di Ripetta, meet, the two uprights of the scaffold,
between which glittered the curved knife of the mandaia. At the corner
of the street they met the count's steward, who was awaiting his master.
The window, let at an exorbitant price, which the count had doubtless
wished to conceal from his guests, was on the second floor of the great
palace, situated between the Via del Babuino and the Monte Pincio. It
consisted, as we have said, of a small dressing-room, opening into a
bedroom, and, when the door of communication was shut, the inmates were
quite alone. On chairs were laid elegant masquerade costumes of blue and
white satin. "As you left the choice of your costumes to me," said the
count to the two friends, "I have had these brought, as they will be
the most worn this year; and they are most suitable, on account of the
confetti (sweetmeats), as they do not show the flour."

Franz heard the words of the count but imperfectly, and he perhaps did
not fully appreciate this new attention to their wishes; for he was
wholly absorbed by the spectacle that the Piazza del Popolo presented,
and by the terrible instrument that was in the centre. It was the first
time Franz had ever seen a guillotine,--we say guillotine, because
the Roman mandaia is formed on almost the same model as the French
instrument. [*] The knife, which is shaped like a crescent, that cuts
with the convex side, falls from a less height, and that is all the
difference. Two men, seated on the movable plank on which the victim
is laid, were eating their breakfasts, while waiting for the criminal.
Their repast consisted apparently of bread and sausages. One of them
lifted the plank, took out a flask of wine, drank some, and then passed
it to his companion. These two men were the executioner's assistants.
At this sight Franz felt the perspiration start forth upon his brow. The
prisoners, transported the previous evening from the Carcere Nuovo to
the little church of Santa Maria del Popolo, had passed the night, each
accompanied by two priests, in a chapel closed by a grating, before
which were two sentinels, who were relieved at intervals. A double line
of carbineers, placed on each side of the door of the church, reached
to the scaffold, and formed a circle around it, leaving a path about ten
feet wide, and around the guillotine a space of nearly a hundred feet.
All the rest of the square was paved with heads. Many women held their
infants on their shoulders, a