feelings against any one;
but I cannot stay to be made uncomfortable in return for the many
kindnesses I have conferred upon your company." On hearing this speech,
Benedetti was really vexed, or at any rate he acted extreme annoyance.
Admitting that his uncle was a man of eccentric, inconsiderate, and
nasty temper, he tried to convince me that certain vexations connected
with a married daughter had quite upset him during the last few days. He
did not know, indeed, what he was doing. Then the young actor proceeded
to sing my praises, protesting that I should be the ruin of the troupe
if I deserted them, and assailing me with passionate entreaties. I
smiled, and promised to attend the rehearsal of my piece next morning,
and to be guided by what I found at the theatre. I went accordingly, and
met with nothing but politeness, contented faces, harmony. Matters stood
thus until the end of the Carnival, when the company left Venice for its
customary six months' tour, and I stayed behind to reflect upon the
perilous qualities of Teodora Ricci.

LI.

_Reflections made in vain; flattering expectations dissolved into what
deserves neither flattery nor reflection.--The troubles to which a man
is exposed who takes a company of comedians and an actress under his
protection._

The upshot of my meditations upon the events related in the preceding
chapters was as follows. One day or another, this woman, with her
explosive character and egregious vanity, will expose me to some public
scandal. She cannot rest contented with the gains of her profession, and
is sure to add to them by baser means. She only cares for me because I
am useful to her at the theatre, and convenient as a cloak for her
intrigues. All my arguments and warnings are wasted. It is useless to
try to make a Lucretia or a Pamela out of an actress who will never be
more than Teodora Ricci.

Meanwhile, she went on writing to me by nearly every post, expressing
much affection for myself, and indulging in the usual lamentations over
her miserable earnings. One morning brought a letter in which she
informed me that she had just signed an engagement with a certain Signor
Francesco Zannuzzi.[47] He wanted to take her to Paris as _prima donna_
in the Italian theatre which he directed there. Her salary was to be
3000 francs a year. I was glad to get this news; for if things stood as
she declared, I should be freed from all my obligations, and separated
by several hundr