thanked my stars that he was safely at Padua; for looking at the breadth
of his chest, the length of his arm, and the somewhat forbidding cast of
his features, I could not help perceiving that "poor papa" was precisely
one of those persons with whom a prudent man prefers to keep friends
than to quarrel.

And so, by the time that we reached Mestre, we had become quite friendly
and intimate, and had half forgotten, I think, the absurd relation in
which we stood toward each other. We had rather an awkward moment
when we left the boat and entered our travelling-carriage; for I need
scarcely say that both the boatmen and the grinning vetturino took me
for the bridegroom whose place I temporarily occupied, and they were
pleased to be facetious in a manner which was very embarrassing to me,
but which I could not very well check. Moreover, I felt compelled so
far to sustain my assumed character as to be specially generous in the
manner of a _buona mano_ to those four jolly watermen, and for the first
few miles of our drive I could not help remembering this circumstance
with some regret, and wondering whether it would occur to Von Rosenau to
reimburse me.

Probably our coachman thought that, having a runaway couple to drive,
he ought to make some pretence, at least, of fearing pursuit; for he set
off at such a furious pace that our four half-starved horses were
soon beat, and we had to perform the remainder of the long, hot, dusty
journey at a foot's pace. I have forgotten how we made the time pass. I
think we slept a good deal. I know we were both very tired and a
trifle cross when in the evening we reached Longarone, a small,
poverty-stricken village, on the verge of that dolomite region which, in
these latter days, has become so frequented by summer tourists.