curtain; but the pit was empty, and there was nobody in the boxes with
the exception of Count Lamberg, a Genoese abbe named Bolo, and a young
man who appeared to me a woman in disguise.

The actors surpassed themselves, and the thunders of applause from the
gallery enlivened the performance.

When we got to the inn, Bassi gave me the three ducats for the three
boxes, but of course I returned them to him; it was quite a little
fortune for the poor actors. I sat down at table between Bassi's wife and
daughter, leaving the Alsatian to her lover. I told the manager to
persevere in the same course, and to let those laugh who would, and I
made him promise to play all his best pieces.

When the supper and the wine had sufficiently raised my spirits, I
devoted my attention to Bassi's daughter, who let me do what I liked,
while her father and mother only laughed, and the silly Harlequin fretted
and fumed at not being able to take the same liberties with his Dulcinea.
But at the end of supper, when I had made the girl in a state of nature,
I myself being dressed like Adam before he ate the fatal apple, Harlequin
rose, and taking his sweetheart's arm was going to draw her away. I
imperiously told him to sit down, and he obeyed me in amazement,
contenting himself with turning his back. His sweetheart did not follow
his example, and so placed herself on the pretext of defending my victim
that she increased my enjoyment, while my vagrant hand did not seem to
displease her.

The scene excited Bassi's wife, and she begged her husband to give her a
proof of his love for her, to which request he acceded, while modest
Harlequin sat by the fire with his head on his hands. The Alsatian was in