"THE COFFEE HOUSE After Goldoni" "Labour is important for you, especially as you have to eat as every man... and drink." "If only a customer would be here, or at least to be expected." "And even if no customer is here the future has to be in your eye." "At six in the morning life has only a past." "Stop thinking, give my shoes a shine." "In Arizona you should have known me, master," "I had friends there and gold like no other." "The women stood in line for me, the young Italian." "And every red man that saw me went home with shock to the happy hunting ground." "And if someone there would have dared to say to me that I should shine his shoes," "he wouldn't have finished the sentence." "The bullets would have silenced him." "I was a gentleman in Arizona, master." "Don't forget this!" "You have to wash your feet, Trappolo, they smell." "My guests like your head for its comicality, they love to laugh about others." "However smells, except their own, are hated by them." "Keep insulting me..." "you can afford it, as you pay for it." "At this early hour the world is discussed just here?" "The hour is not as early as it may seem." "The patron says the hour is early, therefore it is." "When early, when late depends on the point of view." "On mine." "Therefore: early." "Excuse me, sir, yours is one, the other is mine." "Who's so quarrelsome..." "Helping justice to get its right is mine." "Yours, friend Ridolfo, only yours!" "So be it." "You have a friend..." "Yes?" "I mean the one who's topic No. 1 in the streets of Venice," "Signor Eugenio." "Yes, that's one of my friends." "Then I have to tell you what happened to me with that gentleman." "You do what you can't resist." "Yesterday, about the fourth hour, that very Signor Eugenio comes along the way I was striding and approaches me." "What do you think are his words?" "The suspense is mounting in my head." "Namely, he looks at me silently, as if I were a manifestation of an extrasensory nature." "Then he says..." "What?" "What?" "I can't imagine, not in the slightest." "He says, and his teeth are chattering as if it were winter in Venice, his eyes staring," "his breath gasping, says:" "You," " says:" "You are my man!" " No!" " Yes!" "And he slowly puts his hand into his pocket and produces a pair of earrings." "These." "And says:" "This jewellery is my wife's own, the last thing that remains of our happiness." "And wants to lend ten sequins on it." " Ten sequins?" " That's 215 marks." "Exactly." "I am a good person!" "I gave him what he needed!" "I do appreciate your big heart." "Eugenio knew whom he begged, with what discretion I would handle his case." "You'll find no second person in this town who's more close-lipped and secretive." "He knew that, he knew that for sure!" "I am so proud of me, because all people like me." "You may do that, Don Marzio, you may." "My friend, when I was little I had no friend, nobody liked me," "the young children yelled after me on the streets:" "Marzio, the ugly duck," "How often did I lie in my little bed, crying burning tears, the little head pressed to the pillow, moaning of grief and sorrow." "So I promised myself, even back then, that this had to change, people have to be friendly to me, and polite, so I became a good person." "You have done it, Don Marzio, it cannot be questioned." "Since this Eugenio is married he became a bit strange." "A marriage makes a person orderly." "Vittoria, his wife, is said to be faithful, is said to be faithful as gold." "Nothing else I have been told." "And now he is a gambler." "What shall become of her." "That remains as open as your heart, Don Marzio." "Will she fall and become a streetwalking girl?" "Alas!" "Like so many, whose husbands are addicted to the passion for gambling." "Venice's streets are full of harlots whose husbands gamble." "Is it that bad?" "Even worse, Ridolfo, even worse." "Gambling undermines the sovereignty of this city." "May God preserve us from this hour." "Do you know..." "the dancing girl Lisaura?" "I saw her dancing." "Never before did my eye behold something like this." "She strips off her clothes except for very little, and her movements... one wouldn't believe." "Considering that just until recently she was at your service for 30 soldis." "30 soldis..." "that's 2.70 marks." "Now she seems to be fixated on this Count Leander, from whom she receives a fixed monthly amount." "There even have been rumours that legitimate shall soon become what's impure now and full of filth." "There's even talk of marriage before God and state." " I also did hear things like that." " Terrible." "How can one keep his veneration for the sacrament when things of such kind happen." "Where's that count from?" "He's from Turin, from what I heard." "The men from Turin are said to be good as bulls." "The Count Leander is better, said Lisaura, when she drank coffee here the other day, at the sixth hour." "Such conversations do you have with the patrons here in my coffee house?" "So what did she tell you, the four-in-hand whore?" "She said that she would now have one, who has one that's just like those which the Berber stallions call their own." " And what else?" "Nothing else?" " Hah!" "Furthermore she spoke of an endurance that resembles the sea that never tires to surge against the shore, constantly!" " My heart, it bursts from frenzy!" " Coffee!" "And what else, my friend, what else?" " The owner of the thing also has..." " Of what thing?" "That Berber thing!" "Oh yes..." "I remember." "And the count... he above all gives her money." "For this gentleman keeps winning without cease." "With the help of Pandolfo, who's a cheat." "Do you earnestly think..." "I already toyed with the idea of informing the state authority." " The police, Don Marzio?" " The police." "It's a scandal what's going on in this gambling house." "If you think of it that way..." "One must think of it that way." "That way and no other." "The early bird gets the worm." "Ah." "You've lost?" "You've lost everything." "House and knob and wife and child." "You gambled all night?" "He lost everything, everything..." " Madness." " Coffee!" "You lost sequins, happiness" "and love." "Let me, please..." "Leave me all alone, please." "I count my tears, inwardly." "Life looked so orderly, and now..." "Night fell upon my happiness." "The harbour was ravaged by the storm." "How shall I ever face a mirror without uttering loud lamentations." "I strolled through meadows, lived like a young deer in the wild." "Now I fell prey to the wolf." "Namely