little harbor within."

The old town of Monaco proper is on the top of this rocky presqu'ile,
three hundred feet above the sea, and west of Monte Carlo, the suburb of
Condamine, and the chapel of St. Devote. Leaving the carriages, we
entered the portal of the palace, conducted by a tenth of the standing
army.

"My first living and roofed palace," said Janet, as we ascended the
broad flight of marble steps leading to the "Court of Honor," which was
glowing with recently renewed frescos. A solemn man in black received
us, and conducted us with much dignity through thirteen broad, long
rooms, with ceilings thirty feet high--a procession of stately
apartments which left upon our minds a blurred general impression of
gilded vases, crimson curtains, slippery floors, ormolu clocks, wreaths
of painted roses, fat Cupids, and uninhabitableness. The only trace of
home life in all the shining vista was a little picture of the present
Prince, taken when he was a baby, a life-like, chubby little fellow,
smiling unconcernedly out on all this cold splendor. It was amusing to
see how we women gathered around this little face, with a sort of
involuntary comfort.

In the Salle Grimaldi there was a vast chimney-piece of one block of
marble covered with carved devices.

In the room where the Duke of York died there was a broad bed on a
platform, curtained and canopied with heavy damask, and surrounded by a
gilded railing. We stood looking at this structure in silence.

"It is very impressive," murmured Mrs. Trescott at last. Then, with a
long reminiscent sigh, as if she had been present and chief mourner on
the occasion, she added: "There is nothing more inscrutable than the
feet of the flying hours: they are winged!--winged!"

[Illustration: THE SALLE GRIMALDI, IN THE PALACE, MONACO]

"On the whole," said Janet, as we went down the marble steps towards
the army--"on the whole, taking it as a _palace_, I am disappointed."

"What did you expect?" said Verney.

"Oh, all the age of chivalry," she answered, smiling.

"The so-called age of chivalry--" began the Professor; but he never
finished; because, by some unexpected adjustment of places, he found
himself in the phaeton with Baker, and that adventurous youth drove him
over to Monte Carlo at such a speed that he could only close his eyes
and hold on.

The Casino of Monte Carlo is now the most important part of the
principality of Monaco; instead of being subordinate to the palac