The poorest of us are proud of the
splendor of Genova la Superba, even if its glory has come from our own
groans."
The Signor Grimaldi frowned. But, ashamed to permit himself to be
disturbed by an allusion so vague, and perhaps so unpremeditated, and more
especially coming as it did from so insignificant a source, his brow
regained its expression of habitual composure.
An instant of reflection, told him it would be in better taste to continue
the conversation, than churlishly to cut it short for so light a cause.
"Thou art too young to have had much connexion, either in advantage or in
suffering," he rejoined, "with the erection of the gorgeous dwellings to
which thou alludest."
"This is true, Signore; except as one is the better or worse for those who
have gone before him. I am what I seem, more by the acts of others than by
any faults of my own. I envy not the rich or great, however; for one that
has seen as much of life as I, knows the difference between the gay colors
of the garment, and that of the shrivelled and diseased skin it conceals.
We make our feluccas glittering and fine with paint, when their timbers
work the most, and when the treacherous planks are ready to let in the sea
to drown us.
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