life..." "You're desperate." "You forgot how to laugh." "Look at me." "An old man who never ceases to be young." "How easy this must be for you." "You've got no debts and pots of money." "Well well, I have to maintain the gambling house, must pay for lighting, alcohol and servants." "If all payers were as unsteady as you..." "You came to insult the delicate soul." "Far be it from me - but I must make my payments, obligations and other matters." "And also the count instructed me to have a serious word now with the debtor." "I want to ask you for postponement, hereby, now, and in all kindliness." "Although I'm very reluctant to do so" "I'd nevertheless be willing to grant you a prolongation, however the count, the merciless, is insisting on a payment, whose punctuality leaves nothing to be desired." " Coffee!" " Thank you." " What are your thoughts on the matter?" "May I possibly rise to speak - or not?" "The affairs that are your own should occupy you, and that well enough." "My friend, I've been awaiting your polite answer for quite a while now." "You find me lost for words, and blank in the head." "May I inquire about your wife's state of health?" "Leave my wife out of your mouth." "She is tainted enough by me to be able to bear your filth on top of that." "Who runs up debts in Venice cash in hand is facing prison, not too little." "May I inquire about your wife's state of health?" "I haven't seen her, not for two days and more." "That graceful being..." "Can I face the delicate soul as a beggar?" "She will despair when she learns about the whole extent of her misery." "What is this dialogue about, whose sternness I sense like cold wind from the east?" "Don't interfere in the problems of my other guests, Don Marzio." "Be polite and discreet, and have another coffee for five soldis." "That's 45 pfennigs." "No, thank you." "I lied when I told you earlier I'd feel young and fresh." "In fact the opposite is true." "I feel old and exhausted, and with melancholy I remember youth, which was full of hope for an heir who would take over house and farm." "However the woman I called mine was rotten to the brim and not able to raise a child in her belly." "Now you, Signor Eugenio, you look like in my dreams my son appeared to me," "and I always keep pondering whether you'd like to take over the management of this establishment that's mine and productive, for a share of 10 percent." "Of course, your dear wife would have to assist in the gambling house." "My wife?" "Never." "Merely brightening up the atmosphere shall be her responsibility." "One has to show something to get something to eat, and desires have to be cultivated to get something to drink." "Monster!" "Jackal!" "You want to make a whore out of her!" "Want to expose her to the lecherous looks of your patronage!" "Venice's prison cells are the world's bleakest." "I'm dreaming - this is not truth what befalls me." "I'm a realist, sir." "Vagueness is not my field and will never be." "I think you torment my young friend, Pandolfo." "Since when is this young man your friend, Don Marzio?" " Coffee!" " Thank you, no." "Your wife, my friend, will not be harmed, and looks do ravish no more than they kill." "She is so delicate..." "And still, reason resides inside her head." "Her heart, it is so pure..." "And still she calls a man her own, who's name is Eugenio and who gambles." "The whole town will talk about me." "Many enemies mean much honour." "Such honour is abhorrent to me." "What happened has happened." "I am so young and so broken." "If you heed my advice and mind my proposal auspiciousness will be yours before long." "How much do I have to expect every moon?" "I'd say: 8 sequins for you, and 15 for your wife." "That's 494.50 marks." "She more than me, and almost twice as much?" "How shall I stand as a man before her." "Indeed." "This is not right." "Never ever shall such abasement burden the marriage" "I call mine and happy, and shake it to the very foundations." "Want to see something?" "What, Trappolo?" "A picture." "A painter made this, in America." " And you were really there?" " I don't lie." "I'm too old for that." "This is the picture." "It shows me." "You look handsome, old man, very handsome, but..." "Look at it closely, sir..." "Do I not look like you?" "Yes, that's true - just like looking into the mirror." "You see it too." "I cannot hold back my tears." "But what does it mean - you show me the picture, weep and are entirely out of your mind?" "I digged for gold in Arizona, and I did find gold." "Very nice." "But what has that got to do with me?" "How much, sir, do you owe the count?" "30 to the count and 9 to Pandolfo, that animal." "That's 838.50 marks." "I will give you the money!" "I can never accept it, nevermore!" "From a servant?" "Me, a gentleman?" "Because you are so handsome, just as I once was." "I'm fond of you, deep inside, here in my heart." "So give it to me, my friend." "I will find work, well paid, and I will refund it to you, as is proper for a gentleman." "It's even more... 70 sequins!" "I owe only 39." "You pay off 39 and live on the rest." "The transition from rich man to hard-working man is hard." "No table shall ever see me again where gambling is worshipped." "Decency is deeply rooted in my heart and burns brightly." "I knew sooner or later you would cross my path." "That wasn't too hard to guess, my friend." "How come one no longer gets admitted at your place?" "Oh, friend." "I love." "Yes!" "I myself no longer would have believed" "I might encounter the miracle of love." "Pursuing one's profession - it's not worse than any other " "one is from time to time still overcome a little bit by the grief of loneliness." "So one thinks and thinks..." "and waits." "Yes!" "I've been granted good fortune." "I found the long-desired, happiness, at the side of a man I'm allowed to look up to." "Do you believe me, friend Don Marzio?" "I leave this to your discretion." "Don't be bitter, dear friend." "I haven't deserved this from you." "I was always fond of you." "Is that so?" "Yes!" "I gladly remember you," "I gladly remember the hours we did share," "I'm still fond of you, however..." "However..." "The count is better was told to my ear." "I love him, Don Marzio." "I love him." "He's comparable to the stallions of those Berbers, they say, of which so much is talked about these days." "It's not that, Don Marzio." "At least not that alone." "So it's probably also because of the sea, that keeps surging against the shore, unceasingly..." "Your speech I do