The mixture of nationalities, the grave Turk and the glittering
Andalusian, the French dandy, the gross Negro, the crafty Greek, the dull
Hollander; everything reminded me of Venice, and I enjoyed the scene.
I stopped a moment at a street corner to read a playbill, and then I went back to the inn and refreshed my weary body with a delicious dinner, washed down with choice Syracusan wine. After dinner I dressed and took a place in the amphitheatre of the theatre.
CHAPTER III
Rosalie—Toulon—Nice—I Arrive at Genoa—M. Grimaldi—Veronique and Her
Sister
I noticed that the four principal boxes on both sides of the proscenium were adorned with pretty women, but not a single gentleman. In the interval between the first and second acts I saw gentlemen of all classes paying their devoirs to these ladies. Suddenly I heard a Knight of Malta say to a girl, who was the sole occupant of a box next to me,
"I will breakfast with you to-morrow."
This was enough for me. I looked at her more closely and finding her to be a dainty morsel I said, as soon as the knight had gone—
"Will you give me my supper?"
"With pleasure; but I have been taken in so often that I shan't expect you without an earnest."
"How can I give you an earnest? I don't understand."