human
O Benvenuto! your statue is spoiled, and there is no hope whatever of saving it. No sooner had I heard the shriek of that wretch than I gave a howl which might have been heard from the sphere of flame. Jumping from my bed, I seized my clothes and began to dress. The maids, and my lad, and every one who came around to help me, got kicks or blows of the fist, while I kept crying out in lamentation,
gpt
Ah! traitors! enviers! This is an act of treason, done by malice prepense! But I swear by God that I will sift it to the bottom, and before I die will leave such witness to the world of what I can do as shall make a score of mortals marvel.
human
Up with you! Attend to me! Since you have not been able or willing to obey the directions I gave you, obey me now that I am with you to conduct my work in person. Let no one contradict me, for in cases like this we need the aid of hand and hearing, not of advice. When I had uttered these words, a certain Maestro Alessandro Lastricati broke silence and said,
gpt
Look you, Benvenuto, you are going to attempt an enterprise which the laws of art do not sanction, and which cannot succeed.
human
On then! Give orders! We will obey your last commands, so long as life is left in us. I believe they spoke thus feelingly because they thought I must fall shortly dead upon the ground. I went immediately to inspect the furnace, and found that the metal was all curdled; an accident which we express by