the neighbourhood, her
adorer had prevailed on his friend the Procuratore to give a series of
comedies at his villa of Bellocchio and had engaged to provide him with
a good company of performers. Miranda was of course selected as prima
amorosa; and the Marquess, under Castelrovinato's guidance, had then set
out to collect the rest of the company. This he had succeeded in doing,
and was now returning to Bellocchio, where Miranda was to meet them. Odo
was the more diverted at the hazard which had brought him into such
company, as the Procuratore Bra was one of the noblemen to whom the old
Duke had specially recommended him. On learning this, the Marquess urged
him to present his letter of introduction on arriving at Bellocchio,
where the Procuratore, who was noted for hospitality to strangers, would
doubtless insist on his joining the assembled party. This Odo declined
to do; but his curiosity to see Mirandolina made him hope that chance
would soon throw him in the Procuratore's way.

Meanwhile supper was succeeded by music and dancing, and the company
broke up only in time to proceed to the landing-place where their barge
awaited them. This was a private burchiello of the Procuratore's with a
commodious antechamber for the servants, and a cabin cushioned in
damask. Into this agreeable retreat the actresses were packed with all
their bags and band-boxes; and their travelling-cloaks being rolled into
pillows, they were soon asleep in a huddle of tumbled finery.

Odo and his host preferred to take the air on deck. The sun was rising
above the willow-clad banks of the Brenta, and it was pleasant to glide
in the clear early light past sleeping gardens and villas, and vineyards
where the peasants were already at work. The wind setting from the sea,
they travelled slowly and had full leisure to view the succession of
splendid seats interspersed with gardens, the thriving villages, and the
poplar-groves festooned with vines. Coeur-Volant spoke eloquently of the
pleasures to be enjoyed in this delightful season of the villeggiatura.
"Nowhere," said he, "do people take their pleasures so easily and
naturally as in Venice. My countrymen claim a superiority in this art,
and it may be they possessed it a generation ago. But what a morose
place is France become since philosophy has dethroned enjoyment! If you
go on a visit to one of our noblemen's seats, what do you find there, I
ask? Cards, comedies, music, the opportunity for an agr