g emotions as he watched her delivering her
sad tale and we felt more and more certain that we must be right. There
came a pause. She buried her face in her hands. The old man spoke:

"Twenty years, did you say?"

"Twenty years."

"And what was your mother's name?"

"Concetta."

"Dio mio! And your name?"

"Rosina."

"Mia figlia!"

"Mio padre!"

Here they fell into each other's arms and the orchestra let loose a
passage of wild allegria which it had been holding in reserve. The
revelation of the cause of the ragged misery followed and was nearing its
conclusion when the cavaliere happened to pass by. Rosina pointed him
out to her father, who first made a speech at him and then shot him dead.
Rosina wept over his body, although she hated him, and the curtain fell.

"That was very beautiful," said the buffo. "Do you still think it will
be a comedy? I still believe it will be a tragedy."

"I am not sure," I replied, "but we shall soon know. Did not the old man
listen well?"

"Yes. It was like life. Did you observe how he made little calculations
for himself while she told him the story?"

"Yes, and one could see it all agreed with what he knew."

"He was like your father reading his friend's letter. The cap fitted him
and he put it on."

"Bravo, Buffo!"

"And when he made as though he would stroke her hair and drew back
because he was not yet sure--oh, it was beautiful! But there was one
thing I did not quite understand. Why did the cavaliere fall dead?"

"Because the father shot him," I replied.

"He aimed in the other direction."

"I also noticed that the old man fired to the right and the cavaliere
fell on his left, but that was only because of a little defect of stage
management. It does not do to be fastidious. You must not forget that
they are doing the play as Snug the joiner did Lion, it has never been
written. It will go more smoothly next time."

"Thank you. You see, I am not a regular theatre-goer. There is another
thing that puzzled me. You remember the bad old woman in the first act
who was shot? Should you think I was being too fastidious if I asked you
why she rose from the dead and led Rosina kindly away in the second act?
No doubt it will be explained presently, but, in the meantime, if you--"

"She did not rise from the dead; it was a different woman."

"It was the same woman."

"Anyone could tell you are a Portuguese or an Englishman or whatever you
are-