Kelly tells the story with an important difference. He was as thin as a rake, coming from Sicily to Livorno, and with a mass of fair hair, and he had not long ceased singing treble.
Nancy and Stephen, whom he did not know, stood together on the Livorno Mole, and Nancy said in English to her brother, 'Look at that girl dressed in boy's clothes.'
Kelly then astonished her by replying, also in English, 'You are mistaken, Miss; I am a very proper he animal, and quite at your service!'
The dialogue is quoted exactly from: M. Kelly, ed. H. van Thal 1972, Solo Recital – The Reminiscences of Michael Kelly (Folio Society, London 1972), 64. See also this link: [1]
