ion we should become good friends.
But for the moment that _modus vivendi_ seemed unattainable. She had not
recovered from the first excitement of her capture of me. She was still
showing me off and trying to stir me up. The arrival of the soup gave me
a momentary relief; and soon the serious business of the afternoon
began. I may add that before dinner was over, the Signora dell'Acqua and
I were fast friends. I had discovered the way of making jokes, and she
had become intelligible. I found her a very nice, though flighty, little
woman; and I believe she thought me gifted with the faculty of uttering
eccentric epigrams in a grotesque tongue. Some of my remarks were flung
about the table, and had the same success as uncouth Lombard carvings
have with connoisseurs in _naivetes_ of art. By that time we had come to
be _compare_ and _comare_ to each other--the sequel of some clumsy piece
of jocularity.

It was a heavy entertainment, copious in quantity, excellent in quality,
plainly but well cooked. I remarked there was no fish. The widow replied
that everybody present ate fish to satiety at home. They did not join a
marriage feast at the San Gallo, and pay their nine francs, for that! It
should be observed that each guest paid for his own entertainment. This
appears to be the custom. Therefore attendance is complimentary, and
the married couple are not at ruinous charges for the banquet. A curious
feature in the whole proceeding had its origin in this custom. I noticed
that before each cover lay an empty plate, and that my partner began
with the first course to heap upon it what she had not eaten. She also
took large helpings, and kept advising me to do the same. I said: "No; I
only take what I want to eat; if I fill that plate in front of me as you
are doing, it will be great waste." This remark elicited shrieks of
laughter from all who heard it; and when the hubbub had subsided, I
perceived an apparently official personage bearing down upon Eustace,
who was in the same perplexity. It was then circumstantially explained
to us that the empty plates were put there in order that we might lay
aside what we could not conveniently eat, and take it home with us. At
the end of the dinner the widow (whom I must now call my _comare_) had
accumulated two whole chickens, half a turkey, and a large assortment of
mixed eatables. I performed my duty and won her regard by placing
delicacies at her disposition.

Crudely stated, this proc