reckless gayety and unconventional manners led to strange rumors. She
would wander over the country attired in boy's clothes, and without an
escort, and a great variety of innocent escapades led a carping world to
believe that she indulged excessively in stimulants, but the truth was
that she never drank anything but a little wine-and-water.

Maria could not long endure the frowning tutelage of M. Malibran's
sister, whom she at first selected as her chaperon, and so one day she
decamped without warning, in a coach, and established her "household
gods" with Mme. Naldi, an old friend of her father, and a woman of
austere manners, whom she obeyed like a child. Her protector had charge
of all her money, and opened all her letters before Maria saw them.
When her fortune was at his height, Mme. Mali-bran showed her friend and
biographer, Countess do Merlin, a much-worn Cashmere shawl, saying: "I
use this in preference to any that I have. It was the first Cashmere
shawl I ever owned, and I have pleasure in remembering how hard I found
it to coax Mme. Naldi to let me buy it."

In 1828 the principal members of the operatic company at the Italiens
were Malibran, Sontag, Donzelli, Zuchelli, and Graziani. Malibran sang
in "Otello," "Matilda di Shabran," "La Cenerentola," and "La Gazza
Ladra." Jealous as she was by temperament, she always wept when
Madamoiselle Sontag achieved a great success, saying, naively, "Why does
she sing so divinely?" The coldness between the two great singers was
fomented by the malice of others, but at last a touching reconciliation
occurred, and the two rivals remained ever afterward sincere friends and
admirers of each other's talents. There are many charming anecdotes of
Madame Malibran's generosity and quick sympathy. At the house of one of
her friends she often met an aged widow, poor and unhappy, and strongly
desired to assist her; but the position and character of the lady