d all that! The cruel chance that both an English
my-lady and a councillor from the provinces live opposite, keeps him
constantly before my window, hoping for _bajocchi_.

"Within, the three pet dogs of my landlady, bereft of their walk, unable
to employ their miserable legs and eyes, exercise themselves by a
continual barking, which is answered by all the dogs in the
neighborhood. An urchin returning from the laundress, delighted with the
symphony, lays down his white bundle in the gutter, seats himself on the
curb-stone, and attempts an imitation of the music of cats as a tribute
to the concert.

"The door-bell rings. _Chi e?_ ('Who is it?') cries the handmaid. Enter
a man poisoning me at once with the smell of the worst possible cigars,
insisting I shall look upon frightful, ill-cut cameos and worse-designed
mosaics, made by some friend of his. Man of ill odors and meanest smile!
I am no countess to be fooled by you."

These passages give us some glimpses of our friend in the surroundings
which at first gave her so much satisfaction, and whose growing
discomforts were lightened for her by her native sense of humor.

In spite of this, however, "the dirt, the gloom, the desolation of Rome"
affected her severely. Her appetite failed, and with it her strength,
while nervous headache and fever conspired to make the whole season
appear, in review, "the most idle and most suffering" one of her life.

The most important public event of the winter in Rome seems to have been
the inauguration of a new Council, with some show of popular election,
said to have been on the whole satisfactory. As this was considered a
decided step in the direction of progress, preparations were made for
its celebration by the representatives of other Italian States, and of
various friendly nations. The Americans resident in Rome were aroused to
an unwonted degree of interest, the gentlemen subscribing funds for the
materials of a flag, and the ladies meeting to make it. To accompany
this banner, a magnificent spread eagle was procured. Everything was in
the height of preparation, when some counter-influence, brought to bear
upon the Pope, led him to issue an edict forbidding this happy concourse
of the flags of all nations, and allowing only that of Rome to be
carried in honor of the occasion. Margaret saw in this the work of the
Oscurantists, "ever on the watch to do mischief" to the popular cause.

Despite the disappointment of the citizens