In those days everyone had been complaisant to Casanova.
Gladly opening her heart to him, the girl told him that she was not well off; that she was in love with an usher who was likewise poor; that his father and her own mother were both unwilling to give their consent to so inauspicious a union.

Casanova promptly declared himself ready to help matters on.

He sought an introduction to Amalia's mother, a good-looking widow of thirty-six who was still quite worthy of being courted.

Ere long Casanova was on such intimate terms with her that his word was law.

When her consent to the match had been won, Olivo's father, a merchant in reduced circumstances, was no longer adverse, being specially influenced by the fact that Casanova (presented to him as a distant relative of the bride's mother) undertook to defray the expenses of the wedding and to provide part of the dowry.