not understand, my friend, it's lacking clarity." "So I will speak no more, for I am too affected into my very core." "Oh, yes." "What you embrace there with your hands, sir, is not a tree, but is engaged to me." "Take your position for a duel!" "I have no weapon!" "Take this belt and tie it around your hips." "I am ready." "One..." "Two..." "Do you want to duel with someone who's hand was never ennoblished by a gun?" "It's not your business to settle my matters, it's your business to settle the debt you have with me." "30 sequins, isn't it?" "That's 645 marks." " What do you think of it?" " I have 24 hours." " I wonder where you will be when time is up..." " Draw!" "Why don't you shoot?" "You were faster." "You're not worth dying an honourable death, Count..." " That's..." " Hands up!" "Help yourself." "Who was that man?" "A customer, darling." "From the past, when I still had to live on the favour of other men." "Get on your knees!" "Embrace my legs!" "A whore will always be a whore." "You're so tall and so strong and you look down on me." "I should chastise you." "Never will I be able to forget the shadows of your past." "Not pure is what I hold in my arms at night." "A breath of decay wafts around you... and stale flesh lies in my arms... and grey, worn out skin." "Oh, well." "What are you saying, darling?" "You will be able to forget." "Never!" "A man who's feelings are normal can never get over this, never!" "I love you." "You must forget, you must." "Did any man ever have to fight so hard within himself for his love?" "You will have the greatness, will be able to forget." "I want to try what can be done." "People in Venice are more stupid than in other places in the world." "My name is Don Marzio, if you understand what I mean." "Put the revolver into the holster, where it belongs." " You are a local?" " I come from Naples." "I'm looking for someone who's familiar with this quarter." "You couldn't have found no one better than me for the purpose you mentioned." "Is a gentleman known to you who bears the beautiful name Flaminio Ardenti?" "Exactly this very gentleman did not introduce himself to me." "But everything else in this quarter is well-known to me." "Who's doing it with whom in private or in public, who's getting paid off and who's in debt." "Just a short while ago I met a lady who until recently did let herself get paid for labours of love." "The name is Lisaura - just so you're informed in case you encounter her." "What's the venality of Venice to me?" "I came here from afar, to find this Signor Ardenti," "whom I need to be happy, without whom my life stands still, who escaped me." "I have to find him, whom I love like nothing else in this world." "He shall embrace me tenderly and press a gentle kiss on my lips." "But back to the point." "Well, then there's Signor Eugenio, whom I just yesterday lent ten sequins on the ear jewellery of his wife." "215 marks?" "But what's that to me." "I know." "And then there's Count Leander who night after night takes house and knobs off that very Signor Eugenio in the gambling house there to the left, and who is friends with that venal Lisaura whom I just mentioned," "and who wants to marry her before God and all men." "Well - furthermore?" "Then there's the owner of this very coffee house, the name is Ridolfo." "Quite unremarkable person, has no debts, or only very little." "And else?" "Yes, he's got a servant who's asleep now, Trappolo by name." "Not worth mentioning, like any servant." "It's not him." "And apart from that?" "The owner of the gambling house there to the left, a Signor Pandolfo, of whom should be said that he might not breathe the light of freedom for much longer." "He's corrupt, if you understand what I mean." "And there's no one new here in this quarter, immigrated, just arrived, not a single one?" "Nobody except Count Leander." "No." "Except for Count Leander..." "Interesting." "When I took him," "he was inexperienced, young and blond." "A blond Italian," "that's as rare as good fortune!" "And now?" "Now the gambling house has him in its beastly clutches!" "And won't let him go!" "All the money he inherited from his fathers, he gambled it away, gambled away house and farm!" "He gave up everything, and forgot about me, his faithful wife!" "You're right, far be it from me to question it." "Eugenio was a good person, but his mind seems to be clouded in recent times." "You voice what I feel." "He is a good person, but eroded by lust." "By lust?" "What do you say?" "I'm just talking to myself..." "He gave me this, to lend him sequins, ten in number, for it." "Give it to me!" "For eleven sequins it shall be yours again." "Eleven sequins?" "That's 236.50 marks." "I don't have that much." "Maybe your husband, who at the moment is flirting with a lady who has just arrived in Venice." "With a lady?" "What are you doing here?" "I'm looking for the rings for the ear that my late mother did bequeath me." " I pawned them." " And still hold your head up high?" "What belongs to my wife is also my own as well as vice versa." "But veneration must still be somewhere in your head for the deceased mother of your espoused wife." "Where there's fear of disgrace veneration has lost its place." "Don't you have any fear of disgrace taking a lady for a walk, flirting, while your wife sits at home in the gloomy house and is weeping." "If you really think so then you don't love me anymore." "Yes, my love is dead, without doubt." "Then go!" "Farewell." "I ennoblished you like so many times before." "I'm moved by so much nobleness." "I will turn you into a human being." "I'm listening, darling, listening to you!" "Every touch gets you closer to being human, makes you taller than you are." " That was necessary, as you see." " That was indeed necessary." "As I said, yes!" "I find it difficult to distinguish when you're serious and when not." "I'm always serious when it comes to you, my hero, and I wish, I could tell the same about you." "I ennoblish you and I make you my woman." "Of course." "But it just seemed to me as if my hero's hero was tired, like after many years of marriage it happens to someone who becomes tired of the one he always has." "It is not so!" "I love you with undiminished fervour, despite all your flaws, which I certainly strive to forget." "So what was it that kept you from fully unfolding?" "It's all the long nights I spend my time gambling." "Of course." "But why do you do this?" "Because I don't want to diminish the family property, as long it isn't absolutely