Volume VI Part 97 (2/2)
Everybody said I had acted properly, and even Pittoni confessed that in my place he would have done the saot into debt, committed peculation, and had to escape into Turkey and embrace Islam to avoid the penalty of death
About this tieneral, Palmanova, accompanied by the procurator Erizzo, ca In the afternoon the count presented me to the patricians who seemed astonished to see me at Trieste
The procurator asked me if I ao, and I told him that sixteen years more, and a hundred thousand francs less, forced me to live in a different fashi+on
While ere talking, the consul came in to announce that the felucca was ready Madame de Lantieri as well as her father pressed ht mean either no or yes, and asked the consul what the party was He toldto see a Venetianthe captain I ily professed ret that I was unable to set foot on Venetian soil
Everybody exclai to fear You are with honest people Your suspicion is quite offensive”
”That is all very fine, ladies and gentlemen, and I will come with allthis little party will not be known to the State Inquisitors possibly by to-h Everybody looked at ument
The captain of the vessel, who did not know me, spoke a fehispered words to the others, and then they left
The next day the consul told o on board, as if anyone had chanced to tell him my name and my case whilst I was on his shi+p, it would have been his duty to detain ravely that he should not have allowed the shi+p to leave the harbour
I saw the procurator Erizzo the sa me he would take care to let the Tribunal kno I respected its decisions
About this ti a beautiful Venetian, who visited Trieste with several of her admirers She was of the noble faamo, who left her free to do whatever she liked She drew behind her triuhausen, a famous rake who had deserted Mars for the past ten years in order to devote his rehtful man, and we became friends Ten years later he was of service to me, as my readers will find in the next volume, which may perhaps be the last
CHAPTER XXII
Some Adventures at Trieste--I Am of Service to the Venetian Government--My Expedition to Gorice and My Return to Trieste--I Find Irene as an Actress and Expert Gaht they would like to act a French play, and I was er I had not only to choose the pieces, but to distribute the parts, the latter being a duty of infinite irksomeness
All the actresses were new to the boards, and I had i them repeat their parts, which they seemed unable to learn by heart It is a well-known fact that the revolution which is really wanted in Italy is in female education The very best fa up their daughters in a convent for several years till the time comes for them to marry some man whoe As a consequence we have the 'cicisbeo', and in Italy as in France the idea that our nobles are the sons of their noirls learn in convents, especially in Italian convents? A few mechanical acts of devotion and outward forood deal of deceit, often profligate habits, a little reading and writing, , no history, no geography or irl a good wife and a good es, they are unheard of; our own Italian is so soft that any other tongue is hard to acquire, and the 'dolce far niente' habit is an obstacle to all assiduous study
I write down these truths in spite of my patriotism I know that if any of ry; but I shall be beyond the reach of all anger
To return to our theatricals As I could not et their parts letter perfect, I becaratefulness of the position
The actors never acknowledged their debt to the prompter, and put down to his account all the mistakes they make
A Spanish doctor is almost as badly off; if his patient recovers, the cure is set down to the credit of one saint or another; but if he dies, the physician is blamed for his unskilful treatment