we remind him that a week ago his _model_ did not exist,
from which to have made such a copy; and the _mezzano_, seeing that the
game is up, says his friend must have been imposed upon! that there is
not a more honest man breathing than the Cavaliere! that, in fact, it
has been an awkward affair for _him_! _"Pare impossibile," thought_ we,
that rogues should be so bold! "Had he, the Cavaliere, any thing more to
show?" ask we of the _mezzano_ in French. "To what purpose," answers the
Cavaliere, _suddenly understanding French_; "to what purpose should I
waste that gentleman's time, and _my own_, in the long process of
unwrapping things, which, when unwrapped, he is sure to pronounce
modern?" and the Cavaliere went away in dudgeon, and quite "cavalierly."

It being generally understood that yesterday was to be our last day in
Naples, our friends the _antiquari_ flocked in from all quarters of the
town to pay valedictory visits, and to hope, each man for himself, that
_he_ at least had always given satisfaction in any little business we
might have occasionally transacted together. The visits of that day
began early, and ended--no, they never ended--till next morning after
passing the _barriere_. Coco's black beard, standing at the bedside with
a false "Augustus," was the first object that presented itself on
waking, and the last pull of the bell at night was followed by the
apparition of a mysterious figure in a cloak, with a small sack, full,
not of truffles, but of "Lucernae," just exhumed, and still smelling
damp, from the lamp-teeming earth of Pozzuoli. All through that day the
dealers seemed to have no other employment upon earth than to wait upon
us, and accordingly backwards and forwards, and up and down stairs they
came and they went, till by mid-day they had permanently established, as
ants do when they forage, two counter-lines of communication between us
and the street, each dealer further imitating the ant community, in
stopping for a moment _en passant_, to touch antennae, and to exchange
intelligences with his neighbour as he came up. All would kiss our hand
and "augur" us a prosperous journey, and each had some little
confidential revelation to make touching the Don Beppo, the Don
Alessandro, or the Don Carlo whom he had met at the doorway. Grateful
acknowledgments are due, of course, for so many proofs of their esteem;
though their caveats come all too late for us to profit by; and once or
twice, in the deart