If, on entering the hall, Ovid had noticed the placards, he would have found himself confronted by a coincidence.

The person who gave the concert was also the person who taught music to his half-sisters.

Not many days since, he had himself assisted the enterprise, by taking a ticket at his mother's request.

Seeing nothing, remembering nothing--hurried by the fear of losing sight of the two strangers if there was a large audience--he impatiently paid for another ticket, at the doors.
The room was little more than half full, and so insufficiently ventilated that the atmosphere was oppressive even under those circumstances.

He easily discovered the two central chairs, in the midway row of seats, which she and her companion had chosen.