necessary." "This is commendable, darling, without doubt." "You will unreservedly concede me a more alert mind in everything as soon as you've thought about it." "So be it, as you say." "So let me always do as I deem it right, don't ask questions and be silent." "Just one more thing." "Isn't today the day, the one you promised me where you were willing to give me the jewellery that I recently chose at Ricci's?" "This cannot be ruled out, it seems to me." "Quite." "So let's go for a walk through the streets today, let's buy the jewellery there and enjoy the masks that are on their way on this day." "What masks do you speak of, my dear child?" "Carnival reigns in our streets, Count Leander." "It is time to be merry." "I do not love the carnival, as often one cannot distinguish a count from a rogue." "How right you are." "How marvellous it is to be such a bright, strong man." "Of course it is wonderful." "I look up to you." "As is appropriate for you." "I find you marvellous, wonderful." " That isn't hard." " When will you lead me to the altar?" "Oh God, not this again." "I need some security, my friend." "Life is cruel... it demands such reasoning from us poor girls." "Ridolfo, hear!" "Ridolfo!" "Why are you yelling like mad about the house?" "Did anything happen?" "Now you're the one that last of all I hoped to meet again!" "Well, well." "That was the second time today that you chagrined me in my honour." "This morning's money he could have left on the floor, and turn a deaf ear to my voice now, such an attitude is called wise, it guarantees a long life." "That money I could well have left on the floor... so that you'd gotten on your knees to put it back into your own pocket." " Hands up!" "Not in this house, no revolution here in this house." "Fine... it's not worth it anyway." "That's not for me to judge." "Cowardice is an elixir of life." "I leave this to your discretion." "Did you see Vittoria, my wife?" "So help me find her, sir." "I'm willing to pay sequins, ten in number, if you get her, unharmed and soon." "What?" "You still have ten sequins left?" "That's 215 marks." "I will try my best and hark what can be heard." "I should say so!" "Money is money, no matter from whom it may come." "Let him..." "He's pursued enough by misfortune that eats him up completely." "We are two men, you and me." "And is this speech supposed to mean anything?" "Oh yes!" "What distinguishes man from woman, makes him the ruler?" "Your speech's meaning I cannot see." "What makes the man a man is that he can freely make up his mind to do or to not do something, that's for sure." "May be that you did hit the essence." "And wasn't it contrived by woman to lament and bemoan constantly this game we cherish so much?" "Fine, what else?" "Isn't it given to man to be able to freely decide what's good for him and what's bad?" "I hear." "Speak up!" "When it gives a man pleasure to stake his house, his money, his happiness, his everything on one card in a gamble, to win more or to lose everything, only then he's a man." "To win everything, too!" "Exactly, friend Eugenio." "Become a man." "I can tell you this feeling is beautiful." "I could not find your wife, Eugenio, no matter how thoroughly I did search." "You still don't have enough of that cruel game?" "Those affairs that are yours should be decisive for your life, not other people's affairs that are beyond your grasp." "If I win 100 sequins" "I'll invest them securely at 4 %." "That will be only 4 sequins per year, that's not much, admittedly." "With a little luck however I can win much more – 500 or 1000." "If I win back only 50 sequins per day it'll be 1500 per month and 18,000 each year." "And aside from that I will be a man." "You're still standing around gracing the landscape, friend Don Marzio?" "As I am awaiting thee, dearest friend." " Ah." "Since your body determines my mind." "This will change when more time lies between." "My feeling towards you will never change." "It has to, my friend, as I'm leaving this town." "So Venice shall be grey as never before?" "Venice in grey..." "You're a poet and you don't know it." "Look..." "T'is jewellery..." "is gold and precious stone!" "T'is ear jewellery, adorns fine ladies' ear." "How does it look on me?" "It ennoblishes you, as rarely a wreath did ennoblish something." "I love you, Don Marzio, how you're thinking of me..." "Yes... they're beautiful at your ear indeed, but how much are you willing to pay for the jewels?" "To pay?" "Me?" "I'm a poor man, of princely blood, but poor!" "So shove them up your arse, and adorn that!" "My ear will never feel a thing that wasn't given as a present." "For only ten sequins, this practically is a present!" "What are you doing with the jewels there in your hand?" "That's the very jewellery Signor Eugenio only yesterday gave me as security for ten sequins I lent him." "Ten sequins, that's 215 marks." "And that very amount I shall now give to the gentleman on behalf of young Signor Eugenio." "How...?" "What?" "Did he inherit, the lucky one?" "Much more I cannot tell you since more I do not know." "Well... then give me the money." "Here..." "And now the jewels into my hand." "And wouldn't it be better if I'd restitute the jewels to the young gentleman by my own hand?" "No, I will attend to this as I have been told." "Well... he sits there in the gambling house and gambles." "Never." "He no longer gambles." "And if you'd turn your ear in that direction?" "He promised me... into my old hand to be good, the young chap." "The things one promises in life." "My old hands, just look, sir, the labour has carved itself into the lines." "I can see it, old man, I see it very well." "" " And now the 7." "I thought he were a good chap," "" " The gentleman wants the 7." "were a gentleman at heart." "He may be, but listen." "I don't want to hear, don't want to hear, what's happening in that gambling house there to the left." "It is not good for a man to close up eye and ear!" "I digged for gold in Arizona, " " I want the 7, as I said!" "you know it or you don't!" "" " The 7 and no other number." "I know it, old man, I know it very well." "And I did find gold, " " Fine..." " so give him the 7!" "with my hands, my old hands, " " Give it to him." "into which the young chap promised me to henceforth avoid the gambling that took his house " " And what, what came?" "and knob away!" "" " The 10." "Why did he promise you of all people to avoid gambling?" "" " The 10..." "" " I bet on the 7 once more and let the world burst." "" " The 