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But it was in Tannhäuser as I fust saw her on the stage, and her struck me like that." Silas clapped one damp hand violently on the other. "Miss Elsa Venda was her stage name, but her was a widow, Mrs Parfitt, and had bin for ten years. Seemingly her husband was of good family. Finest woman I ever seed, nephew. And you'll say so. Her'd ha' bin a prima donna only for jealousy.
I am going to take Silvestro over La Venda to see my mother, and confess to our curate. It is good for the soul." "Silvestro looks well this morning," said Andrea, with his mouth full of bread. "What a colour of dawn! What shining eyes! He would make a proper Madonna for a Mystery eh?" "He would," said Castracane laconically; "a most proper Madonna. With a Bambino on his lap eh, Silvestro."
I began almost to despair of ever effecting a passage, and, even up to the present day, am at a loss to understand how we succeeded in escaping from this inextricable mass. The little town of Canto Gallo is situated in a narrow valley, and contains about eighty houses. The venda stands apart, the town not being visible from it. The temperature here is warm as in Rio Janeiro.
At the venda, close beside it, they purchased a large bag of farina, being short of that necessary article of food, and then set to work to prepare supper in the open air; while the merry Negroes, who seemed to enjoy life most thoroughly, laughed and sang as they removed the bales from the mules' backs and cooked their simple fare.
While thus busily and agreeably employed, they were told by the owner of the venda that a festa was being celebrated at a village about a league distant from where they stood. "I should like to see it above all things," said Martin eagerly; "could we not go?" The hermit frowned. "Yes, we can go, but it will be to behold folly. Perhaps it will be a good lesson, from which much may be learned.
About four o'clock we arrived at Venda Nova, or Traja, also known by the name of Willis's, it having been kept by an Englishman of that name. It was much patronized by the English, who frequently made excursions of pleasure to this place, distant from Rio de Janeiro four Brazilian leagues or sixteen English miles.
In consequence of our wishing to avoid a disagreeable old fellow, who kept a venda on the road side, we proceeded a short distance beyond his domicile, and having previously provided our refreshment, we sat down near the bank of a river to partake of it, at about two o'clock in the afternoon.
Soon after leaving Valencia, we passed a venda, kept by another countryman of ours, but we did not stop there, being anxious to reach the town of Prëta before night. We had now entered the Minas Geraës, or Mine Country, the opposite bank of the river forming the boundary of the province of Rio de Janeiro.
On my return to the venda, after a short walk to the town, I applied to my landlady, in order to obtain a near and really correct idea of a Brazilian household. The good woman, however, gave herself very little trouble, either in looking after the house or the kitchen; as is the case in Italy, this was her husband's business.
Borrow might, if so disposed, retaliate on his censor, who, whilst wandering in the olive groves of Venda do Duque, encounters "black ants as large almost as figs, unmolested in the vivid sun-beam." Before such monsters as these, the terrible termes fatalis of the Indies, which undermines houses and breakfasts upon quarto volumes, must hide its diminished head.
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