Broechner had given me a letter of introduction to Costanza Testa, a
friend of his youth, now married to Count Oreste Blanchetti and living
in Paris, with her somewhat older sister Virginia, a kind-hearted and
amiable woman of the world. The latter had married in Brazil, as her
second husband, the Italian banker Pagella, and to their house came, not
only Italians and other European Southerners, but members of the South
American colony.
So warm a reception as I met with from the two sisters and their
husbands I had never had anywhere before. After I had known the two
families one hour, these people treated me as though I were their
intimate friend; Costanza's younger brother, they called me. I had a
seat in their carriage every day, when the ladies drove out in the Bois
de Boulogne; they never had a box at the Italian opera, where Adelina
Patti's first notes were delighting her countrymen, without sending me a
seat. They expected me every evening, however late it often might be
when I came from the theatre, in their drawing-room, where, according to
the custom of their country, they always received the same circle of
friends.
I was sincerely attached to the two sisters, and felt myself at ease in
their house, although the conversation there was chiefly carried on in a
language of which I understood but little, since French was spoken only
on my account.
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