7?" "Because I..." "" " I said 7, or am I difficult to understand?" "...an old man, lent him money worth 70 sequins." "70 sequins..." "" " Give him the 7." "that's 357 dollars 66 cents, " " Here you are." "151 pounds 7 shillings 6 pence, " " For Signor Eugenio the 7." "1505 marks." "Because he has a head so sweet, so lovely and so young, resemblant to young Trappolo, who once went on board a ship and voyaged to the New World." "How much of the gold did he find?" "Worth of 1200 sequins and a little bit more." "How much of it did he save up?" "Almost all of it, almost all... deducting the crossing, a little for living, a little for clothing," "and what I gave away to the young gentleman." "I'm familiar with the stock exchange of Venice," "I'm a close friend to most that have a say there." "I'm an always welcome guest in their houses," "I'm often asked for advice, even pleaded for advice." "And me, what have I got to do with this information?" "I will speculate for you, will make a rich man out of you, who has influence and status." "You just have to confide in Don Marzio, nothing more." "This will bring you fortune and assurance." "You are the head of this house?" "I am, indeed, and want to remain it for a long time." "Not doing too well, coffee, this time of the year?" "The day is poor, the weather leaves a lot to be desired." "But you're familiar with this quarter." "I should think so." "As the whole quarter stops by at my place." "A girl is living here, who until recently was to get for 30 soldis," "I think Lisaura is the name." "30 soldis... that's 2.70 marks." "I'd like to know whether this girl belongs to the patronage here in this coffee house." "Sometimes she stops by, like everyone." "I'd like to know, does this girl now have a steady, so speak!" "She is engaged to a new arrival in this quarter, to Count Leander." "Engaged, you say?" "How that sounds in my ear..." " And is he a count...?" " Indeed a count, of comital blood, the Count Leander." "Oh, Count..." "" " One last time now the 7." "Oh, shame, what a weak woman I am." "" " For Signor Eugenio the 7." "I wanted to flee from him," "" " And the result?" "I wished a desert were in my head," "" " The Ace, an empty field." " and not the 7." "Wanted to be hard on myself..." "" " And not the 7?" "But now..." "" " The Ace and not the 7." "I love him, and more than ever!" "" " So I now bet on the Queen." "Cannot be without him in my head." "" " The 7 failed," "I'm unfree, -- now the Queen shall help." "I cannot be alone," "" " And the sequins,  need something to take hold of, -- 50 in number, to consume." " what about them?" " 50 sequins, that's 1075 marks." "Poor me." "You seem so distraught, my friend." "I wonder whether I can help." "I'm looking for your servant, Trappolo by name," "I'm searching him like nothing else before in this world." "A master searching for a servant, how strange." "You've lost, young friend?" "Can one already tell by looking at me?" "I was eavesdropping." "I live here, and I was listening." " Who was your partner?" " Count Leander, that animal." " So Count Leander is the evildoer." " Not evil." "Just wily, cruel and full of luck at cards." "That's how he always was." "But go on, how much do you owe the count?" "50 to the count and 80 to Pandolfo, the owner of that house there to the left." "2795 marks..." "I'm doomed." "I'll never ever be able to earn this in this lifetime." "I'll give you 50 for you to gamble on." "Just like that?" "For fun, without a note of debt, and no security?" "For fun, without a note of debt, and no security." "I can't believe it, don't trust my own eyes." " It stays in the family, young friend." " I beg your pardon?" "That's not important, it will be the talk of the town soon enough." "Thank you, I'll do everything to pay it back soon." " Don't strain yourself..." "" " Here's the money, I gamble on..." " I'll get it back, that's for sure." " and bet on the Queen." "" " Where does he always get the money after such a short time?" "" " We're here to gamble and not to talk." "Is that the Queen?" "" " No, the 7." "I've been watching you." "I've eavesdropped on your good deed." " And you don't understand it?" " Never!" "Since this gentleman, whom you just gave the money, is my husband, Eugenio!" " Is your husband?" " Mine." " And he's addicted to the passion for gambling?" " Completely!" " Just like mine." " Like which one?" "The one who's mine." "Your husband's partner." " Of my..." " Husband!" " Is your..." " Spouse?" "How peculiar." "It seemed to me that the count, Leander is his name, is engaged to one who's name is Lisaura!" "Not count, and not Leander." "His beautiful name is Flaminio Ardenti." " Not count...?" "!" " And not Leander!" " And here you sit so calmly and remain silent." " Only on the surface." "Deep inside me burns a fire I must restrain." " He already escaped for the 2nd time." " For the second time!" "And I nonetheless love him." "Mine is he, he is my own, and he will return to me." "Even though he deceives and betrays you." "I have seen her and I have to say his sense of taste really isn't bad." "What more could I want." "What strength, what power..." "I never could do that." "I take back the possession that's my own." "If this is strength and power, so be it." "The best thing will be we now get that girl, Lisaura, to discuss how to proceed." " What is it that you want from me?" " This lady wants to talk to you." "So this is how she looks, my husband's playmate...?" "And which man is said to have been my playfellow?" "His beautiful name is Flaminio Ardenti." "Never ever did such a man maculate my bed." "Not of this name he might avail himself, but of another." "He calls himself Leander, Count Leander in your bed." " The count?" " My husband..." "And is engaged to me..." "Was ever seen a husband who got engaged?" "You're not his type." "You're not worth him." "To judge this is not appropriate for someone that's like you." "Don't you call black hair your own - blonde is his taste." "Tastes change from one woman to another." "And crooked are your legs." "Straight are mine." "And my breast, is it bigger or smaller than yours?" "Yours may well be bigger than mine, but mine is firmer in shape." "It's size that really matters." "Never ever!" "The shape." "The shape's important, not the size." " Moreover, your language is vulgar." " And you grow facial hair." "And you are one who's to get for 30 soldis." "30 soldis, that's 67.50 cents, 5 shillings, 2.70 marks." "Never ever." "My price was always 50 soldis, never less." "50 soldis..." "1 dollar 12 cents, 8 shillings... 