ei.--Conference with him
and Gratarol at my house.--The worst hour I ever lived through._

Next morning the actors came to me with joy beaming on their faces, and
announced that the _Droghe d'Amore_ was going to be performed again. The
town insisted on its repetition; and they had brought the manuscript,
hoping I would condescend to make some alterations and curtailments.

Much as I disliked the news, I was glad at least to get my composition
back. I made the players promise to modify Don Adone's costume, so that
the effect of caricature might be reduced, and then sat down to hack
away at the comedy. Besides shortening it at the expense of structure,
plot, and coherence of parts, I carefully erased all passages which
might seem to have some bearing upon Signor Gratarol. In this way, by
mutilating my work and changing the costume of Don Adone, I flattered
myself that the illusion of the public might be dissipated. Vain hope!
The cancer had taken firm hold, and was beyond the reach of any cautery.

The _Droghe d'Amore_ was repeated upon four successive nights to
crowded audiences.[65] Don Adone, in spite of my endeavours, still
formed the principal attraction. All I could do was to persuade Sacchi
to replace it by another piece upon the fifth evening. I kept away from
the theatre after the second representation; and on the morning of the
fifth it gave me satisfaction, while crossing the Rialto, to read
placards announcing an improvised comedy at S. Salvatore. "Sacchi," said
I, "has kept his word." But this was not the case. Plenty of people
stopped to tell me what had happened at the theatre the night before.
Just as the curtain was going up and a full house was calling for the
spectacle, a messenger arrived to say that Mme. Ricci had fallen
downstairs, hurting her leg so badly that she could not move. An
indescribable tumult arose; shrieks, screams, curses, squabbles,
hustlings,--all the commotion of an eager audience deprived of its
legitimate amusement.

When I reached the piazza, several actors of the troupe confirmed the
news in all its details. They added that Ricci's husband had to go
before the footlights in order to assure the public of his wife's
accident. But nobody believed that this was more than a ruse concocted
by Signor Gratarol to stop the play. Surgeons were sent to Mme. Ricci's
house, who reported her in perfect health. Signor Vendramini forwarded
an account of the disturbance at his theatre to the