ht to reason Angelica out of
her passion; but she clung to her lover with more eagerness, and was
rewarded, to her great joy, by learning that the crime was only having
fought a duel with and severely wounded his superior officer--an offense
against discipline, which had been punished by temporary relief from
military duty and a pleasant exile to Lisbon. The young beauty
wept, sighed, pouted, and could be persuaded to sing only with much
difficulty. All day long she said with deep mournfulness, "_Ma che bel
uffiziale_" and pined with genuine heart-sickness. At last Vallebregue
smuggled a letter to his discouraged mistress, in which he said in
ardent words that no one had a right to separate them, and urged her
to lend all her energies to her professional work, so that, being a
favorite at court, she might induce the Prince to intercede in the
matter. Angelica tried in vain to get an interview with the Prince, and
found that he was at his country villa twenty miles away. Her accustomed
energy was equal to the difficult. Calling a coach, she drove out to the
royal villa. Trembling with emotion and fatigue, she threw herself at
the feet of the good-natured Prince, whom she found in the garden, and
told her story as soon as her timidity could find words. He could hardly
resist the temptation to badinage which the lively Angelica had hitherto
been so ready to meet with brilliant repartee, but the anxious girl
could only weep and plead. It was such a genuine love romance that
the Prince's heart was touched, and, after some argument and advice to
return to her father, he yielded and gave his sanction to the match. He
accompanied the now radiant Angelica back to Lisbon, and in an hour's
time a ceremony in the court chapel made her Madame de Vallebregue,
in presence of General Lannes, the French envoy, and himself. Signor
Catalani was enraged at the turn which things had taken, but he could
only acquiesce in the inevitable, especially as his daughter and her
husband settled on him a country estate in Italy and a comfortable
annuity for life.

Mme. Catalani returned to Italy with a reputation which made her name
the first in everybody's mouth. Yet at this time her appearance on
the dramatic stage always occasioned a feeling of pain, her excessive
timidity and nervousness made her action spasmodic, and deprived her
of that easy dignity which must be united with passion and sentiment to
produce a good artistic personation. It was i