it through the
branches. I heard singing, and a guitar, somewhere near. I listened
attentively, for the voices of the singers affected me strangely; dim
reminiscences stirred within me, but were slow to take definite form. I
got off my horse, and slowly drew nearer to the vine-covered arbour
where the music was going on. The second voice had stopped; the first
was singing a _canzonetta_ alone; the singer was in the middle of an
elaborate _cadenza_, it went warbling up and down, till at last she
began a long holding-note, and then, all at once, a woman's voice broke
out in a fury, with curses, execrations and reproaches. A man was heard
protesting, another man laughing, whilst a second woman's voice joined
in the _melee_. Wilder and wilder raged the storm, with true Italian
_rabbia_. At last, just as I came up to the arbour, out flew an
_abbate_, nearly knocking me down. He looked up at me, and I saw that
he was none other than my good friend Signor Ludovico, my regular
news-purveyor, from Rome. "What, in the name of Heaven----" I cried.
"Ah, Signor Maestro! Signor Maestro!" he cried, "save me! rescue me!
protect me from this mad creature--this crocodile, this tiger, this
hyena--this devil of a girl! It is true I was beating the time to that
_canzonetta_ of Anfossi's, and I came in too soon with my down-beat, right
in the middle of her pause-note, and cut her out of her _trillo_. Why did
I look at her eyes, goddess of the infernal regions that she is? The
devil take all pause-notes!"

"'In most unusual excitement I hastened into the arbour, and at the
first glance, recognised Lauretta and Teresina. Lauretta was still
screaming and raging, Teresina talking violently into her face; the
landlord was looking on with a face of amusement, whilst a girl was
putting fresh flasks of wine on the table.

"'The moment that the singers set eyes on me they threw themselves
about my neck and overwhelmed me with the affectionateness of their
reception. "Ah, Signor Teodoro, Signor Teodoro," all our little
differences were forgotten. "This," said Lauretta to the _Abbate_, "is
a composer who has all the grace and melody of the Italians combined
with the science of the Germans." And both the sisters, taking the
words out of each other's mouths, told him all about the happy days we
had spent together, my profound musical knowledge, even as a boy, our
practisings, and the excellence of my compositions. Never had they
really cared to sing an