Like this! Unrecognizable, right?"

"I wouldn't say that... but I pictured you..."

"Tell me, tell me, how did you picture me?" Griffi suddenly broke in. And, almost impelled by a strange feeling of anxiety, he drew close to Valdoggi with a sudden motion, blinking his eyes repeatedly and wringing his hands as if to repress his agitation.

"You pictured me? Oh, of course... but tell me, tell me how?"

"How should I know!" answered Valdoggi. "You, in Rome? Did you resign?"

"No, but tell me how you pictured me, I beg you!" insisted Griffi forcefully, "I beg you..."

"Well... I pictured you as still being an officer, I guess," Valdoggi continued, shrugging his shoulders. "At least a captain... Remember? Oh, and what about 'Artaserse'? Do you remember 'Artaserse,' the young lieutenant?"

"Yes, yes," answered Lao Griffi, almost crying. "'Artaserse'... Yes, certainly."

"I wonder what became of him."

"I wonder," repeated the other with grave and gloomy seriousness as he opened his eyes wide.

"I thought you were in Udine," continued Valdoggi in an effort to change the subject."

But Griffi, absorbed in thought, sighed absent mindedly:

"Artaserse..."

Then he roused himself suddenly and asked:

"And you? You resigned too, right? What happened to you?"

"Nothing," answered Valdoggi. "I finished my service in Rome..."

"Ah yes! You were a cadet officer... I remember very well. Rest assured, I remember, I remember."

The conversation waned. Griffi looked at the little old woman dozing beside him.

"My mother," he said, pointing to her with an expression of deep sadness both in his voice as well as in his gesture.

Valdoggi unwittingly sighed.

"She's sleeping, poor thing."

Griffi looked at his mother silently for a while. The warm-up notes of a violin concert about to be performed by blind men in the cafe roused him, and he turned to Valdoggi.

"Ah, yes, speaking of Udine. Remember? I had asked to be assigned either to the Udine regiment, because I counted on getting some month-long furloughs to cross the border (without deserting) and visit a bit of Austria — Vienna, they say, is quite beautiful! — as well as a bit of Germany; or to the Bologna regiment to visit central Italy: Florence, Rome... At worst I would remain in Potenza... at worst, mind you! Well, the government left me in Potenza, understand? In Potenza! In Potenza! To save money... to save money... And that's how they ruin a poor man, how they do him in!"

He pronounced these last words with a voice so altered and shaky, and with such unusual gestures, that many of the customers in the cafe turned around to look at him from the nearby tables, and some of them hissed.

His mother awoke with a start and, adjusting the large knot under her chin, quietly said to him:

"Lao, Lao, please control yourself..."

Valdoggi, somewhat dazed and astonished, looked him up and down, not knowing how to act.

"Come now, Valdoggi," continued Griffi, casting grim looks at the people who were turning around... "Come... Get up, Mama. Valdoggi, I want to tell you... Either you pay, or I will... I'll pay, don't bother..."

Valdoggi tried to object, but Griffi insisted on paying. They got up, and all three of them set out towards Piazza dell'Indi-pendenza.

"It's just as if," continued Griffi as soon as they had left the cafe, "it's just as if I've really been to Vienna. Yes...I've read guidebooks, brochures... I've asked travelers who have been there for news and information... I've seen photographs, pictures showing views of the town, everything... In short, I can speak of that town very well, almost from good knowledge of the case, as one says.