" She is not
starved, however, for, as she prepares to finger her guitar, she shows
a well-nourished and not ill-formed arm. The young girl has one of
those pale, delicate, oval faces so common in Venice: she also has a
good shawl--an amber-colored one--which so sets off the olive-colored
complexion of her face as to make her a perfect picture. This
couple do not in any degree assume an attitude of appealing _ad
misericordiam_. They pose themselves _en artistes_. The girl sets
about arranging her music in a business-like way, and then they play
the well-known air of "La Stella Confidente," the little violinist
really playing remarkably well. Then the elder woman comes round with
a little tin saucer for our contributions. No slightest word or look
of disappointment or displeasure follows the refusal of those who give
nothing. The saucer is presented to each in turn. I supposed that
the application to Si'or Pantaleone was an empty form. But no. That
retired gentleman could still find wherewithal to patronize the fine
arts, and dropped a centime--the fifth part of a cent--into the dish
with the air of a prince bestowing the grand cross of the Golden
Fleece. Then comes a dealer in ready-made trousers, which Pantaloon
examines curiously and cheapens. Then a body of men singing
part-songs, not badly, but to some disadvantage, as they utterly
ignore the braying of half a dozen trumpets which are coming along the
Riva in advance of a body of soldiers returning to some neighboring
barracks.
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