Excellenza, every man of talent is for depotism!

"Well, though full of genius, Ottoboni takes no end of pains to
educate Italy; he writes little books to enlighten the intelligence of
the children and the common people, and he smuggles them very cleverly
into Italy. He takes immense trouble to reform the moral sense of our
luckless country, which, after all, prefers pleasure to freedom,--and
perhaps it is right."

The Count preserved such an impenetrable attitude that the cook could
discover nothing of his political views.

"Ottoboni," he ran on, "is a saint; very kind-hearted; all the
refugees are fond of him; for, Excellenza, a liberal may have his
virtues. Oho! Here comes a journalist," said Giardini, as a man came
in dressed in the absurd way which used to be attributed to a poet in
a garret; his coat was threadbare, his boots split, his hat shiny, and
his overcoat deplorably ancient. "Excellenza, that poor man is full of
talent, and incorruptibly honest. He was born into the wrong times,
for he tells the truth to everybody; no one can endure him. He writes
theatrical articles for two small papers, though he is clever enough
to work for the great dailies. Poor fellow!

"The rest are not worth mentioning, and Your Excellency will find them
out," he concluded, seeing that on the entrance of the musician's wife
the Count had ceased to listen to him.



On seeing Andrea here, Signora Marianna started visibly and a bright