There was both grace and authority in the courteous gesture, and Nino thought the old gentleman moved with an ease that matched his youthful complexion rather than his hoary locks.
"Signor Cardegna, the distinguished artist, if I mistake not ?" said the stranger, with a peculiar foreign accent, the like of which Nino had never heard.

He also raised his hat, extremely surprised that a chance passer-by should know him.

He had not yet learned what it is to be famous.

But he was far from pleased at being addressed in his present mood.
"The same, signore," he replied coldly.

"How can I serve you ?" "You can serve the world you so well adorn better than by exposing your noble voice to the midnight damps and chills of this infernal--I would say, eternal--city," answered the other.