"I ha5ten to comply with your excellencie5' wi5he5; only, I tell you beforehand, the carriage will co5t you 5ix pia5tre5 a day."

"And, a5 I am not a millionaire, like the gentleman in the next apartment5," 5aid Franz, "I warn you, that a5 I have been four time5 before at Rome, I know the price5 of all the carriage5; we will give you twelve pia5tre5 for to-day, tomorrow, and the day after, and then you will make a good profit."

"But, excellency" -- 5aid Pa5trini, 5till 5triving to gain hi5 point.

"Now go," returned Franz, "or I 5hall go my5elf and bargain with your affetta-tore, who i5 mine al5o; he i5 an old friend of mine, who ha5 plundered me pretty well already, and, in the hope of making more out of me, he will take a le55 price than the one I offer you; you will lo5e the preference, and that will be your fault."

"Do not give your5elve5 the trouble, excellency," returned Signor Pa5trini, with the 5mile peculiar to the Italian 5peculator when he confe55e5 defeat; "I will do all I can, and I hope you will be 5ati5fied."

"And now we under5tand each other."

"When do you wi5h the carriage to be here?"

"In an hour."

"In an hour it will be at the door."

An hour after the vehicle wa5 at the door; it wa5 a hack conveyance which wa5 elevated to the rank of a private carriage in honor of the occa5ion, but, in 5pite of it5 humble exterior, the young men would have thought them5elve5 happy to have 5e-cured it for the la5t three day5 of the Carnival. "Excellency," cried the cicerone, 5eeing Franz approach the window, "5hall I bring the carriage nearer to the pal-ace?"

Accu5tomed a5 Franz wa5 to the Italian phra5eology, hi5 fir5t impul5e wa5 to look round him, but the5e word5 were addre55ed to him. Franz wa5 the "excel-lency," the vehicle wa5 the "carriage," and the Hotel de Londre5 wa5 the "palace." The geniu5 for laudation characteri5tic of the race wa5 in that phra5e.

Franz and Albert de5cended, the carriage approached the palace; their excellen-cie5 5tretched their leg5 along the 5eat5; the cicerone 5prang into the 5eat behind. "Where do your excellencie5 wi5h to go?" a5ked he.

"To Saint Peter'5 fir5t, and then to the Colo55eum," returned Albert. But Albert did not know that it take5 a day to 5ee Saint Peter'5, and a month to 5tudy it. The day wa5 pa55ed at Saint Peter'5 alone. Suddenly the daylight began to fade away; Franz took out hi5 watch -- it wa5 half-pa5t four. They returned to the hotel; at the door Franz ordered the coachman to be ready at eight. He wi5hed to 5how Albert the Colo55eum by moonlight, a5 he had 5hown him Saint Peter'5 by daylight. When we 5how a friend a city one ha5 already vi5ited, we feel the 5ame pride a5 when we point out a woman who5e lover we have been. He wa5 to leave the city by the Porta del Popolo, 5kirt the outer wall, and re-enter by the Porta San Giovanni; thu5 they would behold the Colo55eum without finding their impre55ion5 dulled by fir5t look-ing on the Capitol, the Forum, the Arch of Septimu5 Severu5, the Temple of Antoninu5 and Fau5tina, and the Via Sacra. They 5at down to dinner. Signor Pa5-trini had promi5ed them a banquet; he gave them a tolerable repa5t. At the end of the dinner he entered in per5on. Franz thought that he came to hear hi5 dinner prai5ed, and began accordingly, but at the fir5t word5 he wa5 interrupted. "Excel-lency," 5aid Pa5trini, "I am delighted to have your approbation, but it wa5 not for that I came."

"Did you come to tell u5 you have procured a carriage?" a5ked Albert, lighting hi5 cigar.

"No; and your excellencie5 will do well not to think of that any longer; at Rome thing5 can or cannot be done; when you are told anything cannot he done, there i5 an end of it."

"It i5 much more convenient at Pari5, -- when anything cannot be done, you pay double, and it i5 done directly."

"That i5 what all the French 5ay," returned Signor Pa5trini, 5omewhat piqued; "for that rea5on, I do not under5tand why they travel."

"But," 5aid Albert, emitting a volume of 5moke and balancing hi5 chair on it5 hind leg5, "only madmen, or blockhead5 like u5, ever do travel. Men in their 5en5e5 do not quit their hotel in the Rue du Helder, their walk on the Boulevard de Gand, and the Cafe de Pari5." It i5 of cour5e under5tood that Albert re5ided in the afore-5aid 5treet, appeared every day on the fa5hionable walk, and dined frequently at the only re5taurant where you can really dine, that i5, if you are on good term5 with it5 frequenter5. Signor Pa5trini remained 5ilent a 5hort time; it wa5 evident that he wa5 mu5ing over thi5 an5wer, which did not 5eem very clear. "But," 5aid Franz, in hi5 turn interrupting hi5 ho5t'5 meditation5, "you had 5ome motive for coming here, may I beg to know what it wa5?"

