The Argosy — page 293: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

276 A Freak of Fortune. outspread, undulating Campagna; Rome in the distance, and the far-off blue mountains, each one with a name which in itself is poetry. Itisa marvellous view. I never saw anyone more affected by it than this © English lord, who now wished that he had come hither, instead of settling himself at Albano, which had been his ideal of an earthly paradise, until shorn of its glory by comparison with this peculiarly grand, historic landscape. On this I remarked that it had often astonished me—who always re- garded this scenery with the same admiration as his lordship—that his Holiness, when at Castel Gondolfo, within only an easy ride of Monte del Caccia, had never visited it; and thus blessed by his presence his dirty but most devoted subjects. More especially as, just above, was Sopra Monte, whence was a still grander panoramic view, and where stood the Convent of the pious Passionist Brothers. In reply, Monsignor Oliver expressed the same surprise, adding : ‘This shall be mentioned to Holy Father, rely upon me. I have no doubt but that the suggestion of so faithful a daughter of the Church will not pass without regard.” The gentlemen, after their coffee, wiled away an hour in conversation, chiefly on the historic sites of the vast landscape, and then rode back through the pleasant chestnut woods, just in time to reach Albano before sunset. ; ‘Warm summer weeks glided by, and the conversation of this after noon almost passed from my mind. Il. Ir was September; the hot sun had scorched many of the flowers in the garden; the broad Campagna, stretching below for miles, had become a brown, arid plain; my Fritz studied his Latin grammar in a cool nook of the woods, whilst I led a torpid life indoors. My husband, then absent, having gone to Carrara to select a block of marble for the Honourable Veronica’s tomb, had taken the opportunity of a little run to the Bagno de Lucca ; the errand for the marble being his excuse with Lord Bevis, who otherwise would have begrudged a week of his time out of Rome. It was an unusually hot summer, and the cool breezes from the sea came now but as angel-visits, few and far between. Mid-day was a time of slumberous repose, and thus seven o’clock in the morning saw me on my way to early matins. It was on the 13th of September. I can never forget the day. As I was ascending the long, steep street honoured by the name of the Corso, I saw, to my surprise, Betta, the wife of dirty Checco, thé man who is employed to clean the streets on festas, sweeping before her house, as if for dear life. Eomicbooks.¢o