Meanwhile life was stirring in the villages and gardens, and groups of
people appearing on the terraces overhanging the water. Never had Odo
beheld a livelier scene. The pillared houses with their rows of statues
and vases, the flights of marble steps descending to the gilded
river-gates, where boats bobbed against the landings and boatmen gasped
in the shade of their awnings; the marble trellises hung with grapes,
the gardens where parterres of flowers and parti-coloured gravel
alternated with the dusk of tunnelled yew-walks; the company playing at
bowls in the long alleys, or drinking chocolate in gazebos above the
river; the boats darting hither and thither on the stream itself, the
travelling-chaises, market-waggons and pannier-asses crowding the
causeway along the bank--all were unrolled before him with as little
effect of reality as the episodes woven in some gaily-tinted tapestry.
Even the peasants in the vineyards seemed as merry and thoughtless as
the quality in their gardens. The vintage-time is the holiday of the
rural year and the day's work was interspersed with frequent intervals
of relaxation. At the villages where the burchiello touched for
refreshments, handsome young women in scarlet bodices came on board with
baskets of melons, grapes, figs and peaches; and under the trellises on
the landings, lads and girls with flowers in their hair were dancing the
monferrina to the rattle of tambourines or the chant of some wandering
ballad-singer. These scenes were so engaging to the comedians that they
could not be restrained from going ashore and mingling in the village
diversions; and the Marquess, though impatient to rejoin his divinity,
was too volatile not to be drawn into the adventure. The whole party
accordingly disembarked, and were presently giving an exhibition of
their talents to the assembled idlers, the Pantaloon, Harlequin and
Doctor enacting a comical intermezzo which Cantapresto had that morning
composed for them, while Scaramouch and Columbine joined the dancers,