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At these words he hung down his head, and remained for a time as

if absorbed by some new imagination; then, sighing deeply, he

raised it again, and looked up with such a mournful and silly

expression, as excited the amusement of all around. In short, he

became the laughingstock of the whole company. Not that they were

all perfectly sober, but, to say truth, they were so in

comparison with poor Renzo. They provoked and angered him with

silly questions, and with mock civilities; sometimes he pretended

to be offended, then, without noticing them at all, spoke of

other things; then replied, then interrogated, and always wide of

the mark. By good fortune, in his folly, he seemed from instinct

to avoid pronouncing the names of persons; so that the one most

deeply graven in his memory was not uttered.