ops--formed
the upper side of the Square; while the modern buildings of the Rue
Fabrique on the lower side might serve very well for that show of
improvement which deepens the sentiment of the neighboring antiquity and
decay in Latin towns. As for the cathedral, which faced the convent from
across the Square, it was as cold and torpid a bit of Renaissance as
could be found in Rome itself. A red-coated soldier or two passed
through the Square; three or four neat little French policemen lounged
about in blue uniforms and flaring havelocks; some walnut-faced,
blue-eyed old citizens and peasants sat upon the thresholds of the row
of old houses, and gazed dreamily through the smoke of their pipes at
the slight stir and glitter of shopping about the fine stores of the Rue
Fabrique. An air of serene disoccupation pervaded the place, with which
the occasional riot of the drivers of the long row of calashes and
carriages in front of the cathedral did not discord. Whenever a stray
American wandered into the Square, there was a wild flight of these
drivers towards him, and his person was lost to sight amidst their
pantomime. They did not try to underbid each other, and they were
perfectly good-humored; as soon as he had made his choice, the rejected
multitude returned to their places on the curbstone, pursuing the
successful aspirant with inscrutable jokes as he drove off, while the
horses went on munching the contents of their leathern head-bags, and
tossing them into the air to shake down the lurking grains of corn.

"It _is_ like Europe; your friends were right," said Mr. Arbuton as they
escaped into the cathedral from one of these friendly onsets. "It's
quite the atmosphere of foreign travel, and you ought to be able to
realize the feelings of a tourist."

A priest was saying mass at one of the side-altars, assisted by acolytes
in their every-day clothes; and outside of the railing a market-woman,
with a basket of choke-cherries, knelt among a few other poor people.
Presently a young English couple came in, he with a dashing India scarf
about his hat, and she very stylishly dressed, who also made their
genuflections with the rest, and then sat down and dropped their heads
in prayer.

"This is like enough Europe, too," murmured Mr. Arbuton. "It's very good
North Italy; or South, for the matter of that."

"O, is it?" answered Kitty, joyously. "I thought it must be!" And she
added, in that trustful way of hers: "It's all very