When we entered the box the performance was already in progress. They were giving Rigoletto. Gilda was just rushing down the steps to meet her father. Mio padre!—Figlia mia! As it were a flood of delicate waves of tone came purling down from the stage, and the thickly packed theater presented a brilliant spectacle. The impressions of life’s splendor and joy which I was receiving that day kept on crescendo.
Heraclius of Georgia was present in the box. He sat opposite me and kept his eyes fixed on me. It seemed to me as if the captivating melodies in the duet between Gilda and the duke expressed what was streaming from heart to heart between Heraclius and me, still unspoken but already understood on both sides. I listened to the fiery strains of Verdi, and slowly moved my fan back and forth, every motion sending me a breath of sandalwood. Once I slightly turned my head and met the eyes of my vis-à-vis fixed upon me full of tenderness and admiration. Then I dropped my lids, but soon, in spite of myself, I lifted them again and gave the dear fellow a long, full gaze of love.
Now the curtain fell; the princess turned around, and Heraclius stood up; he made room for various visitors who came crowding into the box, and went out. Shortly afterwards I saw him on the other side of the house with his opera glass directed on me. During the rest of the performance Lord Hillsborough stayed in the box and Heraclius did not return.
After the quartet in the last act the princess stood up.
“Let us go,” said she; “I do not want to see the coming storm and the dragging out of the bag with the corpse. Instead, let us take a turn through the gaming-rooms.”
At the exit of the auditorium stood Heraclius. He came to my side.
“The performance is over at last! Were you very much fascinated by the Englishman’s conversation?”
“I was fascinated by the Italian’s music,” said I in reply.
A long gallery leads from the theater to the gaming-rooms. Heraclius walked by my side, and I expected every moment that he would put into words what had just now been uttered through the eyes; but then the princess began to involve her cousin in a conversation, which lasted till we entered the gaming-rooms.
Here we took our stand at the roulette table, and the princess flung some gold pieces on the tableau.