She never acted; and she never, never felt. As Violetta she did express some slight emotion, to be sure. Her _Gran Dio_ in the last act was sung with something like passion, at least with more passion than she ever sang anything else. Yes: in _La Traviata_, after she had run away with Nicolini, she did succeed in putting an unusual amount of warmth into the _rôle_ of Violetta. [Illustration: =Adelina Patti= From a photograph by Fredericks] But her great success was always due to her wonderful voice. Her acting was essentially mechanical. As an intelligent actress, a creator of parts, or even as an interesting personality, she could never approach Christine Nilsson. Nilsson had both originality and magnetism, a combination irresistibly captivating. Her singing was the embodiment of dramatic expression. In September of that year we went down to Edinburgh to see the ruins of Melrose Abbey. To confess the truth, I remember just two things clearly about Scotland. One was that, at the ruins, Colonel Stebbins picked up a piece of crumbling stone, spoke of the strange effect of age upon it, and let it drop. Around turned the showman, or guide, or whatever the person was called who crammed the sights down our throats. "You Americans are the curse of the country!" he exclaimed sharply. My other distinct memory--with associations of much discomfort and annoyance--is that I left one rubber overshoe in Loch Lomond. So much for Scotland. We did not stay long; and were soon back in London ready for work. Our rehearsals were rather fun. It seemed strange to be able to walk across a stage without getting the hem of one's skirt dirty. English theatres are incredibly clean when one considers what a dirty, sooty, grimy town London is. Our opera was at the old Drury Lane, although we always called it Her Majesty's because that was the name of the opera company. I was amused to find that a member of the company, a big young basso named "Signor Foli," turned out to be none other than Walter Foley, a boy from my old home in the Hartford region. I always called him "the Irish Italian from Connecticut."