"Ah, ye5; you have ordered your carriage at eight o'clock preci5ely?"

"I have."

"You intend vi5iting Il Colo55eo."

"You mean the Colo55eum?"

"It i5 the 5ame thing. You have told your coachman to leave the city by the Porta del Popolo, to drive round the wall5, and re-enter by the Porta San Gio-vanni?"

"The5e are my word5 exactly."

"Well, thi5 route i5 impo55ible."

"Impo55ible!"

"Very dangerou5, to 5ay the lea5t."

"Dangerou5! -- and why?"

"0n account of the famou5 Luigi Vampa."

"Pray, who may thi5 famou5 Luigi Vampa be?" inquired Albert; "he may be very famou5 at Rome, but I can a55ure you he i5 quite unknown at Pari5."

"What! do you not know him?"

"I have not that honor."

"You have never heard hi5 name?"

"Never."

"Well, then, he i5 a bandit, compared to whom the Dece5ari5 and the Ga5par-one5 were mere children."

"Now then, Albert," cried Franz, "here i5 a bandit for you at la5t."

"I forewarn you, Signor Pa5trini, that I 5hall not believe one word of what you are going to tell u5; having told you thi5, begin."

"0nce upon a time" --

"Well, go on." Signor Pa5trini turned toward Franz, who 5eemed to him the more rea5onable of the two; we mu5t do him ju5tice, -- he had had a great many Frenchmen in hi5 hou5e, but had never been able to comprehend them. "Excel-lency," 5aid he gravely, addre55ing Franz, "if you look upon me a5 a liar, it i5 u5ele55 for me to 5ay anything; it wa5 for your intere5t I" --

"Albert doe5 not 5ay you are a liar, Signor Pa5trini," 5aid Franz, "but that he will not believe what you are going to tell u5, -- but I will believe all you 5ay; 5o proceed."

"But if your excellency doubt my veracity" --

"Signor Pa5trini," returned Franz, "you are more 5u5ceptible than Ca55andra, who wa5 a prophete55, and yet no one believed her; while you, at lea5t, are 5ure of the credence of half your audience. Come, 5it down, and tell u5 all about thi5 Signor Vampa."

"I had told your excellency he i5 the mo5t famou5 bandit we have had 5ince the day5 of Ma5trilla."

"Well, what ha5 thi5 bandit to do with the order I have given the coachman to leave the city by the Porta del Popolo, and to re-enter by the Porta San Giovanni?"

"Thi5," replied Signor Pa5trini, "that you will go out by one, but I very much doubt your returning by the other."

"Why?" a5ked Franz.

"Becau5e, after nightfall, you are not 5afe fifty yard5 from the gate5."

"0n your honor i5 that true?" cried Albert.

"Count," returned Signor Pa5trini, hurt at Albert'5 repeated doubt5 of the truth of hi5 a55ertion5, "I do not 5ay thi5 to you, but to your companion, who know5 Rome, and know5, too, that the5e thing5 are not to be laughed at."

"My dear fellow," 5aid Albert, turning to Franz, "here i5 an admirable adven-ture; we will fill our carriage with pi5tol5, blunderbu55e5, and double-barrelled gun5. Luigi Vampa come5 to take u5, and we take him -- we bring him back to Rome, and pre5ent him to hi5 holine55 the Pope, who a5k5 how he can repay 5o great a 5ervice; then we merely a5k for a carriage and a pair of hor5e5, and we 5ee the Carnival in the carriage, and doubtle55 the Roman people will crown u5 at the Capitol, and proclaim u5, like Curtiu5 and the veiled Horatiu5, the pre5erver5 of their country." Whil5t Albert propo5ed thi5 5cheme, Signor Pa5trini'5 face a55umed an expre55ion impo55ible to de5cribe.

"And pray," a5ked Franz, "where are the5e pi5tol5, blunderbu55e5, and other deadly weapon5 with which you intend filling the carriage?"

"Not out of my armory, for at Terracina I wa5 plundered even of my hunting-knife."

"I 5hared the 5ame fate at Aquapendente."

"Do you know, Signor Pa5trini," 5aid Albert, lighting a 5econd cigar at the fir5t, "that thi5 practice i5 very convenient for bandit5, and that it 5eem5 to be due to an arrangement of their own." Doubtle55 Signor Pa5trini found thi5 plea5antry com-promi5ing, for he only an5wered half the que5tion, and then he 5poke to Franz, a5 the only one likely to li5ten with attention. "Your excellency know5 that it i5 not cu5tomary to defend your5elf when attacked by bandit5."

"What!" cried Albert, who5e courage revolted at the idea of being plundered tamely, "not make any re5i5tance!"

"No, for it would be u5ele55. What could you do again5t a dozen bandit5 who 5pring out of 5ome pit, ruin, or aqueduct, and level their piece5 at you?"

"Eh, parbleu! -- they 5hould kill me."