A Voyage of Consolation

. I don't know whether the omnibus numeros and the correspondances where you change, or the men sitting staring on the side walks drinkin

fasted that morning in the most amusing way with Dicky Dod at a café in the Champs Elysées-poppa and momma had an engagement with Mr. and Mrs. Malt and couldn't come-and in the leniency of the recollection I said something fav

thing that doesn't shout at you, 'Look at me! Think about me! Your admiration or your life!' Those Frenchmen don't mind it because it only repeats what they're always saying themselves, but if you're a foreigner it gets on your nerves. That city is too uniformly fine to be

, isn't there-to be interesting," but the Senator was too deeply engaged

, and we all rose with one accord and groped about for more rugs. When broad daylight came it was Savoy, and we realised what we had been through. The Senator was inclined to deplore missing the realisation of the Mont Cenis, and it wa

hat majestic blue summit on the horizon to the left"-obliteration, and another tunnel! "Don't miss that jagged line of snows just beyond the back of poppa's head, dear one. Quick! they are melting away!"-but the next tunnel was quicker. "Put down that the dazzling purity of these lovely peaks must be realised, for it cannot be"-darkness, and the blight

rical argument with his sailors in bas-relief below; and he looked a very fine character. As poppa said, he was just the man you would pick out to discover America. The Senator also remarked that you could see from the position of the statue, right there in full view of the travelling public, that the Genoese thought a lot

nliness, where we removed all recollections of Paris without being obliged to consider a stuffy carpet or satin-covered furniture. Italy, in the persons of the portier and the chambermaid, laid hold of us with intelligible smiles, and we were charmed. Inside, the place was full of long free lines and cool polished surfaces, and

n them to understand that his politeness was very perfunctory. If they perceived it, they allowed it to influence them the other way, however. They asked, almost as cordially as if we were middle-class English people, whether we had actually survived that trip to Versailles, and forbore to comm

?" asked the Senator

s," replied Mis

died it before,"

fascination all its

ust have seen a great deal of school-boy society. I decided at once, noting its effect upon th

s-the Dorias, the Pallavicinis, the Durazzos," r

rray and Baedeker for this place. Now do you commit your facts to memory befo

ays visit these places with a mind prepared. Though I myself have no obje

, is commendable of you. And it's certainly the only business-like way of proc

rns. And I must say it is generally my sister." And she turn

s a sort of portable, self-acting reference library," remarked poppa. "Tha

n from the street, of arriving cabs and expostulating voices. The Miss Binghams l

o you refer to the German Ll

an hour ago we were sure we saw

ew York, I suppos

ying at the docks unloading Americans ever since she

ent a glance of scorn after them strong enough to make them turn round. After dinner, we saw a collection of cabin trunks and valises standing in the entrance h

ng to do and we were going on next day. Nobody had asked him to wait, but he had a carriage ready and the look of having been orde

musement. "I make not the shava, Signore," he said, "I

eigners by their appearance

re that I should probably find a-a tonsorial artist out here on the steps"-poppa never minds telling a story

see Genoa-

eplied the Sen

shoppia, pallass-w'at you like. Also I am not dear man neithe

time cost to buy

you und'stan', look for traina-'otel, biglietto, bagaglia-then I am so little you laugh. Two 'undred fran

s in Italy are never written without a courier. People wouldn't believe they were authenti

cing disapprovingly at Alessandro's swarthy collar. "And I conf

," I remarked. "You c

i," he said; "we're strangers here and we'll get you to help us to enjo

g on the box when poppa interfered. "There's no use trying to work it that way," he said; "we can't ask you to twist your head off every time you emit a piece of information. Beside

with Mr. Bebbin

lika first off the 'ous

toforo was one of the most distinguished Americans on the roll of history, a

aned forward

ese other guide-ignoranta fella. Cristoforo was Genoa man, born here, you und'

ristopher wasn't born, he was made, and America made him. He has every right to claim to be considered an American, and it was a little careless of him not to h

he nooks and recesses, selling big black cherries and bursting figs. Even the old women though, as momma complained, wore postilion basques and

he side street was narrow and the houses high, the effect was quite imposing. Poppa asked Alessandro Bebbini whether they were expecting royalty or anything, or whether it was like this every washing day, and we gathered that there was nothing unusual about it. But poppa said I had better mention it so that people might be prepared. Personally, I rather liked

hed foreheads. "Yes," said Alessandro Bebbini

edifice, with stone giants supporting the arch of the doorway, in every respect suitable as the residence of a retired navigator of distinction. Poppa said it was v

toric interest. This house, poppa calculated, would let to-day at a figure discreditable neither to Cristoforo h

dral momma paused and cast a sear

to understand that church entrances in Italy were disgracefully thronged with begga

hat you mention it, I'm disappointed there too. Municipal progress in Italy is something you've not prepared for somehow. I daresay if we

r had fallen behind with Mr. Bebbini in earnest conversat

eside the railings, his cap in his hands, grasping it just as the peasant in The Angelus grasps his. Inside the altar hung a picture of a pitying woman, and there were candles and foolish flowers of tinsel, but beside these, many tokens of hearts, gold and silver, thick below the altar, crowding the partition walls. The hearts were grateful ones-Alessandro explained in an undertone-brought and left by many who had been preserved from violent death by the saint there, and he who knelt was a workman just from hospital, who had fallen, with his so

for a long time, except on one day of the year, on account of Herodias. Momma considered this extremely invidious of Innocent the Eighth, and said it was a thing no man except a Pope would have thought of doing. What annoyed poppa was that she seemed to hold Alessandro Bebbini responsible, and covered him with reproaches, in the guise of argument, which he neither deserved nor unders

with truth and splendour in sculpture, and picture, and tapestry, and precious things, with the picturesqueness of contrast and homage. As the Senator said, a banquet hall did not then suggest a Fifth Avenue hairdresser's saloon. But now

r attended in his youth, and the altar rails before which he took the first communion of his early manhood, and the occupation of his wife's parents, and many other matters concerning him, it is the fault of history and not that of Alessandro Bebbini. After a cathedral and a palace and a long drive, this was bound to have its effect, and I ver

ndro's information of its commercial value, while leaving his ingenuity, so to speak, at par. The Senator was so much annoyed, as he had made a special note of the state of preservation in which he had found the dwell

will discover that we have fled by an earlier train. We take it from no personal objection to your society, but from a rooted and unconqu

rs t

. WI

ntity, would ruin the sale of our work, and if he accompanied us it would be impossible to keep him out. He said we o