nd it difficult to get a good dinner, unless
they would come and dine with him, at his private table, and be his
guests; which invitation Roejean accepted, to the tavern-keeper's great
joy, promising to be back at the appointed time.

Our trio then sauntered forth to see the fair. Wandering among the
crowded booths, they came suddenly on a collection of _Zingare_, looking
like their Spanish cousins, the _Gitanas_. Wild black eyes, coarse black
locks of hair, brown as Indians, small hands, small feet--the Gipsies,
children of the storm--my Rommani pals, what are you doing here? Only
one woman among them was noticeable. Her face was startlingly handsome,
with an aquiline nose, thin nostrils, beautifully-arched eyebrows, and
eyes like an eagle. She was tall, straight, with exquisitely-rounded
figure, and the full drapery of white around her bosom fell from the
shoulders in large hanging sleeves; over her head was thrown a crimson
and green shawl, folded like the _pane_ of the _ciociare_, and setting
off her raven-black hair and rich red and swarthy complexion.

Roejean stood entranced, and Caper, noticing his rapt air, forbore
breaking silence; while the gipsy, who knew that she was the admiration
of the _forestieri_, stood immovable as a statue, looking steadily at
them, without changing a feature.

'_Piu bellisima che la madonna!_' said Roejean, loud enough for her to
hear. Then turning to Caper, 'Let's _andiammo_,' (travel,) said he,
'that woman's face will haunt me for a month. I've seen it before; yes,
seen her shut up in the Vatican, immortal on an old Etruscan vase.
Egypt, Etruria, the Saracen hordes who once overrun all this Southern
Italy, I find, every hour, among live people, some trace of you all; but
of the old Roman, nothing!'

'You find the old Roman cropping out in these church processions,
festivals, shrines, and superstitions, don't you?' asked Caper.

'No! something of those who made the seal, nothing of the impression on
the wax remains for me. Before Rome was, the great East was, and shall
be. The Germans are right to call the East the Morning-Land; thence came
light.... The longer you live along the wave-washed shore of the
Mediterranean, the more you will see what a deep hold the East once had
on the people of the coast. The Romans, after all, were only opulent
tradesmen, who could buy luxuries without having the education to
appreciate them. So utterly did they ignore the Etruscans, who made the