eeding moves disgust. But that is only because
one has not thought the matter out. In the performance there was nothing
coarse or nasty. These good folk had made a contract at so much a
head--so many fowls, so many pounds of beef, &c., to be supplied; and
what they had fairly bought, they clearly had a right to. No one, so far
as I could notice, tried to take more than his proper share; except,
indeed, Eustace and myself. In our first eagerness to conform to custom,
we both overshot the mark, and grabbed at disproportionate helpings.
The waiters politely observed that we were taking what was meant for
two; and as the courses followed in interminable sequence, we soon
acquired the tact of what was due to us.

Meanwhile the room grew warm. The gentlemen threw off their coats--a
pleasant liberty of which I availed myself, and was immediately more at
ease. The ladies divested themselves of their shoes (strange to relate!)
and sat in comfort with their stockinged feet upon the _scagliola_
pavement. I observed that some cavaliers by special permission were
allowed to remove their partners' slippers. This was not my lucky fate.
My _comare_ had not advanced to that point of intimacy. Healths began to
be drunk. The conversation took a lively turn; and women went fluttering
round the table, visiting their friends, to sip out of their glass, and
ask each other how they were getting on. It was not long before the
stiff veneer of _bourgeoisie_ which bored me had worn off. The people
emerged in their true selves: natural, gentle, sparkling with enjoyment,
playful. Playful is, I think, the best word to describe them. They
played with infinite grace and innocence, like kittens, from the old men
of sixty to the little boys of thirteen. Very little wine was drunk.
Each guest had a litre placed before him. Many did not finish theirs;
and for very few was it replenished. When at last the desert arrived,
and the bride's comfits had been handed round, they began to sing. It
was very pretty to see a party of three or four friends gathering round
some popular beauty, and paying her compliments in verse--they grouped
behind her chair, she sitting back in it and laughing up to them, and
joining in the chorus. The words, "Brunetta mia simpatica, ti amo sempre
piu," sung after this fashion to Eustace's handsome partner, who puffed
delicate whiffs from a Russian cigarette, and smiled her thanks, had a
peculiar appropriateness. All the ladies, it may