day; and for her voice--why--_Corpo di Bacco_! La Gianina, the prima
donna, is a screechowl to _my_ nightingale."

"_Your_ nightingale! Bravo!" cried Stefano, in a tone of mocking
irony. "What can you know about her voice?"

"Simply this, Master Stefano," replied the young gondolier. "When
floating beneath her window in my gondola, I have addressed her in
such rude strains of melody as I best knew how to frame. She has
replied in tones so liquid and pure that the angels might have
listened."

"By Heaven! the fellow's in love!" cried Stefano.

"Long live music and love!" cried Antonio. "What were life worth
without them?"

"You're in excellent spirits!" cried Stefano.

"And why shouldn't a man be, on his wedding day?"

"Mad as a march hare," cried Stefano.

"Mark me," said Antonio. "That girl shall never marry old Beppo--my
word for it. She hates him."

"She'll elope with some noble, then."

"To be cast off to wither when he is tired of her charms? No! the
bridegroom for Zanetta is a gondolier."