, black,
voluble Tuscan. "Have you beef?--Have you cheese?--Have you
macaroni?"--inquired several voices in succession. "Oh, she had all
these, and a great many dainties besides, in the morning; but the
flood,--the flood!" The same flood, however, which had swept off our
hostess's larder, had swept in a great deal of good company, and she was
evidently resolved on setting the one evil over against the other. She
now showered upon us a long, rapid, and vehement address; and he who has
not heard the Tuscan discourse does not know what volubility is. "What
does she say?" I inquired at one of my two Russian friends. "She says
very many words," he replied, "but the meaning is moneys, moneys." "Have
you any coffee?" I asked. "Oh, coffee! delightful coffee; but it had
gone sailing down the flood." "And it carried off the eggs too, I
suppose?" "No; I have eggs." We resolved to sup on eggs. A fire of logs
was kindled up stairs, and a table was extemporized out of some deals.
In a quarter of an hour in came our supper,--black bread, fried eggs,
and a skein of wine. We fell to; but, alack! what from the smut of the
chimney and the dust of the pan, the eggs were done in the _chiaro
scuro_ style; the wine had so villanous a twang, that a few sips of it
contented me; and the bread, black as it was, was the only thing
palatable. I got the landlady persuaded to boil me an egg; and though
the Italian peasants only dip their eggs in hot water, and serve them up
raw, it was preferable to the conglomerate of the pan. We made merry,
however, over our poor meal and the grateful warmth of the fire; and
somewhere towards midnight we entertained the question of going to bed.
We had avoided the topic as long as possible, from a foreboding that our
hostess would present us with some rueful tale of blankets lost in the
flood. Besides, we were not without misgivings that, should the clouds
return and the river rise as before, house and all might follow the
other things down the stream, and no one could tell where we might find
ourselves on awakening. On broaching the subject, however, we found to
our delight, that cribs, couches, shakedowns, and all sorts of
contrivances, with store of cloaks, garments, and blankets, had been got
ready for our use.

We were told off into parties; and the first to be sorted were the two
Russians, an Italian, and myself. We four were shown into a room, which,
to our great surprise, contained two excellent four-posted