4.50 marks...?" "I look at you, and you're asking me to believe this?" "You're mean." "But there has to be found an agreement between ourselves." " That's my intention!" " So let us go to my place." " There we will see." " So come, Vittoria, this also concerns you!" "Indeed!" "You're welcome, both of you." "Where have you been before, old man?" "It should have been you to rescue me!" "You did swear an oath into my old hand that no table will ever see you again where gambling is worshipped!" "How can you dare!" "You are a servant, and you have the cheek to talk like that to a gentleman?" "I was hoping a small spark of goodness were in your heart!" "That's not for you to judge!" "One thinks in his head, why else does one have it?" "Use it to eat and not for thinking." "It's surely nice to lay down into the grass after the work is done, and to listen to the birds in the clear air." "I see no grass, hear no birds, smell no air." "I feel all this, feel well inside my heart that's free as a little bird." "I wish I could crush you like an insect that gets under my shoe." "Leave it be, young friend, don't get too agitated." "Time and again he's out to kill me on this day." "Oh well... wrath runs in youth's blood like fever." "But it is not serious about it with itself and others." "My friend, I repeat my offer, and I raise it to twenty." "20 % of the net profit." "My wife, she fled..." "She will come back, don't worry." "For women are like glue that always sticks and sticks." "I will pay up, everything." "Up to the last soldi." "Give me time." "I vouch for the young gentleman." "That's what I call humour." "But in earnest, is the percentage too small to you?" "So I'll give a bounty in addition, 50 sequins." "50 sequins, that's 1075 marks." "Don't do it, sir, leave it alone." "I will do everything for you, Pandolfo, everything." "However my wife's honour is inviolable until the end." "Eugenio!" "My husband!" "How long couldn't I behold your countenance." " Why do you come here with this..." " You mean Lisaura?" "Well, I was looking for you at her place." "Are you one of her paramours, Eugenio?" "Never did I set my foot on the threshold of her house." "People talk a lot in Venice." " That she and he...?" " That too, of course." "And you lend your ear and give credence to that talk ?" "What can one rely on when one's own husband won't come home a long time to look after things?" "Such prudent talk I haven't heard for a long time in this place." "I made a proposal to your husband, dear lady, to participate in the business that's mine, at twenty," "20 %, and a bounty of sequins, fifty." "50 sequins, that's 1075 marks!" "Of course you accepted, or didn't you?" "You are to play the harlot there who tempts men into drinking and gambling." "And gladly, gladly will I do this." "You want to sell yourself and your beauty?" "We're in debt, dearest, what else is left for me to do?" " You want, really?" " With pleasure!" "What joy, and now, in my old age!" "But you're really not that old, Pandolfo, not that old!" " Not?" "You think so?" " But never!" "You're handsome, sir, and tall!" "What more could one want in life!" "We'll celebrate a feast today!" "Send for the best that kitchen and cellar have to offer!" "A feast?" "That's how I like it, Pandolfo." "I'll show you my gambling house there to the left, do you want?" "I gladly follow you, Signor Pandolfo." "Come, darling, follow us!" "My congratulations, Signor Eugenio." "One must celebrate when one has the opportunity." "A feast?" "Oh, this is good." "Saves me 15 soldis for my supper." " He's eating for 15 soldis." "That's 1.35 marks." " Not bad." "Now let's talk about you, my dear child." "Did he ever have you, the blond boy?" "What are you thinking, Count." "He's as faithful as me, and me as him." "Is that an answer?" "Dont grab me so rudely, it is not proper." "I decide what's not proper." "Not always, friend, not always, and now let me go." "I'm speechless, this tone of voice is new from you." "So one always learns something new and stays young." "Anything that's new from a woman and not lovely, one cannot like." "Man is not just one thing alone, for he consists of many things." "Man..." "but a woman is not a man." "Well." "I have a cousin to visit, Ferrante, stopping by from Milan." "I see, a cousin to visit, and from Milan." "You don't say." "He stays with me for a few days." "Yet he's not bothered by you." "Do you now deceive me in bright daylight before my very eyes?" " The cousin's a cousin." " And a man." "You will see him and change your mind - there he comes." " Is this the count?" " It's him, as he lives and breathes." "He's really handsome, the count, and manly, he would be to my liking too, most certainly." "You're the cousin of Lisaura, who's engaged to me," " and just arrived from Milan?" " Not Milan, handsome Count, Turin!" "Turin, not Milan!" "Are you contented now with me, Pandolfo?" "There's a great plenty of dishes and drinks." "In the lap of luxury a feast is celebrated here." "All this you once will call your own, Vittoria, and you alone, oh sun of my old age." "Here, Signora Vittoria, take back this piece of ear jewellery." " Why do you give it to me?" " Eugenio did ask me to redeem it from the clutches of Don Marzio." "My thanks for this." "My thanks will be the caution you do exercise." "I'm hungry, innkeeper." "And thirsty." "It is about to be prepared, Count, and in progress." "I, too am hungry, dislike to wait." "Have patience, friends, as this is a coffee house and no eating place as such." "Did you already verify whether Pandolfo is able to pay what this banquet will cost?" "The man's got money, there's no doubt." "In debts, yes, but in money?" "I do not know." "Has debts?" "He?" "310 sequins, to the municipality." "310 sequins, that's 6450 marks!" "Exactly, and to the City of Venice." "That's no pleasant creditor, certainly not." "So I have to exercise caution." "The gentleman deceives, at gambling as well as in life." " My thanks to you, Don Marzio." " Just thanks?" "Pandolfo, here's another guest, a cousin of my dearest, Lisaura, visiting from Milan, Ferrante." "Greetings to you, Ferrante, friend of my friends, be welcome." "Friend maybe, Cousin almost, but not Milan." "But greetings, sir." "Your conduct is unworthy of a nobleman's wife." "And disgraceful." "Where are you from, if not Milan?" " We're poor now!" " I'm from Turin, gladly." "Beggars can't be choosers." "You must learn