me?"

"Yes."--Albert reflected. "Ah," replied he, sighing, "that is not very
surprising; I have been more than a year absent from Paris, and
my clothes are of a most antiquated cut; the count takes me for a
provincial. The first opportunity you have, undeceive him, I beg, and
tell him I am nothing of the kind." Franz smiled; an instant after the
count entered.

"I am now quite at your service, gentlemen," said he. "The carriage is
going one way to the Piazza del Popolo, and we will go another; and,
if you please, by the Corso. Take some more of these cigars, M. de
Morcerf."

"With all my heart," returned Albert; "Italian cigars are horrible. When
you come to Paris, I will return all this."

"I will not refuse; I intend going there soon, and since you allow me,
I will pay you a visit. Come, we have not any time to lose, it is
half-past twelve--let us set off." All three descended; the coachman
received his master's orders, and drove down the Via del Babuino.
While the three gentlemen walked along the Piazza de Spagni and the
Via Frattina, which led directly between the Fiano and Rospoli palaces,
Franz's attention was directed towards the windows of that last palace,
for he had not forgotten the signal agreed upon between the man in the
mantle and the Transtevere peasant. "Which are your windows?" asked he
of the count, with as much indifference as he could assume. "The three
last," returned he, with a negligence evidently unaffected, for he could
not imagine with what intention the question was put. Franz glanced
rapidly towards the three windows. The side windows were hung with
yellow damask, and the centre one with white damask and a red cross. The
man in the mantle had kept his promise to the Transteverin, and there
could now be no doubt that he was the count. The three windows were
still untenanted. Preparations were making on every side; chairs were
placed, scaffolds were raised, and windows were hung with flags. The
masks could not appear; the carriages could not move about; but the
masks were visible behind the windows, the carriages, and the doors.

Franz, Albert, and the count continued to descend the Corso. As they
approached the Piazza del Popolo, the crowd became more dense, and
above the heads of the multitude two objects were visible: the obelisk,
surmounted by a cross, which marks the centre of the square, and in
front of the obelisk, at the point where the three streets, del Babuino,
del Corso, and