She was sometimes a little afraid when leaving the opera late at night; but there was a pleasant feeling of protection in the idea that a friend of her father's was in Rome, who knew better than the Signor how to keep out of quarrels.

That recollection also operated as an additional stimulus to excellence in her art.

This friend had expressed himself very highly gratified by her successful _debut_, and that consideration considerably increased her anxiety to sustain herself at the height she had attained.

In some respects that was impossible; for the thrilling circumstances of the first evening could not again recur to set her soul on fire.

Critics generally said she never equalled her first acting; though some maintained that what she had lost in power she had gained in a more accurate conception of the character.