The affairs of Count Anselmo Terraziani more or less recovered when he, neglecting the class arrogance, married his only son, Jacinto, to Doradic, the daughter of the wealthy Venetian merchant Pantalone dei Bisognosi, who gave her twenty thousand dowries. This amount could form the basis of the welfare of the count's house, when its lion's share was not spent by Anselmo on his favorite pastime - collecting antiquities; he became literally insane at the sight of Roman medals, fossils, and other such things. At the same time, Ansedmo did not understand anything in the antiquities kind to his heart, which was used by all kinds of crooks, selling him a variety of useless trash for big money.
Immersed in his studies with his head, Anselmo only brushed off the pesky problems of everyday life, and there were enough of them. In addition to the constant lack of money, which spoiled the blood of every household day after day, it so happened that from the very beginning the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law fiercely disliked each other. Countess Isabella could not come to terms with the fact that her noble offspring for the sake of a miserable twenty thousand married a commoner, a merchant; however, when it came to redeeming her valuables from the pledge, the Countess did not disdain to use the merchant’s money.
Doralice, for her part, was indignant that out of all the dowry she herself had not spent a little, so now she had nothing to even leave the house - she could not show herself to people in a dress, like that of a maid. In vain, she asked her husband, the young Count Giacinto, to somehow influence the mother-in-law - he loved her very much, but was too gentle and respectful to be able to impose his will on his parents. Giacinto timidly tried to reconcile his wife with his mother, but without any success.
Countess Doralice was opposed to the fiercely imperious disposition by the murderous icy composure, the mother-in-law constantly poked the daughter-in-law in the eyes with her nobility, and that of her with the dowry. The feud between Isabella and Doradice was also warmed by the servant Colombina. She was angry at the young mistress for the slap she received from her, refusing to dignify the signora - they were an equal, both from the merchant estate, and it does not matter that her father was peddling, and dad Doralice was in the shop. For gossip about Colombine’s daughter-in-law, gifts sometimes came from the Countess, and in order to generous Isabella, she often thought up nasty things about her, allegedly told by Doralich.
The chichisbey countess - cavaliers, who out of pure devotion render services to a married lady, also added fuel to the fire. One of them, the old doctor, stoically bore Isabella's whims and indulged her in absolutely everything, including anger at her daughter-in-law. The second, the cavalier del Bosco, however, soon bet on the younger and more attractive Doradice and went over to it.
Brigella, blown away by Anselmo, quickly realized that the master’s quirk could make good money. He dressed his friend and fellow countryman Harlequin as an Armenian, and together they handed the count a certain object, which they presented as an unquenchable lamp from a tomb in an Egyptian pyramid. The venerable Pantalone instantly recognized in it an ordinary kitchen lamp, but the collector flatly refused to believe him.
Pantalone’s heart was bleeding - he was ready to do everything so that his beloved only daughter would live well in a new family. He begged Doradice to be softer, kinder with her mother-in-law and, in order to at least temporarily stop the skirmishes on the basis of money, gave her a purse with fifty scanty. As a result of general diplomatic efforts, it seemed that a truce was reached between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, and the latter even agreed to be the first to greet Isabella, but here she remained true to herself: having bowed to her, she explained this gesture of goodwill to the young girl's duty to the old woman.
Having gotten money, Doralice decided to acquire an ally in the person of Colombina, which was not difficult - it was worth offering her to pay twice against the salary that she received from Countess Isabella. Colombina immediately with pleasure began to pour mud on the old signora, while, however, not wanting to miss any additional income, she and Isabella continued to say disgusting things about Doralich. Cavalier del Bosco, although free of charge, also earnestly offered Doralice his services and shamelessly flattered her that the girl was not so much helpful as she was just pleasant.
Brigella, meanwhile, got a taste and planned to cheat Anselmo in a big way: he told the owner that the famous antiquary captain Sarakka was ruined, who therefore had to sell the collection, collected over twenty years, for nothing. Brigella promised Anselmo to get her for some three thousand scant, and he enthusiastically gave the servant a deposit and sent it to the seller.
Throughout the conversation with Brigella, Anselmo reverently held in his hands a priceless folio - a book of peace treaties between Athens and Sparta, written by Demosthenes himself. Pantalone, who happened there, unlike the count, knew Greek and tried to explain to him that this was just a collection of songs that young people sang on Corfu, but his explanations convinced antiquaries only that they did not know Greek Pantalone.
