ything but works of mine. Presently Teresina
told me she had got an engagement at an important theatre for the next
Carnival, but meant to make it a condition that _I_ should be
commissioned to write at least one tragic opera; since, of course,
_opera seria_ was my real line, etc., etc. Lauretta, again, said it
would be too bad if I didn't follow my special bent for the florid and
sparkling style--for _opera buffa_, in fact: that she had got an
engagement as prima donna in that line, and that, as a matter of
course, nobody but I should write the operas in which she should
appear. You can imagine how strange it felt to be with them again; and
you see, now, that the scene and all the circumstances are exactly
those of Hummel's picture.

"'"But didn't they say anything about the circumstances of your
parting, or that scathing letter of yours?" asked Edward.

"Not a syllable,' said Theodore. 'Neither did I. I had long forgotten
my annoyance, and remembered my affair with the sisters as a mere piece
of fun nothing more. The only thing I did was to tell the _Abbate_ how,
many years ago, a similar misadventure had befallen me, and that in an
aria of Anfossi's too. I incorporated in my story an account of all
that had happened during the time that the sisters and I had spent
together, delivering a swashing side-blow, now and then, just to show
the considerable increment of "calibre" which a few years of artistic
experience had endowed me with. "And," said I in conclusion, "it was a
very lucky thing that I did come in too soon with that down-beat of
mine. No doubt it was fore-ordained from all eternity; and I have
little doubt that, if I hadn't interrupted Lauretta as I did then, I
should have been sitting playing pianoforte accompaniments to this
hour."

"'"But, Signer," said the _Abbate_, "what _maestro_ can lay down laws
to a prima donna? And then, your crime was far more heinous than mine.
You were in a concert-room. I was only in this arbour here, merely
_playing_ the _maestro_. What did it matter about my down-beat? If
those beautiful eyes of hers hadn't bewitched me, I shouldn't have made
an ass of myself as I did." The _Abbate's_ last words worked like
magic. Lauretta's eyes, which had begun to dart angry lightnings,
beamed softly again.

"'We spent that evening together. It was fourteen years since we had
met, and fourteen years cause many changes. Lauretta was by no means as
young as she had been, but she had not