he was a
connoisseur of pictures. A few words he let fall showed them that he was
no stranger to the sciences, and he seemed much occupied with chemistry.
The two friends did not venture to return the count the breakfast he had
given them; it would have been too absurd to offer him in exchange for
his excellent table the very inferior one of Signor Pastrini. They told
him so frankly, and he received their excuses with the air of a man who
appreciated their delicacy. Albert was charmed with the count's manners,
and he was only prevented from recognizing him for a perfect gentleman
by reason of his varied knowledge. The permission to do what he liked
with the carriage pleased him above all, for the fair peasants had
appeared in a most elegant carriage the preceding evening, and Albert
was not sorry to be upon an equal footing with them. At half-past one
they descended, the coachman and footman had put on their livery over
their disguises, which gave them a more ridiculous appearance than
ever, and which gained them the applause of Franz and Albert. Albert
had fastened the faded bunch of violets to his button-hole. At the first
sound of the bell they hastened into the Corso by the Via Vittoria. At
the second turn, a bunch of fresh violets, thrown from a carriage filled
with harlequins, indicated to Albert that, like himself and his friend,
the peasants had changed their costume, also; and whether it was the
result of chance, or whether a similar feeling had possessed them both,
while he had changed his costume they had assumed his.

Albert placed the fresh bouquet in his button-hole, but he kept the
faded one in his hand; and when he again met the calash, he raised it to
his lips, an action which seemed greatly to amuse not only the fair lady
who had thrown it, but her joyous companions also. The day was as gay
as the preceding one, perhaps even more animated and noisy; the count
appeared for an instant at his window, but when they again passed he had
disappeared. It is almost needless to say that the flirtation between
Albert and the fair peasant continued all day. In the evening, on his
return, Franz found a letter from the embassy, informing him that he
would have the honor of being received by his holiness the next day. At
each previous visit he had made to Rome, he had solicited and obtained
the same favor; and incited as much by a religious feeling as by
gratitude, he was unwilling to quit the capital of the Christian