or Sacchi, or nobody tells Signor
Gratarol, is all the same to me." I left her fuming and chafing in a
fury.

I perceived that my customary readiness to make myself of use had got me
into a scrape. The viperish temper in which the woman was when I left
her, made me feel sure that she would bite me behind my back; and what
followed confirmed my apprehension. She saw with rage that my friendship
for her was expiring. She wanted to hold her new friend fast. Incapable
of acknowledging herself in the wrong, blinded by vanity and folly, she
persisted in regarding me as the victim of jealousy. After the
conversation I have just related, Signor Gratarol did not show himself
again behind the scenes. What his feelings were towards me Heaven only
knows.

On the evening before the famous banquet, I was in one of the small
rooms of the theatre with Sacchi, Mme. Ricci, a sister of hers named
Marianna who danced in the ballet, and several other actresses and
actors. Sacchi suddenly burst into the following tirade:--"To-morrow,"
he began, "we are to dine with Signor Gratarol. I thought that the
guests were Count Gozzi, myself, Fiorelli, and Zannoni. Now it reaches
my ears that certain actresses of my troupe have been invited, and that
the sumptuous and splendid festivity is given solely in honour of Mme.
Teodora Ricci. It has never been my habit to act as go-between for the
women of my establishment. Deuce take it all--&c., &c.--let him go who
likes; I shall not, that is flat." He followed up this flood of
eloquence with the foulest invectives.

The Ricci's face burned; she did not know where to look, and fixed her
eyes upon the ground. Everybody was staring at her. I confess that I
felt sorry to see her pilloried in this way. "Well," said I to myself,
"the labour of five years has been cast to the winds by this vain
woman's frivolous misconduct. The imbroglio is becoming so serious that
I fear I shall not drag on to the end of the Carnival without some
tiresome explosion." Meanwhile Sacchi went storming on. I tried to calm
him down. "You say you do not want to make enemies, and yet you are
ready to affront a gentleman who treats you with politeness. The whole
affair may be quite harmless, and I do not see why you should lash
yourself into a rage about it. You listen too much to idle or malignant
gossip." I succeeded in restoring peace, and Sacchi promised to keep his
appointment.

I, for my part, feeling really indisposed, and ha