I'm not sure. I think I'd rather counsel a little more
patience," said the Cardinal. "What if you were to come back at, let us
say, midnight." The Prefect bowed, and withdrew.

At midnight it was the same scene, only that the actors were more
agitated; the Envoy, at least, worked up to a degree of impatience that
bordered on fever; for while he persisted in declaring that the result
was certain, he continued to censure, in very-severe terms, the culpable
carelessness of those charged with the transmission of news. "Ah!" cried
he, "there it comes at last!" and a loud summons at the bell resounded
through the house.

"A telegram, Eminence," said the servant, entering with the despatch.
The Envoy tore it open: there were but two words,--"_Sanglante
deroute_."

The Cardinal took the paper from the hands of the overwhelmed and
panic-struck minister, and read it. He stood for a few seconds gazing on
the words, not a line or lineament in his face betraying the slightest
emotion; then, turning to the Envoy, he said, "Bon soir; allons dormir;"
and moved away with his usual quick little step, and retired.

And all this time I have been forgetting the Italian fleet, which lies
yonder beneath me. The Garibaldi, that they took from the Neapolitans;
the Duca di Genova, the Maria Adelaide, and the Regina are there, all
screw-propellers of fifty guns each; the Etna, a steam-corvette; and
some six or seven old sailing craft, used as school ships; and, lastly,
the two cuirassee gunboats, Formidabile and Terribile, and which, with a
jealousy imitated from the French, no one is admitted on board of.
They are provided with "rams" under the water-line, and have a strange
apparatus by which about one-third of the deck towards the bow can be
raised, like the lid of a snuff-box, leaving the forepart of the ship
almost on a level with the water. Under what circumstances, and how,
this provision is to be made available, I have not the very vaguest
conception.

These vessels were never intended as sea-going ships; and the batteries
are an exaggeration of the mistake in the Gloire, for even with the
slightest sea the ports must be closed. Besides this defect, they roll
abominably, and with a full head of steam on they cannot accomplish
seven knots.

Turning from the ships to the harbour, I could not help thinking of
Sydney Smith's remark on the Reform Club, "I prefer your room to your
company;" for, after all, what a sorry stud it is for suc