" De Pretis said he was
making great progress, and so I was contented, though I always thought
it was a sacrifice for him to be a singer.
Of course, as he went three times a week to the Palazzo Carmandola, he
began to be used to the society of the contessina. I never understood
how he succeeded in keeping up the comedy of being a professor. A real
Roman would have discovered him in a week. But foreigners are
different. If they are satisfied they pay their money and ask no
questions. Besides, he studied all the time, saying that if he ever
lost his voice he would turn man of letters; which sounded so prudent
that I had nothing to say. Once, we were walking in the Corso, and the
contessina with her father passed in the carriage. Nino raised his
hat, but they did not see him, for there is always a crowd in the
Corso.
"Tell me," he cried, excitedly, as they went by, "is it not true that
she is beautiful?"
"A piece of marble, my son," said I, suspecting nothing; and I turned
into a tobacconist's to buy a cigar.
One day--Nino says it was in November--the contessina began asking him
questions about the Pantheon, it was in the middle of the lesson, and
he wondered at her stopping to talk. But you may imagine whether he
was glad or not to have an opportunity of speaking about something
besides Dante.
"Yes, signorina," he answered, "Professor Grandi says it was built for
public baths; but, of course, we all think it was a temple.
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