rtners that this addition was made in order that she might
improve her stage wardrobe. I always laugh when I remember that excuse
for generosity. My readers will soon know why.

The Ricci, left without her husband, stood in need of some domestic
counsellor and friend, who would assist her not only in Venice, but
during the six months of her theatrical tours. She chose for this
purpose a young Bolognese actor called Coralli, of more education than
his comrades, but somewhat of a humbug. I liked the fellow for his
polished manners and dramatic talent, and saw no reason to resent this
intimacy. Nor did I object to the male visitors whom I met at her house.
They were actors, men of business, letter-carriers from Florence,
Bologna, and Modena, and persons of the same sort. But I warned her
frequently and seriously against admitting men of the town and pleasure,
who would certainly compromise her reputation and bring discredit on my
friendship. I could see that she rebelled in secret against the severity
of my principles. I repeated that, if she broke into revolt, I should
immediately carry out my threat of leaving her to her fate. In taking
this line, I confess that I acted very foolishly. I could not change her
nature or substitute sound views of life for the corrupt traditions of
her calling. She imagined that I was nothing more than a jealous lover,
and only sought my society for the protection it afforded her, and for
the benefits I was able to confer upon her by my writings. She also
hoped to make me a screen for carrying on intrigues in accordance with
her vitiated principles. I ought indeed to have withdrawn from her at
this point. But my good-nature and the task I had undertaken of pushing
her in the profession kept me at her side.

Very soon new motives for taking the decisive step of a rupture with
Signora Ricci appeared. Sacchi, whom I had introduced to her house, was
seized with a blind and brutal passion for the young woman. Who would
have imagined that an old fellow of eighty, gouty, with swollen legs and
frozen veins, could have been inflamed by such desires? Sometimes, when
I happened to pay visits at unwonted hours, I saw him running as fast
as he could to hide himself from my sight. I pretended not to notice
this, but I felt sure that a conspiracy of some sort was being hatched
between them.

One morning I found my gossip engaged in unrolling a piece of white
satin, some thirty ells in length. She hung lo