"
Here he gave a start knocking down a porcelain vase at the weird voice
of Pedro from behind, saying:
"You don't examine my poor wares, mi lord.'
"The shattered remains of that vase are typical of the _denouement_ of
the idle dreams I was dreaming," he muttered, as the wily Italian,
full of regrets, picked up the fragments, naming double the value of
the vase, and thinking,
"He would not have spent a _soldi_, the Signora occupies all his
thoughts; so Pedro, you are in good fortune that the English lord was
startled at the sound of thy voice; the intention was good, Pedro, so
is the result."
Vaura now signified to the Italian her wish to purchase bric-a-brac to
the extent of a golden goblet, beautiful in design and of early Roman
handiwork. A group of statutory, representing Venus and Adonis, at
once piquant and charming, with an exquisite painting of the Dying
Gladiator pathetic in the extreme.
"He is a grand athlete," said Sir Dennis.
"Yes, and a land-mark of Home, in the by-gone. Ah! Sir Dennis, there
has been more martyr's blood shed in the immortal city than that of
the early Christians; when one thinks of the use the Coliseum was put
to, when one thinks of the Roman women with their warm beauty, of
their men beautiful as gods, who graced with their presence scenes
where men like that met a death of torture, one weeps for human nature
with its stains, its blots.
Pages:
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404