midnight
She it was who made the superb discovery that the music they heard came from across the way , and that by opening a closet window they could look into a theatre and see the stage . All rushed at once and beheld an opera in full blast , heartily enjoying the unusual advantages of their position ; for not only could they hear the warblers , but see them when the curtain was down . What a thing it was to see Donna Anna do up her black hair , Don Giovanni dance a jig , and stately Ottavio imbibe refreshment out of a black bottle , and the ghostly Commander prance like a Punchinello as they got him into position . The others soon succumbed to sleep ; but , till long after midnight , old Livy wandered like a ghost from the front balcony , with the lovely lake , to the closet window and its dramatic joys , feeling that no moment of that memorable night should be lost , for what other traveller could boast that she ever went to the opera wrapped in a yellow bedquilt ? On the morrow a few pictures of Luini before breakfast , and then more sailing over lakes , and more driving in festive diligences to Menaggio , where a boat like a market waggon without wheels bore them genteelly to Cadenabbia , and a week of repose on the banks of Lago Como . Their palace did not ` lift its marble walls to eternal summer ' by any means ; for it rained much , and was so cold that some took to their beds for warmth , stone floors looking like castile-soap not being just the thing for rheumatism . Hand-organs , dancing-bears , two hotels , one villa , no road but the lake , and an insinuating boatman with one eye who lay in wait among the willows , and popped out to grab a passenger when anyone ventured forth , are all that remains in the memory regarding Cadenabbia .