"Why?"

"Well, I believe Gilda Mai is going to bring a /causa/ against
Viviano. Of course he won't marry her, and she never expected he
could. Why, she used to be a milliner in the Toledo. I remember it
perfectly, and now Sigismondo-- But it's really Gilda that has made
papa angry. You see, he has paid twice for me, once four thousand
lire, and the other time three thousand five hundred. And then he has
lost a lot at Lotto lately. He has no luck. And then he, too, was in a
row yesterday evening."

"The Marchese?"

"Yes, in the Chiaia. He slapped Signora Merani's face twice before
every one."

"Diavolo! What! a lady?"

"Well, if you like to call her so," returned Doro, negligently. "Her
husband is an impiegato of the Post-office, or something of the kind."

"But why should the Marchese slap her face in the Chiaia?"

"Because she provoked him. They took a flat in the house my father
owns in the Strada Chiatamone. After a time they got behind with the
rent. He let them stay on for six months without paying, and then he
turned them out. What should he do?" Doro began to gesticulate. He
held his right hand up on a level with his face, with the fingers all
drawn together and pressed against the thumb, and moved it violently
backwards and forwards, bringing it close to the bridge of his nose,