From that vantage-ground of observation Paolina saw perfectly well
both the singer on the stage and the Marchese in the box; and again
felt sure that the actress was specially addressing herself with an
implied meaning to the latter; and that he was aware that she was
doing so. She felt no doubt that the motive for this was exactly
that to which Ludovico had attributed it. It was important to the
Diva to flatter and make a friend of so powerful a theatrical patron
as the Marchese; and she took this very objectionable method,
Paolina thought, of attaining that end. Paolina thought nothing more
than this; but, nevertheless, it made her conceive a dislike for the
Diva greater, perhaps, than the cause would seem to justify.
The interval between the second and the third act Ludovico thought
himself obliged to pass in the box of the Marchese Anna Lanfredi, in
which Violante was sitting with her aunt. There, too, he found the
ladies not quite disposed to be as frantically enthusiastic in their
praises of the singer as the whole male part of the audience. The
Marchesa Lanfredi thought that La Lalli was nothing at all in
comparison with some singer who had charmed all Bologna some forty
years before. And Violante, admitting that she had an exquisite
voice and perfect method, confessed much as Paolina had done, that
she did not quite like her, she hardly knew why.
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