ABSTRACT
In the theatre of a petty capital, the singer has just finished her aria with a fine coloratura passage; there has been a thunder of applause; but now, during the recitative, the attention of the audience has wandered. Before anyone has been able to solve the riddle of the newcomer's identity, or to learn whence he has come, the ladies in the boxes have been quick to note how handsome he is, how fine a figure of a man. He is tall and broad-shouldered, his hands are strong and sinewy, his frame is tense as steel without a line of softness in it. By degrees Casanova raises his voice a little, till it dominates the others. Like a trained actor, he articulates clearly, and tends more and more to speak to a wider audience than that of the box he has entered.