However, Pantalone came to the Count not for scholarly conversations, but in order to arrange family reconciliation with his participation - he had already persuaded both women to meet in the living room. Anselmo reluctantly agreed to attend, and then retired to his antiquities. When Pantalone was left alone, the incident helped him to expose the scammers who had inflated the count: Harlequin decided not to share with Brigella, act at his own risk and brought an old shoe for sale. Pantalone, who called himself a friend of Anselmo and the same as a lover of antiquity, he tried to palm him under the guise of the very shoe that Nero kicked Poppea, pushing her off the throne. Caught in the act. Harlequin told everything about Brigella's tricks and promised to repeat his words in the presence of Anselmo.
Finally, my mother-in-law and my daughter-in-law managed to be brought together in the same room, but both of them, as expected, appeared in the living room, accompanied by gentlemen. Without any malicious intent, but only because of stupidity and wanting to be pleasant to their ladies, the doctor and cavalier del Bosco zealously zealous for women who, without that, were constantly releasing various taunts and rudeness to each other. None of them heeded the eloquence squandered by Pantalone and undertaking to help him with Jacinto.
Anselmo, no matter how he was the father of the family, sat with an absent look, since he could only think of the meeting of Captain Sarakk who was floating in his hands. When Brigella finally returned, he rushed to watch the riches he brought, without waiting for the end of the family council. Pantalone here could no longer endure, spat and also left.
Count Anselmo was in complete delight, considering the good, worthy to decorate the meeting of any monarch and which he inherited in only three thousand. Pantalone, as always, intended to put an end to the count's antique delights, but only this time Pankratio, a recognized expert on antiquities, whom Anselmo fully trusted, appeared with him. This same Pankratio opened his eyes to the true value of the newly acquired treasures: the shells found, according to Brigella, high in the mountains, turned out to be simple oyster shells thrown out by the sea; petrified fish - with stones, along which they were lightly chiselled, so that later they would fool the gullible; the collection of adeppy mummies was nothing more than boxes of gutted and dried corpses of kittens and puppies. In a word, Anselmo threw all his money away. At first, he did not want to believe that Brigell was to blame, but Pantalone brought a witness - Arlekino - and the count had no choice but to recognize the servant as a scoundrel and a fraud.
The inspection of the collection was over, and Pantalone invited Anselmo to think about family affairs at last. The Count readily promised to contribute in every possible way to pacification, but for a start he absolutely needed to borrow ten workshops from Pantalone. He gave, thinking that it’s the case, while Anselmo needed this money to purchase genuine lifetime portraits of Petrarch and Madonna Laura.
The cavaliers, meanwhile, made another attempt to reconcile the mother-in-law with the daughter-in-law - as expected, stupid and unsuccessful; Columbine, fed by the enmity of two women, did everything to exclude the slightest possibility of reconciliation. Pantalone watched this crazy house for a long time and decided that it was time to take everything into his own hands. He went to Ansedmo and offered to take on the role of manager of the count's property free of charge and improve his affairs. Anselmo immediately agreed, especially since after the fraud of Brigella, who escaped with money from Palermo, he was on the verge of complete ruin. In order to get Pantalone to the managers, the count had to sign one paper, which he did without batting an eye.
Once again, bringing together all the household members and friends at home, Pantalone solemnly read out the document signed by Count Anselmo. Its essence boiled down to the following: from now on, all count incomes came into full possession of Pantalone dei Bisognosi; Pantalone undertakes to equally supply all members of the Count's family with supplies and dress; Anselmo stands out a hundred scudos a year to replenish the collection of antiquities. The manager was also entrusted with the maintenance of peace in the family, in the interests of which the signor who wants to have a permanent gentleman for services would have to settle in the village; the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law undertake to live on different floors of the house; Columbine quits.
It was gratifying to those present that Isabella and Doralice agreed on the last two points and even without a quarrel decided who should live on the first floor and who on the second. However, even for the diamond ring proposed by Pantalone to the one who first hugs and kisses the other, neither the mother-in-law nor the daughter-in-law agreed to give up pride.
But in the general Pantalon he was pleased: his daughter was no longer threatened by poverty, and a bad world, in the end, was better than a good quarrel.
