CHAPTER XII
The Adventures of the Old Woman Continued
“Astonished and delighted to hear my native language, and no less surprised at the young man’s words, I told him that there were far greater misfortunes in the world than what he complained of. And to convince him of it, I gave him a short history of the horrible disasters that had befallen me; and again fell into a swoon. He carried me in his arms to a neighbouring cottage, where he had me put to bed, procured me something to eat, waited on me, comforted me, caressed me, told me that he had never seen anything so perfectly beautiful as myself, and that he had never so much regretted the loss of what no one could restore to him.
“ ‘I was born at Naples,’ said he, ‘where they caponize two or three thousand children every year: several die of the operation; some acquire voices far beyond the most tuneful of your ladies; and others are sent to govern states and empires. I underwent this operation very happily, and was one of the singers in the Princess of Palestrina’s chapel.’
“ ‘How,’ cried I, ‘in my mother’s chapel!’
“ ‘The Princess of Palestrina, your mother!’ cried he, bursting into a flood of tears, ‘is it possible you should be the beautiful young princess whom I had the
