cloves in the plain; and half a dozen others.

I ordered writing-table and chair to be set before the window, and
enthroned upon the bishop's tabouret an unabridged Worcester--this
being probably his first visit to Asisi--and I was immediately at home.

The servant, Maria, whose maternal grandmother was a countess, was
making some last arrangements in the room.

"Come and see what a beautiful new moon there is," I said to her.

She came to the window and looked toward the west. "That isn't the
moon: it is a star," she said, fixing her eyes upon Venus.

It was quite characteristic of her class. They all think _forestieri_
do not know the moon from a star.

I pointed lower down, to where an ecstatic crescent was melting in the
sunset gold.

She gazed at it a moment, then said: "It is beautiful: I never noticed
it before. I never look at the sky except to see what the weather is to
be. It is for you signori to look at beautiful things, not for us
_poveretti_.--Do you see the sky in America?" she asked presently.

I assured her that we do, and that the sun, moon and stars shine in it
just as here in Italy.

She was greatly puzzled. "I thought that America was under ground," she
said.