He was not dressed as people dress in general, but wore a frock of dark camlet, with a large shirt-collar turned down, and a narrow slip of black silk twisted rather than tied round his throat; his nether garments fitted tight to his limbs, and a pair of half-hessians completed his costume.

It was evident that the young man (and he was very young--perhaps about nineteen or twenty) indulged that coxcombry of the Picturesque which is the sign of a vainer mind than is the commoner coxcombry of the _Mode_.
It is astonishing how frequently it happens, that the introduction of a single intruder upon a social party is sufficient to destroy all the familiar harmony that existed there before.

We see it even when the intruder is agreeable and communicative--but in the present instance, a ghost could scarcely have been a more unwelcoming or unwelcome visitor.
The presence of this shy, speechless, supercilious-looking man threw a damp over the whole group.

The gay Tirabaloschi immediately discovered that it was time to depart--it had not struck any one before, but it certainly _was_ late.

The Italians began to bustle about, to collect their music, to make fine speeches and fine professions--to bow and to smile--to scramble into their boat, and to push towards the inn at Como, where they had engaged their quarters for the night.