(I shall never rest, Sarianna, till I risk my reputation at the Bal de l'Opera at Paris.) Do you think I was satisfied with staying in the box?
No, indeed.

Down I went, and Robert and I elbowed our way through the crowd to the remotest corner of the ball below.

Somebody smote me on the shoulder and cried 'Bella mascherina!' and I answered as imprudently as one feels under a mask.

At two o'clock in the morning, however, I had to give up and come away (being overcome by the heavy air), and ingloriously left Robert and our friends to follow at half-past four.

Think of the refinement and gentleness--yes, I must call it _superiority_--of this people, when no excess, no quarrelling, no rudeness nor coarseness can be observed in the course of such wild masked liberty.