this, friend." "I'm from Turin and not Milan." "The gentleman is from Turin, and a cousin of Lisaura." "So Lisaura now has her fine relatives in Turin, what's been concealed from me until this hour." "Do you gamble, Signor Ferrante, play cards like us?" "Indeed, and truly passionate, as gambling is the expression of fair manliness, and I enjoy being a man." "And we, the womenfolk, the oppressed..." " You play with us!" " Oh yes, me too?" " Vittoria!" "It is not proper." "May I not learn about the game that you cherish so much?" "With which he gambles house and knob away." "I say it again, don't interfere in other people's matters." "If I had my own I would stop it." "So don't quarrel on this beautiful day!" "You're right, Vittoria, it's not worth it to exchange words with dull people." "But he knows how to philander like a young one." "Vittoria!" "Don't tolerate being deceived before your own eyes, Signor Eugenio." " Now let go of this person immediately!" " But why?" "He is so kind to me!" "He may be kind, but you are wedded to me before God." "Before God?" "That's a long way off." "You blaspheme against God?" "For this old crock?" "Do you want to turn this feast into a forum for a marital conflict?" "And besides, in years I am 50, none more." "One can tell that, Signor Pandolfo, none more, how one can tell!" "These are the best years in the life of a man." "I should say so, I should." "Everyone's happy like little doves." "And you?" "You ignore me." "Ferrante!" "Hold my hand." "Keep an eye on her, she drinks too much!" " Don't drink that much!" " But why not?" "Because she can't handle it." "Don't spoil the joy for me." "Are women in Venice permitted to get drunk, Ridolfo, when their husbands forbid it?" " I do not know the laws in detail." " So go look them up!" "I have to provide for the supplies here, I can't leave." "So send the servant you own." "Be quiet, friend, one day the sun will shine for you as well." "You are so handsome, my friend, and young." "Forget the women, they're all not worth anything anyway." "Except the one here by my side, she's worth her money, well and truly." "While she brings disappointment to another." "Is that right?" "Such talking, cousin, does not befit a stranger who does not know about the circumstances that prevail." "And anyway, you lack nobility." "The language is coarse, like common people." "And a face that's painted like an woman's visage." "It almost appears to me, sir, that your feelings are unnatural." "Is it so?" "Never did my eye behold something as dreadful as this!" "And somebody like this is still at large." "Leave him alone." "He does not deserve this." "But maybe he does." "Maybe he has deserved just this!" "You are not given to offend me." "Though it's at my expense that you're eating your supper." "That's right, no matter whether you're Lisaura's cousin or not." "You want to get served, don't want to pay, and have your mouth open as big as a barn door." "I'm so embarrassed, cousin, so terribly embarrassed." "Oh dearest, I got used to it a long time ago, and wherever I am, the soul of such people gets into a fuss." "And "such people", what's that supposed to mean?" "It's meant to hurt my delicate soul." "Leave it, dearest, he is not worth for you to listen to his voice." "Oh well..." "I'm feeling pleasant now and well." "I'm also quite content with me." "What's missing is music." "Oh yes... a night in Venice is unsurpassable." "...is the best thing in the world." "I like you you are a man" "I love you as I possibly can" "I dream of you all night long" "I see you and my heart laughs" "I put you into my clothes" "I have you in my hand" "My wife!" " It was like a battle in Arizona." " Don't talk so much, lend a hand." " Oh my, plenty of work and little pay." " And carried a cake in your hands." " That was inedible." " Because it was lying on the floor." "And in the face of a man before." "Who didn't deserve that a cake adorned his face." " Oh well..." "life..." " And God above..." " That's two different things." " And labour is the third." "I will do my labour, you can count on that." " From five in the morning til two at night." " I pay decently." "Yes, five sequins." "And that's 107.50 marks every moon, and only very reluctantly." "Is everything put right?" "Has she got her husband back, the other one her consciousness, one his wife, the other his money?" "This is a coffee house, Don Marzio, the newspaper's somewhere else." "Lisaura, darling, come, take me home and hide me at your place." "Why do you look about yourself so conspicuously, Count, as if the devil's already breathing down your neck?" "I look around for my wife." "You're in fear of her?" "That dear, faithful soul?" " I fear her like the devil." " And me?" "It's you I love." "With every fibre of my soul." " And your wife?" " For your sake I have left her." "At the time you fled her, I had never been before your eyes." "Don't reject me in my darkest hour." "I loved the man, the strong, the ruler." "What's left now is not worth mentioning." "Pandolfo, friend," "Pandolfo, can at least you hide me?" "I'm neither friend nor do I have a hideout for you." "Even though we spent so many hours together playing games of luck?" "The time estimation may be right, but luck was never mentioned." "Are you saying that..." "Exactly." "The cards were prepared." " So that I would win?" " You and no one else." "So, danger threatens from this side as well?" "To the gambler indeed, but not to the gambling house owner." "Oh, my God, excuse me, I thought I'd see my wife." "I am Don Marzio, and that has always been my name." "I know, my friend, I know." "I can see you're suffering and want to offer you my help." " Thank you my friend." " What do you intend to do?" "To get away." "Only an escape can save me." "So listen - later this night a gondola will go to Fussina, and from there a post chaise to Ferrara." "You are so good to me, and I always thought you were a swine." "You erred, Count, you were mistaken in that matter." "So can you fetch my things from Lisaura?" " Is this arranged?" " It is arranged." " Now just give me some money." " How much?" "50 sequins, I deem not too much." "50 sequins, that's 1075 marks." " Here you are." " Thank you." "We will meet there at the bridge where the gondola sets off." "You want to collect the things of our friend, the count?" "It's my assignment, yes." " What does the count intend to do?" " Tell us what's supposed to happen." "He'll take the gondola to Fussina, from there the post chaise to