spare bedroom was also established
for the accommodation of the officiating priests, and it was on the
temporary reversion of this apartment that I had counted in making
those arrangements that Lugano held to be hopelessly heretical.

When, on my first visit to the top of San Salvatore, I reached
the pilgrimage chapel, I found an old gentleman standing at the
door of the hostelry by which the pilgrim must needs pass on
his way to the chapel--a probably undesigned but profitable
arrangement, since it brings directly under his notice the
possibility of purchasing "vins du pays, pain, fromage,
saucissons, and jambon d'Yorck."

When I broached the subject of the night's entertainment the
landlord was a little taken aback, and evidently inclined
to dwell upon those inconveniences of which Lugano had made
so much. But the more he thought of it, the more he liked the
idea. As I subsequently learned, the hope of his youth, the
sustenance of his manhood, and the dream of his old age was
to see his little hut develop into a grand hotel, with a porter
in the hall, an army of waiters bustling about, and himself in
the receipt of custom. It was a very small beginning that two
English people should propose to lodge with him for a night.
Still, it was something, and everything must have a beginning.
Monte Generoso, among the clouds on the other side of the lake,
began in that way; and look at it now with its _chambres_ at
eight francs a day, its _table d'hote_ at five francs, and its
_bougies_ dispensed at their weight in silver!

"Si, signor"; he thought it might be done. He was sure--nay,
he was positive.

As the picture of the hotel of the future glowed in his mind he
became enthusiastic, and proposed that we should view the
apartments. The bedroom we found sufficiently roomy, with both
fireplace and one of the two windows bricked up to avoid
draughts. The mattress of the bed, it is true, was stuffed with
chopped straw, and was not free from suspicion of harbouring
rats. But there was a gorgeous counterpane, whose many colours
would have excited the envy of Joseph's brethren had their
pilgrimage chanced to lead them in this direction. The floor
was of cement, and great patches of damp displayed themselves
on the walls. Over the bed hung a peaceful picture of a chubby
boy clasping a crook to his breast, and exchanging glances of
maudlin sentimentality with a sheep that skipped at his side.
The damp had eaten up one of the l