Before the Nubian had departed, he had purchased all of the seats still to be had, for the round sum of 6,000 lire, and with head proudly erect he strode through the streets.
When Ticellini appeared, Salvani triumphantly pointed to the pile of bank-notes, and when the maestro anxiously remarked that he thought it must be a trick of one of his rivals to ruin him, the impresario coolly said:
"Ticellini, would you be able to raise 6,000 lire to annihilate Gioberto and Palmerelli?"
The composer was silent. This kind of logic convinced him.
When the eventful evening came, the Scala looked magnificent.
For the first time since the Austrian occupation, all the aristocratic ladies appeared in full dress. Salvani, as well as the maestro, looked wonderingly at the audience. Very soon, however, their wonder changed to curiosity, for the toilets of the ladies were arranged in a peculiar way. Some were dressed entirely in green satin, with green leaves in their hair; others wore red satin, with red roses, and others again white satin and white flowers; and then the ladies were grouped together in such a way that the tricolor green, white and red always appeared. Ticellini was a patriot from head to foot, and his heart beat loudly when he saw the Italian tricolor.
What could it all mean? A revolution? That would destroy all chances of the success of his opera, but Ticellini did not think of himself, when the fatherland was in question, and he enthusiastically hummed the first lines of the national hymn:
"Chi per la patria muore
Vessuto ha assai!"
(He who has died for his country has lived long enough.)
The parquet and balcony were filled with students, and only one proscenium box was still empty.
A murmur ran through the theatre; the door of the proscenium box was opened and three persons entered it.