Evidently old friends, they always dined at the same time, entering one a few minutes after the other; but by some freak of habit they took places at different tables, so that the conversation which they kept up all through the meal had to be carried on by an exchange of shouts.

Nothing whatever prevented them from being near each other; the room never contained more than half a dozen persons; yet thus they sat, evening after evening, many yards apart, straining their voices to be mutually audible.

Me they delighted; to the other guests, more familiar with them and their talk, they must have been a serious nuisance.

But I should have liked to see the civilian who dared to manifest his disapproval of these fine old warriors.
They sat interminably, evidently having no idea how otherwise to pass the evening.

In the matter of public amusements Catanzaro is not progressive; I only once saw an announcement of a theatrical performance, and it did not smack of modern enterprise.