The Scene is laid in Venice--first at the Palazzo Arconati, a lodging
house on the Grand Canal; afterwards in an apartment in the Campo
S. Bartolomeo.

It is Easter-tide, a week passing between the events of the First and
Second Acts.




THE FIRST ACT


The Scene is a room in the Palazzo Arconati, on the Grand Canal,
Venice. The room itself is beautiful in its decayed grandeur, but the
furnishings and hangings are either tawdry and meretricious or avowedly
modern. The three windows at the back open on to a narrow covered
balcony, or loggia, and through them can be seen the west side of the
canal. Between recessed double doors on either side of the room is a
fireplace out of use and a marble mantelpiece, but a tiled stove is
used for a wood fire. Breakfast things are laid on the table. The sun
streams into the room.

[ANTONIO POPPI and NELLA, two Venetian servants, with a touch
of the picturesque in their attire, are engaged in clearing the
breakfast-table.]

NELLA. [Turning her head.] Ascolta! (Listen!)