ABSTRACT
I had no desire either to go and buy a habbarah or simply to take a walk; but it had suddenly occurred to me that if I went and enrolled myself as a subscriber to the French reading-room, the charming Madame Bonhomme might be good enough to act as interpreter in my first attempt to come to an understanding with my young captive. So far, I had only seen Madame Bonhomme at the famous amateur performance which had opened the season at the Teatro del Cairo, but the part she had played then had given me every reason to credit her with all the attributes of an excellent and obliging creature. One curious thing about the theatre is that it gives you the illusion that you are perfectly well acquainted with some woman whom you really do not know at all. Hence the great passions which actresses inspire, though, as a general rule, no man falls in love with a woman whom he has seen only from a distance.
