“‘Is Blanche coming to Naples? how glad I shall be to see her again, and Inez, does she never come here to play?’
“‘Inez has often sang here since she left your school; you know it is six years ago; but she generally prefers playing, alternately at Dresden or Berlin, where she is extremely popular.’
“‘Is it true, what the manager told me, that she thought of marrying, and leaving the stage?’
“‘I am not conversant with any of her matrimonial plans; you can ask Blanche when she arrives; I presume they are each other’s confidants.’.
“Monsieur resumed his conversation with Madame about old times, and I went to my favorite seat in the garden, to while away the time till six o’clock. The air was soft and balmy; the delightful sea breeze, which blows off the coast every morning and evening, was now refreshing the air; under that clear, tropical sky, everything looks beautiful; the flowers seem to be of brighter hue; the turf more verdant; the people happier, than under those cold northern climes, where the bleak winters, and cloudy skies, seem to chill and contract men’s souls. The kind-hearted Neapolitan lives only in the present; he enjoys the pleasures of to-day without thinking of the future; he is willing to share what little he has, with any fellow creature less plentifully endowed than himself; and is it not better to live and feel thus, than to spend one’s lifetime in amassing treasures, which, when we die, we are obliged to leave for others to enjoy; since nothing is truer than that, man brings nothing into the world with him, neither can he carry anything away. Death is a market place where all men meet; the king, noble, and peasant, are all equal, when they meet in the bosom of mother earth. As I soliloquized, twilight gathered upon the face of things animate and inanimate; it is charming to watch the shades of evening gray descend upon a land like that; to see the mellow hues of dusk come slowly on, and the bright sun disappear, till finally they fade away into indefinite night. I should have liked to have staid and watched the sky, but Monsieur called me; it was time to go, he said; in fact, I had actually forgotten all about my theatrical engagement.
“I went to my room and put on my bonnet and shawl, we got into a hack and drove off; Madame would not come for an hour, as the curtain did not rise till half-past seven.
“Entering, as I had done before, through the basement, my teacher went to the green-room, where many of the actors were already assembled, and I to my dressing-room, passing on the way numerous princes, grand dukes, and nobles; who, like too many of their titled brethren, could boast no other wealth than the insignia of their order. They all stared at me as I hurried past them; curious, I suppose, to observe the new singer.
“I quickly arrayed myself in the long white robes, and mysterious girdle of the priestess; scarcely had I completed my toilet, when there came a knock at the door: I opened it, and saw the manager.
“‘Are you ready, Mademoiselle? It is time to go on; you know the part perfectly, do you not?’ he continued, as we approached the side scene, where I was to enter.