Between the salary of the one and the dowry of the other, they counted on a fixed income of 3,000 _lire_. Antonio received a small addition from the Princess, who had, however, other advisers, and only consulted him in certain affairs which brought her into collision with the Treasury. The means of the young couple would not therefore allow them more than a small Apartment at fifty or sixty _lire_ a month. They began their search in Via Massimo d'Azeglio, where a possibly suitable suite of rooms was to fall vacant in January. Regina, oppressed with doubts, entered a lordly entrance hall, from which led a principal staircase of fine marble. The second stair was perfectly dark at the bottom, but got brighter and brighter as it went up. Regina began to count its steps. "Eleven, twenty-two, thirty-three, forty-four, fifty-five, sixty-three--you don't tell me there are more?" She stopped, her heart beating violently. Antonio smiled indulgently; he took his little queen by the arm and helped her up; the higher they went the steeper the steps became. "Eighty-eight; ninety-nine. Goodness! more?" "Courage!" "A hundred and ten!" By the grace of God they had arrived; but before the door was opened, the trembling and panting wife had said bitterly to herself, "Is this where Regina is to live? Never! never!" The Apartment was suitable and pretty; a real nest in the heart of the city's great forest of stone. Two windows looked out on a garden; the rest on a court none too clean. Regina declared at once that there was no air and no light, and, in fact, that the rooms would not do at all. "No air?" repeated Antonio; "no light? I should have said just the opposite! Look! there's a garden down there! And it's so close to my work and in the very centre of the town!" "No. I want windows on the street." "Well, then, we'll look for windows on the street; but, mind you, we shan't find a more comfortable little place for our rent." "You think not?" she said, unbelievingly.