Mrs. Todd. (L. C., aside) A perfect gentleman!
Jaco. (R. C.) You said you were travelling in search of your husband, signora; may I inquire how you came to be separated?
Mrs. T. Well, it’s a strange story. Mr. Todd and myself, wishing for a little continental air, set out on a foreign tour last spring, and got as far as Genoa, where we saw the mole;—but it’s no more like a mole than I am:—and nothing would serve Todd but we should have a sail on the bay, though he knew the sea always upset me—and it did upset me—it upset us all—for our boat was overturned by a squall, and I should inevitably have died an amphibious death, if I had not clung instinctively to life;—and a vigorous sailor, who swam—and swam—and swam, until we were fortunately picked up by the boat of a steamer, bound to Marseilles, where I was safely landed.
Jaco. And your husband?—
Mrs. T. I learned that he too had been saved; but imagining I had met a watery end, he went into mourning for my loss, and to divert his melancholy, had continued his tour. I immediately set off for Italy, and succeeded in tracing him to Naples, where I was going when—
Jaco. That fortunate accident happened to your carriage.
Mrs. T. Fortunate?
Jaco. Undoubtedly, signora—since it has procured me the pleasure of your company.
Grim. (up, R.) Ho, ho, ho! (Jacopo gives him a stem look) ha, ha, ha, ha! (aside)
Mrs. T. (curtseys—aside) Uncommonly well bred, (a whistle is heard at a distance, outside—Mrs. Todd goes up stage, L.)