till more confounded by this news of a permission, which no one had
demanded, and which I had not given. However, I did not care to exchange
words with a majordomo about that. When I came into the hall, I was
dazzled by the huge wax-candles burning, and stunned by the servants and
the masks hurrying to and fro and making a mighty tumult. The noise in
the kitchen attracted me to that part of the house, and I saw a huge
fire, at which pots, kettles, and pipkins were boiling, while a long
spit loaded with turkeys, joints of veal, and other meats, was turning
round. The majordomo ceremoniously kept entreating me, meanwhile, to
visit my bedroom, which had been so carefully reserved and locked for
me. "Please tell me, sir," I said, "how late into the night this din
will last?" "To speak the truth," he answered, "it will be kept up till
daybreak for three consecutive nights." "It is a great pleasure to me,"
I said, "to possess anything in the world which could be of service to
the Bragadino family. This circumstance has conferred honour on me. Pray
make my compliments to their Excellencies. I shall go at once to find a
lodging for the three days and three consecutive nights, being terribly
in need of rest and quiet." "Out upon it!" replied the majordomo, "you
really must stay here, and take repose in your own house, in the room
reserved with such great care for you." "No, certainly not," I said. "I
thank you for your courteous pains in my behalf. But how would you have
me sleep in the midst of this uproar? My slumber is somewhat of the
lightest." Then, bidding the porter and the servant follow me, I went to
spend the three days and the three consecutive nights in patience at an
inn.

Having slept off my fatigue that night, I paid a visit of congratulation
to the Cavaliere Bragadino on the elevation of his brother to the
Patriarchate. He received me with the utmost affability; expressed
annoyance at what he had learned from his majordomo, and told me with
the most open candour that the patrician Count Ignazio Barziza had
positively dispatched a courier with a letter to me in Friuli, begging
permission to use my mansion for the feast-days of the Patriarch, and
that I had by my answer given full consent. To this I replied that in
truth I had seen neither messenger nor letters, but that he had done me
the greatest pleasure by making use of my poor dwelling. Wishing higher
honours to his family, I added that if such should befall, w