"The most beautiful forest in the world. And this is just the time
when it is in its greatest beauty,--the early spring, when the wild
flowers are all beginning to blossom, and the birds are all singing.
There is nothing like our Pineta!"

"I should so like to see it. It does seem really a shame to leave
Ravenna without ever having seen the Pineta."

"Oh, you must not dream of doing so. You must make a little
excursion one of these fine spring days. It is just the time for it.
Some morning, the earlier the better. But I dare say your habits are
not very matutinal, Signora?"

"Well, not very, for the most part. But I would willingly make them
matutinal for such a purpose at any time. How far is it?"

"Oh, a mere nothing--at the city gates almost a couple of miles,
perhaps. You may go out by the Porta Nuova, at the end of the Corso,
and so to that part of the forest which lies to the southward of the
city; or by the northern road, which very soon enters the wood on
that side. Perhaps the finest part of the Pineta is that to the
southwards. Of all places in the world it is the spot for a
colazione al fresco."

"I should so like it. I have heard of the Pineta di Ravenna all my
life."

"What do you say to going this very morning?" said Ludovico, after
thinking for a minute. "There is no time like the present. It will
be a charming finish to our Carnival--new and original, too! Do you