t a carriage
perfectly well. I tried him the other day."

Mrs. Beekman finally gave a tardy and reluctant consent to the
children's proposal. She did not manage the case very wisely. She
should have considered in the first instance what her decision ought to
be, and then she should have adhered to it. If she was going to consent
at all, she should have consented cordially, and at once. For parents
first to refuse their children's request, and then allow themselves to
be induced to change their determination by the entreaties and
persuasions of the children themselves, is bad management.

Allie went into her mother's bed room to get ready, and in a few minutes
returned, her countenance beaming with animation and pleasure.

They all went down to the door of the hotel. There were several
carriages standing in the square. The coachmen, as soon as they saw the
party at the door, all began to hold up their whips, and to call to
Rollo. Some of them began to move their horses towards him.

Rollo glanced his eyes rapidly at the several coaches, and selecting the
one which he thought looked the best, he beckoned to the coachman of it.
The coachman immediately drew up to the door. He then jumped down from
the box, and opened the carriage door.

Before getting in, however, Rollo wished to make his bargain; so he said
to the coachman,--

"To the Capitol. Two pauls."

He spoke these words in the Italian language. He had learned the Italian
for "two pauls" long before, and he had looked out the Italian name for
the Capitol in his Guide Book that morning, so as to be all ready. The
Italian name which he found was _Campidoglio_.

The coachman hesitated a moment, and then said, holding up three fingers
at the same time,--

"Three pauls."

Of course he spoke in Italian.

Rollo, instead of answering him, immediately began to turn away and look
out towards the other carriages.

"_Si, signore, si,_" said the coachman. "Two pauls let it be."

So he held open the carriage door wider than ever, and Rollo assisted
Allie to get in. He and Charles followed, and then the coachman drove
away.

"You agreed to give him too much," said Charles, as soon as they were
seated. "A paul and a half is the regular fare."

"I know it," said Rollo; "but I always offer a little more than the
regular fare, especially when I have a lady with me, for then they have
not a word to say."

"But this man had a word to say," replied Charles. "He wante