screeched
The loudest against women!
ASCOLTI.
But is 't certain
That 't was Bertuccio?
TORELLI.
I can swear to that!
DELL' AQUILA.
And I!
ASCOLTI.
How do you know him?
TORELLI.
By his hump,
His gait—who could mistake that crab-like walk?
I could have knocked my head against the wall
To think I had been fool enough to trust
A woman's looks for once. Dell' Aquila,
I know, holds other faith about the sex.
DELL' AQUILA.
I would stake life upon her purity;
Yet, 't is past doubt Bertuccio is the man,
The ugly jailer of this prisoned bird.
