CHAPTER IV.

Return to the house of my betrothed, and put an end to my thoughtless ways--A talking parrot--He who does not wish to read these pages knows what he has to do--How I went to prison, and how I passed my time there--"The Death of Ferruccio," by the painter Bertoli--Signor Luigi Magi, the sculptor--How I learnt to become economical--Shirts with plaited wrist-bands--The first love-kiss, and a little bunch of lemon-verbena--My marriage--My wife has doubts as to my resolution of studying sculpture--Pacetti's shop in Palazzo Borghese--I sell the "Santa Filomena" to a Russian, who re-christens her "Hope"--I begin to work on marble--I make a little crucifix in boxwood, which is bought by Cav. Emanuel Fenzi--Verses by Giovanni Battista Niccolini, 52