er. Our signorina shall not be troubled to favour you
with a taste of it, or, by Bacchus and his Indian nymphs, I should
speedily behold you jumping like peas in a pan, like trout on a bank! The
earth would be hot under you, verily! As I was remarking, or meant to be,
Camilla and her husband disagree, having agreed to. 'Tis a plot to
deceive Count Orso--aha? You are acquainted with Count Orso! He is
Camilla's antenuptial guardian. Now you warm to it! In that condition I
leave you. Perhaps my child here will give you a taste of her voice. The
poetry does much upon reflection, but it has to ripen within you--a
matter of time. Wed this voice to the poetry, and it finds passage 'twixt
your ribs, as on the point of a driven blade. Do I cry the sweetness and
the coolness of my melons? Not I! Try them."

The signorina put her hand out for the scroll he was unfolding, and cast
her eyes along bars of music, while Agostino called a "Silenzio tutti!"
She sang one verse, and stopped for breath.

Between her dismayed breathings she said to the Chief:--"Believe me,
signore, I can be trusted to sing when the time comes."

"Sing on, my blackbird--my viola!" said Agostino. "We all trust you. Look
at Colonel Corte, and take him for Count Orso. Take me for pretty
Camillo. Take Marco for Michiela; Giulio for Leonardo; Carlo for Cupid.
Take the Chief for the audience. Take him for a frivolous public. Ah, my
Pippo!" (Agostino laughed aside to him). "Let us lead off with a lighter
piece; a trifle-tra-la-la! and then let the frisky piccolo be drowned in
deep organ notes, as on some occasions in history the people overrun
certain puling characters. But that, I confess, is an illustration
altogether out of place, and I'll simply jot it down in my notebook."

Agostino had talked on to let her gain confidence. When he was silent she
sang from memory. It was a song of flourishes: one of those be-flowered
arias in which the notes flicker and leap like young flames. Others might
have sung it; and though it spoke favourably of her aptitude and musical
education, and was of a quality to enrapture easy, merely critical
audiences, it won no applause from these men. The effect produced by it
was exhibited in the placid tolerance shown by the uplifting of Ugo
Corte's eyebrows, which said, "Well, here's a voice, certainly." His
subsequent look added, "Is this what we have come hither to hear?"

Vittoria saw the look. "Am I on my trial before you?" she th