pulchinellos or shepherds of the Landes, and we shall have complete
success."
"Do your excellencies still wish for a carriage from now to
Sunday morning?"
"Parbleu!" said Albert, "do you think we are going to run about
on foot in the streets of Rome, like lawyer's clerks?"
"I hasten to comply with your excellencies' wishes; only, I tell
you beforehand, the carriage will cost you six piastres a day."
"And, as I am not a millionaire, like the gentleman in the next
apartments," said Franz, "I warn you, that as I have been four
times before at Rome, I know the prices of all the carriages; we
will give you twelve piastres for to-day, tomorrow, and the day
after, and then you will make a good profit."
"But, excellency" — said Pastrini, still striving to gain his
point.
"Now go," returned Franz, "or I shall go myself and bargain with
your affettatore, who is mine also; he is an old friend of mine,
who has plundered me pretty well already, and, in the hope of
making more out of me, he will take a less price than the one I
offer you; you will lose the preference, and that will be your
fault."
"Do not give yourselves the trouble, excellency," returned
Signor Pastrini, with the smile peculiar to the Italian speculator
when he confesses defeat; "I will do all I can, and I hope you will
be satisfied."
"And now we understand each other."
"When do you wish the carriage to be here?"
"In an hour."
"In an hour it will be at the door."
An hour after the vehicle was at the door; it was a hack
conveyance which was elevated to the rank of a private carriage in
honor of the occasion, but, in spite of its humble exterior, the
young men would have thought themselves happy to have secured it
for the last three days of the Carnival. "Excellency," cried the
cicerone, seeing Franz approach the window, "shall I bring the
carriage nearer to the palace?"
Accustomed as Franz was to the Italian phraseology, his first
impulse was to look round him, but these words were addressed to
him. Franz was the "excellency," the vehicle was the "carriage,"him. Franz was the "excellency," the vehicle was the "carriage,"
and the Hotel de Londres was the "palace." The genius for laudation
characteristic of the race was in that phrase.
Franz and Albert descended, the carriage approached the palace;
their excellencies stretched their legs along the seats; the
cicerone sprang into the seat behind. "Where do your excellencies
wish to go?" asked he.
"To Saint Peter's first, and then to the Colosseum," returned
Albert. But Albert did not know that it takes a day to see Saint
Peter's, and a month to study it. The day was passed at Saint
Peter's alone. Suddenly the daylight began to fade away; Franz took
out his watch — it was half-past four. They returned to the hotel;
at the door Franz ordered the coachman to be ready at eight. He
wished to show Albert the Colosseum by moonlight, as he had shown
him Saint Peter's by daylight. When we show a friend a city one has
already visited, we feel the same pride as when we point out a
woman whose lover we have been. He was to leave the city by the
Porta del Popolo, skirt the outer wall, and re-enter by the Porta
San Giovanni; thus they would behold the Colosseum without finding
their impressions dulled by first looking on the Capitol, the
Forum, the Arch of Septimus Severus, the Temple of Antoninus and
Faustina, and the Via Sacra. They sat down to dinner. Signor
Pastrini had promised them a banquet; he gave them a tolerable
repast. At the end of the dinner he entered in person. Franz
thought that he came to hear his dinner praised, and began
accordingly, but at the first words he was interrupted.
"Excellency," said Pastrini, "I am delighted to have your
approbation, but it was not for that I came."
"Did you come to tell us you have procured a carriage?" asked
Albert, lighting his cigar.
"No; and your excellencies will do well not to think of that any
longer; at Rome things can or cannot be done; when you are told
anything cannot he done, there is an end of it."
"It is much more convenient at Paris, — when anything cannot be"It is much more convenient at Paris, — when anything cannot be
done, you pay double, and it is done directly."
"That is what all the French say," returned Signor Pastrini,
somewhat piqued; "for that reason, I do not understand why they
travel."
"But," said Albert, emitting a volume of smoke and balancing his
chair on its hind legs, "only madmen, or blockheads like us, ever
do travel. Men in their senses do not quit their hotel in the Rue
du Helder, their walk on the Boulevard de Gand, and the Cafe de
Paris." It is of course understood that Albert resided in the
aforesaid street, appeared every day on the fashionable walk, and
dined frequently at the only restaurant where you can really dine,
that is, if you are on good terms with its frequenters. Signor
Pastrini remained silent a short time; it was evident that he was
musing over this answer, which did not seem very clear. "But," said
Franz, in his turn interrupting his host's meditations, "you had
some motive for coming here, may I beg to know what it was?"
"Ah, yes; you have ordered your carriage at eight o'clock
precisely?"
"I have."
"You intend visiting Il Colosseo."
"You mean the Colosseum?"
"It is the same thing. You have told your coachman to leave the
city by the Porta del Popolo, to drive round the walls, and
re-enter by the Porta San Giovanni?"
"These are my words exactly."
"Well, this route is impossible."
"Impossible!"
"Very dangerous, to say the least."
"Dangerous! — and why?"
"On account of the famous Luigi Vampa."
"Pray, who may this famous Luigi Vampa be?" inquired Albert; "he
may be very famous at Rome, but I can assure you he is quite
unknown at Paris."
"What! do you not know him?"
"I have not that honor."
"You have never heard his name?"
"Never."
"Well, then, he is a bandit, compared to whom the Decesaris and
the Gasparones were mere children."
"Now then, Albert," cried Franz, "here is a bandit for you at
last."
"I forewarn you, Signor Pastrini, that I shall not believe one
word of what you are going to tell us; having told you this,
begin."