So I went every day into the garden,
where I could very well do the work with one arm. He came down to me,
brought me sweets and other things, and asked me to be his friend. I
pretended not to understand. He said, too, how pretty I was, and such
things. Then at last one day, he called me into his bedroom, and first
gave me sweets, and then set me on his knee. I did not know how to get
away. Then I said to him: 'It is wrong, the Madonna would not like it.'
Do you know, sir, what he replied? He said: 'Child! there is no Madonna
(_non c'e Madonna_) she is only a bridle for the common people'
(_e un freno per il populo basso_). Then I was anxious to run
away, and just then my mother passed by the garden, and as she did not
see me there, called, 'Anna Maria! Anna Maria!' I said: 'Mother is
calling me,' and ran out of the room. Then mother said to me: 'What did
the priest say to you, and what did he do to you? You were in his
bedroom.' I said: 'Nothing'; but when my mother went to confession,
instead of confessing her sins, she said over and over again to him:
'What have you done to my daughter? I will have my daughter examined, to
see what sort of a man you are.' He declared: 'I will have you shot if
you do' (_una buona schioppettata_). So mother did not dare to go
farther in the matter.
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