rough Italy, last winter." "Indeed--"

"I'll just send out to a hotel near by," interrupted kind Mrs. B., "and
see if you can be accommodated a day or two." How very bright the room
became! The world was not hollow, after all, nor our dolls stuffed with
sawdust. Even the cabman's rattle at the knocker, and demand of an extra
sixpence for waiting, could not disturb our serenity. The messenger
returned. Yes; we could be taken in (?) at the H. house; and accepting
Mrs. B.'s invitation to return and spend the evening, we mounted to our
places in the little cab, as though it had been a triumphal car, and
were whizzed around the corner at an alarming pace by the impatient
cabman.

I should be sorry to prejudice any one against the H. house--which I
might perhaps say is not the H. house at all; I hardly like to compare
it to a whited sepulchre, though that simile did occur to my mind. Very
fair in its exterior it was, with much plate glass, and ground glass,
and gilding of letters, and shining of brass. It had been two
dwelling-houses; it was now one select family hotel. But the two
dwelling-houses had never been completely merged into one; never
married, but joined, like the Siamese twins. There was a confusing
double stairway; having ascended the right one, you were morally certain
to descend the wrong. There was a confusing double hall, with doors in
every direction opening everywhere but upon the way you desired to go.
We mounted to the top of the house, followed by two porters with our
luggage, one chambermaid with the key, another to ask if we would dine,
and two more bearing large tin cans of hot water. We grew confused, and
gasped, "We--we believe we don't care for any more at present, thank
you," and so dismissed them all. The furniture was so out of proportion
to the room that I think it must have been introduced in an infant
state, and grown to its present proportions there. The one window was so
high that we were obliged to jump up to look out over the mirror upon
the bureau--a gymnastic feat we did not care to repeat. The bed curtains
were gray; indeed there was a gray chill through the whole place. We sat
down to hold a council of war. We resolved ourselves into a committee of
ways and means, our feet upon the cans of hot water. "Pleasant," I said,
as a leading remark, my heart beginning to warm under the influence of
the hot water. "Pleasant?" repeated Mrs. K.; "it's enough to make one
homesick. We can't stay h