d that, admirable as the
result might be, he did not wish to buy any of it. When the latter fact
finally made itself plain, the proprietor became truculent and gave us,
although he spoke no English, so vivid an idea of the inconsistency of
our presence in his premises, that we retired in all the irritation of
the well-meaning and misunderstood. The Senator, however, who had
absolute confidence in his phrase book, saw a deeper significance in the
remarkable unwillingness of the people of Bologna to expatiate upon the
feature which had given them fame. "The fact is," said he gloomily,
restoring his note-book to his inside pocket as we entered the
terra-cotta doorway of St. Catarina, "they're not anxious to let a
stranger into the know of it." And this conviction remaining with him,
still inspires the Senator with a contemptuous pity for the porcine
methods of a people who refuse to submit them to the light of day and
the observation of the world at large.

CHAPTER XIX.

So far, momma said she had every reason to be pleased with the effect on
her mind. About the Senator's she would not commit herself, beyond
saying that we had a great deal to be thankful for in that his health
hadn't suffered, in spite of the indigestibility of that eternal French
twist and honey that you were obliged on the Continent to begin the day
with. She hoped, I think, that the Senator had absorbed other things
beside the French twist equally unconsciously, with beneficial results
that would appear later. He said himself that it was well worth
anybody's while to make the trip, if only in order to be better
satisfied with America for the rest of his life, but why people
belonging to the United States and the nineteenth century should want to
spend whole summers in the Middle Ages he failed to understand. Both my
parents, however, looked forward to Venice with enthusiasm. Momma
expected it to be the realization of all her dreams, and poppa decided
that it must, at all events, be unique. It couldn't have any Arno or any
Campagna in the nature of things--that would be a change--and it was not
possible to the human mind, however sophisticated, with a livelong
experience of street cars and herdics, to stroll up and take a seat in
a gondola and know exactly what would happen, where the fare-box was and
everything, and whether they took Swiss silver, and if a gentleman in a
crowded gondola was expected to give up his seat to a lady and stand.
Pop