"Xi! xi! Rougeot!" "You must have seen many fine ceilings in Venice," resumed the count, addressing Schinner.
"I was too much in love to take any notice of what seemed to me then mere trifles," replied Schinner.

"But I was soon cured of that folly, for it was in the Venetian states--in Dalmatia--that I received a cruel lesson." "Can it be told ?" asked Georges.

"I know Dalmatia very well." "Well, if you have been there, you know that all the people at that end of the Adriatic are pirates, rovers, corsairs retired from business, as they haven't been hanged--" "Uscoques," said Georges.
Hearing the right name given, the count, who had been sent by Napoleon on one occasion to the Illyrian provinces, turned his head and looked at Georges, so surprised was he.
"The affair happened in that town where they make maraschino," continued Schinner, seeming to search for a name.
"Zara," said Georges.

"I've been there; it is on the coast." "You are right," said the painter.

"I had gone there to look at the country, for I adore scenery.