When we were alone, she sat down by me, and asked what I should really like to eat.

If I did not care for a beefsteak of veal, could I eat a beefsteak of mutton?
It was not the first time that such a choice had been offered me, for, in the South, _bistecca_ commonly means a slice of meat done on the grill or in the oven.

Never have I sat down to a _bistecca_ which was fit for man's consumption, and, of course, at the _Concordia_ it would be rather worse than anywhere else.

I persuaded the good woman to supply me with a little broth.

Then I lay looking at the patch of cloudy sky which showed above the houses opposite, and wondering whether I should have a second fearsome night.