e? Not such a terrible fate to look forward to, after all! She would
demand a great deal, and I should have to keep the brakes on.
Still--that would do me no harm! You look as though you had been down a
sulphur mine. Come, cheer up--all may yet be well." Suddenly he laughed
out loud. "Funny thing," he observed further--"you know, I am not so
sure that I am not rather in love."

He leaned to St. Anthony, and, putting his hand through the dog's collar
beneath the throat, lifted the head on the back of his wrist. "Tell me,
_padre_, am I in love? Do you advise the marriage?" The dog put his paw
up, fanned the air once in missing, and let it rest on his master's
knee.

Giovanni laughed aloud "_Ecco!_ Sandro, he consents!"

CHAPTER XV

AN OPPOSITION BOOTH IS SET UP IN THE MARKET PLACE

While Sansevero and Giovanni were in their imaginations refurbishing
their escutcheon, two other men, with the opposite intent, stood on the
front steps of the agency of "Thomas Cook and Sons." One was proclaimed
by the regulation "Cook's" badge on his cap to be a guide; the other, by
his military cloak, might have been recognized as an official of the
Italian government. Both had shown covert interest in the Princess
Sansevero, who, looking particularly lovely in her magnificent set of
sables, had crossed the sidewalk with the light, buoyant carriage
characteristic of her.

"There, you may see for yourself if it is I who speak the truth." This
was said by the guide.

The official looked at him askance as he drew his bushy brows together
and pulled at his beard. "I confess it looks serious--and strongly
favors your supposition."

"But what else? It is as plain as the nose on your face, I should say!
At Torre Sansevero they have been living on next to nothing--my cousin
is cook, and I know that every _soldo_ is counted. They come to Rome and
spend their savings. You will say they have done that for years; but
tell me this, should their savings in this year treble the savings of
other years?"

Triumphantly he looked at his companion and, throwing back his head, put
his hands on his hips. Then, with a return to his confidential manner,
he laid his finger against his nose. "I know it for a fact," he
continued--"Luigi heard it at the key-hole--that their excellencies
contemplated staying at Torre Sansevero all this winter! Her excellency
had the look--Maria, the maid, told the servants that much--that her
excellency always has wh