o heaven he flew across the Atlantic with it and installed it
'amid the kitchenware' to animate all the machinery and things in one of
the Exhibitions held by the American Institute in New York."

"Is that what he said?"

"No. What he said was that all that world of romance was dead:

Passed to its charnel vault--laid on the shelf--coffin'd with crown
and armour on,
Blazon'd with Shakespeare's purple page,
And dirged by Tennyson's sweet sad rhyme.

"Well, it is not true. But of course if he never came to the teatrino he
could not know. Americans do come to the teatrino. I never know which
are Americans and which are English; for the English come too. They come
in the winter and the spring, and when they are pleased with some stage
trick--"

"I suppose you mean with some miracle?"

"Of course," he replied; "it is the same thing. When they are pleased
with some stage miracle, they clap their hands and applaud."

"That is nice and sympathetic of them."

"Yes, and they shout out loud and cry: 'Bravo, very good night.'"

"No, Buffo! Is that really what they say?"

"Yes, they shout: 'Bravo, very good night,' and it is a pleasure to hear
them."

"I should think so. I must come in the winter next time and hear them
say that."

"They all ask me some questions. I know what they mean, but I cannot
speak to them, and, if you please, will you write down for me in English
what I shall tell you, so that I can show them the paper?"

"Certainly, my dear Buffo, any little thing of that kind. If any of them
come to see the Escape from Paris, I should think they will have a good
many questions to ask. For instance, there is the Aurora"--He was
finishing her off by putting a silver fillet round her hair and a shining
star upon her forehead--"I cannot help it, but I still feel unhappy about
her. She does not explain herself."

"That will not signify. We must leave room for the imagination to
play--not too much, but it is a mistake to be too exact. There must be
some mystery which the public can take in any way they choose. It is
like the nuts on the bicycle, they must not be left loose, but they must
not be screwed too tight."

I gave way, saying: "I suspect you are right. It flatters the spectators
to feel that they are helping the performance by using their imagination.
And if they don't understand--well, they can think they do and that
flatters them again. And there is another reason why