fo).

On arriving at Palermo, I went to the teatrino at about ten at night; not
seeing the buffo in his usual place keeping order at the door, I guessed
he must be on the stage and, knowing the way, passed through the
audience, dived under the proscenium, crept along a short passage,
mounted a ladder and appeared among them unannounced. The father, the
buffo and his brother, Gildo, were so much astonished that they dropped
their marionettes all over the stage and shouted:

"When did you come?" "Why did you not write?" "Why did you not
telegraph?"

Thereby spreading their astonishment among the audience, who saw no
connection between these ejaculations and the exploits of Guido Santo.
They soon recovered themselves, however, picked up their paladins and
managed to bring the performance to its conclusion, and we shut the
theatre and proceeded upstairs to the house. On the way the buffo took
me aside into his workshop to show me two inflammable Turkish pavilions
which he was making; Ettorina in her madness was to fire them in a few
days, one in the afternoon and the other at the evening repetition, as a
conclusion to the spectacle. I inquired:

"Who was Ettorina, and why did she go mad?"

"I will tell you presently," replied the buffo, "we must first go
upstairs."

As we went up I asked after the singing and he promised to take me to the
house of his professor to hear him have a lesson. Papa and Gildo had
preceded us and we found them with the young ladies, Carolina and
Carmela, and the child, Nina, who is as much a buffa as her brother
Alessandro is a buffo. In a moment, the air was thick with compliments.

PAPA: And how well you are looking! So much fatter than last year.

MYSELF (_accepting the compliment_): That is very kind of you. You are
all looking very well also. Let me see, Buffo mio, how old are you now?

ALESSANDRO: Guess.

MYSELF: Twenty-five.

ALESS: Bravo. I completed my twenty-fifth year just three weeks ago.
And you?

MYSELF: I have also completed my twenty-fifth year, but I did it more
than three weeks ago.

ALESS: I see. You have twenty-five years on one shoulder; and how many
more on the other?

MYSELF: Twenty-five.

ALESS: It seems to me you are making a habit of attaining twenty-five.
Are you going to do it again?

MYSELF: I have begun, but I shall put off completing it as long as
possible. If you want to know my exact age I will give you the materials
for making the