"Come, come, Signor
Pastrini, no joking; we must have a carriage."

"Sir," replied the host, "we will do all in our power to procure you
one--this is all I can say."

"And when shall we know?" inquired Franz.

"To-morrow morning," answered the inn-keeper.

"Oh, the deuce! then we shall pay the more, that's all, I see plainly
enough. At Drake's or Aaron's one pays twenty-five lire for common days,
and thirty or thirty-five lire a day more for Sundays and feast days;
add five lire a day more for extras, that will make forty, and there's
an end of it."

"I am afraid if we offer them double that we shall not procure a
carriage."

"Then they must put horses to mine. It is a little worse for the
journey, but that's no matter."

"There are no horses." Albert looked at Franz like a man who hears a
reply he does not understand.

"Do you understand that, my dear Franz--no horses?" he said, "but can't
we have post-horses?"

"They have been all hired this fortnight, and there are none left but
those absolutely requisite for posting."

"What are we to say to this?" asked Franz.

"I say, that when a thing completely surpasses my comprehension, I am
accustomed not to dwell on that thing, but to pass to another. Is supper
ready, Signor Pastrini?"

"Yes, your excellency."

"Well, then, let us sup."

"But the carriage and horses?" said Franz.

"Be easy, my dear boy; they will come in due season; it is only a
question of how much shall be charged for them." Morcerf then, with that
delighted philosophy which believes that nothing is impossible to a full
purse or well-lined pocketbook, supped, went to bed, slept soundly, and
dreamed he was racing all over Rome at Carnival time in a coach with six
horses.

Chapter 33. Roman Bandits.

The next morning Franz woke first, and instantly rang the bell. The
sound had not yet died away when Signor Pastrini himself entered.

"Well, excellency," said the landlord triumphantly, and without waiting
for Franz to question him, "I feared yesterday, when I would not promise
you anything, that you were too late--there is not a single carriage to
be had--that is, for the last three days of the carnival."

"Yes," returned Franz, "for the very three days it is most needed."

"What is the matter?" said Albert, entering; "no carriage to be had?"

"Just so," returned Franz, "you have guessed it."

"Well, your Eternal City is a nice sort of place."

"That is to say, excellency," r