Ferrara." "So, he wants to escape, the count." "And rightly so!" "Because the wife is on his tail just like the devil." "That very well may be, that wife is like a devil." "She just loves him, as befits a good wife." "And possibly a little bit more." "Well, howsoever... except me no one else was there to help the count." "Who would want to help someone who didn't bring anything good to this coffee house?" "And nonetheless he is a human being, like you and me." "Like you, that well may be, like me, never." "Do you fancy yourself as being better than the masters of this world?" "You of all people have to say such a thing, whom I entrusted moneys today that are rare, even for the masters of this world." "How interesting." "Let's hear more about this important issue." "I gave this gentleman 1000 sequins this morning, to speculate for me at the stock exchange." "That's 21,500 marks." "Are you out of your mind, servant?" "Ten sequins you gave to me, to redeem the ear jewellery of Signora Vittoria." "Did you ask for a receipt for the amount or not?" "Why would he need receipts from a gentleman like me?" "Even if he had given me the money, which he did not." "Oh, my dear Trappolo, maybe we should try a little dance together, someday?" "Where's so much there must be more." "And too old for love you're not yet either." "And didn't I take you along this morning into my small chamber, the one where I live in." "Good God, why should I go into the chamber of a servant?" "So that I would hand over the bag with dollars to you there." "With dollars?" "To me?" "I can remember nothing of the kind." "How could he come into so much money in the first place." "All my life I did spare," "I lived austerely and could have had everything." "I managed to slave from dawn to dusk, and hard, because I knew that in that chamber was lying something that is mine and plenty." "I will go home now, sir, and cry." "You're not worth that I argue with you." "And if it was lying untouched in the chamber there would be no difference to how it is now." "Now it's gone." "Coffee!" "It's already late." "You're talking to the companion of the gambling house there to the left." "You really want to do it, deliver yourself into the hands of the bandit?" " Did I ask for your advice?" " And no, of course not." "Good." "So keep your opinions to yourself, keep quiet and bring the coffee." "I am not used to that kind of language," "I have a coffee house in which you are seated." "My gambling house eats up your coffee house in a breath, if I so wish." "That may well be, but do you want to turn your wife into a whore?" "Whether she's a whore... or not, is our concern, not yours." "He's acting completely and utterly with the consent of his wife." "He will have to learn to understand this, dearest, like everyone." "How much does he pay you, the Signor Pandolfo?" "300, at the minimum, every moon and more, if business increases." "300, that's 6235 marks." " Exactly." " That's what he pays us." " Because he likes us." " And because he's old and we're young." "And isn't it known to you that the very Signor Pandolfo owes money, in fact to the City of Venice?" "310 sequins?" "310 sequins, that's 6450 marks." " Exactly." " That's ridiculous, our friend wouldn't bother about such small amounts." "And haven't I heard it with my own ears?" " And you believe this?" " I'm sure that it's true." "People talk so nastily in Venice." "But sometimes it is true what they announce." "Most often not." "But if it is true, my beloved, then before long we will have taken over the gambling house from his hand and we will conduct it, free from debt!" "Exactly, so shall it be, and now get the coffee." "I am so proud of you, you are so strong." "And I am proud of you, who helped me to become a man." " You were a man, and all along." " I'm man now more than ever." " You will take me in your arms." " And hold you tight," " And squeeze, squeeze." " Until you scream." "You are a man!" "Coffee!" "You're going to lie in your bed when patrons besiege the coffee house and want to drink?" "Misfortune has knocked me down." "How can a thing like you have misfortune anyway." "I thought I were dead." "And you're alive now just as ever." "It only looks that way, Ridolfo, how it is, is different." "So now you've risen from the dead?" "Man does not die so easily, Don Marzio, he clings to life." "That's true." "You've got it good, you've got reason in your head," "I don't, I've got it bad." "Yes, reason..." " ...that's a bit of a problem." " Sure..." "I've just been to the police, my friends, as you know." "I told them about Pandolfo, who owns the gambling house there to the left." "I reported that he operates his business with marked cards." "What do you think I was told?" "Said gentleman is indebted to the City of Venice with 800 sequins." "800 sequins, that's 17,200 marks." "And as long as he has debts that aren't paid off they let him do as he pleases, because first of all the town must get its money back." "That's how it goes." "I have to leave now, to get the Count's departure under way." "Is he gone now, the Count Leander?" "It is not known to me, but I don't think so." " So keep me informed." " Sure, Miss." "Have you seen the count, who's my husband?" "I'm afraid not." "Though he is doing nothing else but looking around all evening." "Even so, he did not get by here." "If he's lying he'll get what for!" "I'm not lying." "I'm too old for lying." "Has he been with you, my dear?" "He came by, looking for a hideout, yet you deserve him by far more than me, dearest." "Malice is the right of the ordinary people." "Have you made the things ready?" "Yes, they are arranged." "So I will take them now." "Goodbye." "What things?" "Oh, please don't scratch my eyes out." "So tell me of what things were you talking of!" "Those of the Count." "Don't beat me." " What's the count doing?" " He's fleeing." "And which way?" "He takes the gondola to Fussina, from there the post chaise to Ferrara." "Where is he now?" "He's awaiting his things on the bridge now." "So he will get his thing - me!" "Never again will I flee you!" "I will lead a marriage with you as faithful as gold!" "Placida, dearest, can you forgive me?" "I have already forgiven you, dearest!" "At night I can't sleep without you, can't breath by day!" "I need your muscles, your hand, your hair, through which I run my gentle hands, the shoulder where I rest my head, the chest that's resistance against evil to me." "And all of it, all of you I do need!" "Subtitles:" "Kurosuke@KG"