most splendidly reckless, we couldn't tell which; we knew only that they
were irritating enough to have made Job dance with rage, if he had had
an automobile. What they did was to wheel round at the sound of our
horn, plant themselves squarely in the centre of the road, and stand
waiting to see what we were, or else to trot comfortably along, without
even taking the trouble to glance over their shoulders. As the road was
too narrow for us to pass on either side, with an enormous ox lolling
insolently in the middle, refusing to budge an inch, or an absurd cow
taking infinite pains to amble precisely in front of the motor's nose,
we were frequently forced to crawl for ten or fifteen minutes at the
pace of a snail, or to stop altogether and push a large beast out of the
way.

By the time we got into Alessandria, with its mighty maze of
fortifications, I was so weak from laughing that I giggled hysterically
at sight of the Prince standing in the doorway of a hotel which we were
sailing past. I pointed at him, as Maida had pointed at Vittorio
Alfieri's tablet, and Mamma gave a welcome meant to drown my giggle. Mr.
Barrymore stopped, and His Highness came to the side of the car.

"I was so sorry to miss you this morning," he said, "but after bidding
you _au revoir_ last evening, I suddenly remembered that I had a friend
in Alessandria whom I had not seen for long, and it occurred to me that
I would pay him a visit. After all, I might have saved myself the pain,
as I found that he was away."

"At least you saved yourself the pain of a bad night," said I.

"Oh, that would have been nothing," he exclaimed. "Indeed, if there were
hardships to be borne, I would have preferred to share them with you."

I don't know what would have happened at that moment if I'd met Maida's
eyes, or Sir Ralph's eyes, or indeed, any eyes on the prowl; but all
avoided mine.

The Prince was expecting, or said that he was expecting Joseph to arrive
at any instant with the car. Then he would follow us, and as we planned
to stop at Pavia and he did not, he would be in Milan before us. We had
suffered so many delays at the hands, or rather the hoofs of our
four-footed brethren, that we had no time to waste in compliments with
irrelevant Princes, so we quickly sped on again as well as the uneven
road would allow, leaving behind the big fortified town which Mr.
Barrymore said had been built by the Lombard League (whatever that was)
as a place of arms t