"You'd expect very little of Europe, then, in most things; though
there's no disputing that it's a very pretty illusion of the Old World."

A few steps had brought them into the market-square in front of the
cathedral, where a little belated traffic still lingered in the few old
peasant-women hovering over baskets of such fruits and vegetables as had
long been out of season in the States, and the housekeepers and
serving-maids cheapening these wares. A sentry moved mechanically up and
down before the high portal of the Jesuit Barracks, over the arch of
which were still the letters I. H. S. carved long ago upon the keystone;
and the ancient edifice itself, with its yellow stucco front and its
grated windows, had every right to be a monastery turned barracks in
France or Italy. A row of quaint stone houses--inns and shops--formed
the upper side of the Square; while the modern buildings of the Rue
Fabrique on the lower side might serve very well for that show of
improvement which deepens the sentiment of the neighboring antiquity and
decay in Latin towns. As for the cathedral, which faced the convent from
across the Square, it was as cold and torpid a bit of Renaissance as
could be found in Rome itself. A red-coated soldier or two passed
through the Square; three or four neat little French policemen lounged
about in blue uniforms and flaring havelocks; some walnut-faced,
blue-eyed old citizens and peasants sat upon the thresholds of the row
of old houses, and gazed dreamily through the smoke of their pipes at
the slight stir and glitter of shopping about the fine stores of the Rue
Fabrique. An air of serene disoccupation pervaded the place, with which
the occasional riot of the drivers of the long row of calashes and
carriages in front of the cathedral did not discord. Whenever a stray
American wandered into the Square, there was a wild flight of these
drivers towards him, and his person was lost to sight amidst their