In a week's time Deplis was obliged to
reduce his offer to 405 francs, which circumstance fanned the
widow's indignation into a fury. She cancelled the sale of the
work of art, and a few days later Deplis learned with a sense, of
consternation that she had presented it to the municipality of
Bergamo, which had gratefully accepted it. He left the
neighbourhood as unobtrusively as possible, and was genuinely
relieved when his business commands took him to Rome, where he
hoped his identity and that of the famous picture might be lost
sight of.
"But he bore on his back the burden of the dead man's genius. On
presenting himself one day in the steaming corridor of a vapour
bath, he was at once hustled back into his clothes by the
proprietor, who was a North Italian, and who emphatically refused
to allow the celebrated Fall of Icarus to be publicly on view
without the permission of the municipality of Bergamo. Public
interest and official vigilance increased as the matter became
more widely known, and Deplis was unable to take a simple dip in
the sea or river on the hottest afternoon unless clothed up to the
collarbone in a substantial bathing garment.
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