Sprague's permission, I will take you to the Colosseum
and then we will hear about the empire."

CHAPTER XIV

A MORNING IN THE COLOSSEUM

Edith was sitting at the hotel window with her note-book open before
her. "Professor Gates tells us so much," she said, "that it is all
mixed up in my mind.

"But it is my dearest wish to get it straightened out," she added
quickly, as she saw the troubled look on her mother's face. "What is
your dearest wish?" she asked Rafael, who was reading a letter from
his mother.

"I have none," he answered, "since the Signora has been so good as to
bring me to this wonderful city."

"Oh, Rafael!" Edith said merrily, "you must have found an Italian
blarney stone somewhere." Then she went on more seriously, "Every one
always has a dearest wish. As fast as one is fulfilled, another takes
its place."

He smiled. "Very well, since it must be so, I have a dearest wish," he
said, "and it is to serve the king."

Edith looked at him with laughing eyes. "That is a very fine wish,"
she said; "but I think mine is more likely to be granted first,
because Professor Gates is to take us to the Colosseum this very
morning, and I shall ask him every question about this history that I
can think of."

Several days had passed since their excursion to the Appian Way, but
the children had found every one full to overflowing. The mornings had
been spent in the art galleries and churches, and the afternoons in
driving through the Campagna or the beautiful grounds of the Villa
Borghese.

One whole day had been devoted to visiting St. Peter's Cathedral,
which is the largest church in the whole world, and to seeing the
treasures of the Vatican,--the home of the Pope.

Mrs. Sprague was glad to sit quietly on her camp-stool and let the
children wander about the enormous buildings under the direction of
the guide. Of all the treasures, Rafael liked best the pictures in the
Vatican by the great painter Rafael, for whom he was named; but Edith
was more interested in the mosaics and statues in the cathedral, and
in the huts of the workmen who live on the roof, and spend all their
time in repairing the vast church.

During the noon hours they had stayed in the hotel, where their rooms
had gradually taken on a most homelike appearance. Beautiful,
bright-colored Roman scarfs found their way from the shops to the
children's tables, and photographs of the places that they had visited
turned the walls into