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It may likewise happen that Todaro shall go to see the Biondina in church, whither, but for her presence, he would hardly go, and that there, though he may not have speech with her, he shall still fan the ardors of her curiosity and pity by persistent sighs.
The keys were yellow with age and misuse, and if it had ever been in tune it had forgotten all about it now and was out of it altogether. I picked the notes out which were still good, and by singing Gounod's "Biondina" in a loud voice and playing its dashing accompaniment with gusto, I managed to keep myself awake.
At every juncture Marco must be consulted, and acquainted with every step of progress; and no doubt the Biondina has some lively Moretta for her friend, to whom she confides her part of the love-affair in all its intricacy.
It must be confessed that if the Biondina is not pleased with his looks, his devotion must assume the character of an intolerable bore to her; and that to see him everywhere at her heels to behold him leaning against the pillar near which she kneels at church, the head of his stick in his mouth, and his attitude carefully taken with a view to captivation to be always in deadly fear lest she shall meet him in promenade, or, turning round at the caffe encounter his pleading gaze that all this must drive the Biondina to a state bordering upon blasphemy and finger-nails.
Yes; I begin to identify it: 'tis the Biondina in Gondoleta, the only song of the eighteenth century which is still remembered by the Venetian people.
All the company were familiar with the Venetian bacaroles, and Castelrovinato's lute was passed from hand to hand, as one after another, incited by the Marquess's Canary, tried to recall some favourite measure "La biondina in gondoleta" or "Guarda, che bella luna." Meanwhile life was stirring in the villages and gardens, and groups of people appearing on the terraces overhanging the water.
Had she really stepped down from some glorious old Venetian picture, bringing that crown of hair, of the true "biondina" hue, so rare nowaday, and never seen in perfection save among the marbles and lagunes of crumbling Venice?
How strange if, after the lapse of four thousand years, the Hindoos should damn themselves to the blindness so dear to their present masters, even as their masters at present consign themselves to the forgetfulness so dear to the Hindoos; but my glass has been empty for a considerable time; perhaps, Bellissima Biondina," said he, addressing Belle, "you will deign to replenish it?"
Ma, come si fa? Ci vuol pazienza! This is the sole course open to ingenuous youth in Venice, where confessed and unashamed acquaintance between young people is extremely difficult; and so this blind pursuit must go on, till the Biondina's inclinations are at last laboriously ascertained. Suppose the Biondina consents to be loved?
These passionate, headlong Italians look well to the main chance before they leap into matrimony, and you may be sure Todaro knows, in black and white, what the Biondina has to her fortune before he weds her. After that may come the marriage, and the sonnet written by the next of friendship, and printed to hang up in all the shop-windows, celebrating the auspicious event.
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