Notwithstanding all this there was a coolness about the house in consequence of Mdme. Patti's having insisted upon this change in the opera. Consequently numbers of tickets for the first night instead of being at a premium were sold at a discount. Mdme. Nevada was announced for the second evening, but, unfortunately, she had not yet recovered from her Cheyenne cold, which developed gradually almost to pneumonia. She kept her bed in San Francisco for over three weeks, causing me the greatest annoyance as well as loss, since I was obliged to engage Mdme. Patti to sing a great many extra nights beyond her contract, all of which, of course, I had to pay for. _Il Trovatore_ was consequently performed the second evening in lieu of _La Sonnambula_. The following night I brought out _La Favorita_ with Scalchi, De Anna, Giannini, and Cherubini, which was a great success; followed by _Lucrezia Borgia_, in which Fursch-Madi pleased the audience. These changes and disappointments tended to mar the whole engagement. The following night, however, the opera boom really commenced, the work being _Semiramide_, which fully justified the anticipations that had been formed of it. The largest and most brilliant audience ever gathered in a theatre were there to hear Patti and Scalchi sing in two of the most difficult _rôles_ in the whole range of opera. Scalchi fairly divided the honours of the evening with Mdme. Patti; and in the duets they electrified the audience, who, not content with encoring each, insisted upon some half-dozen recalls. The stage was literally strewn with flowers; and the ladies of the audience vied with one another in the elegance of their toilettes. Not only were all the seats occupied, but even all the standing room, and the Press unanimously accorded me the next morning the credit of having presented the best operatic entertainment in that distant city the world of art could afford. A similar audience greeted Patti and Scalchi at the performance of _Faust_ the following week, whilst on the next Saturday Mdme. Patti appeared as "Annetta" in _Crispino e la Comare_, which is, without doubt, her best part. About this time the auction took place for the second season of two weeks, which I determined to commence the following Monday. The particulars of this I have already given. The proceeds were very handsome, but nothing like those of the previous sale. I decided, therefore, that all unsold tickets should be disposed of at the box-office of the theatre in order that the general public might have an opportunity of attending the opera prior to our departure.