However all this may be, a frugal supper in the forest on the soft green turf, hitherto untrodden by any foot of man; the guests seated on the trunks of old trees that furnish also a glowing and dancing fire; by the side moreover, of such companions as Julia, Clelia, and Irene--a supper in such circumstances must be a more delightful height of enjoyment than civilization could reach. _Per Dio!_ give us such a forest supper, though it consist only of fruit and the luck of the chase, against any grand in-door entertainment. Many a time have we shared such a repast. But our forest party had more than meagre fare. Gasparo, who was also in charge of the baggage, was commissioned, in company with Jack, to purchase and look after the provisions. He now spread a cold collation before the chiefs, with the sailor-boy's assistance--garnishing it with some green branches--which would have tempted even the palate of a Lucullus. A few flasks of Montepulciano and Orvieto embellished the enamelled table, and, the savory meats, seasoned with the appetite which follows an arduous day's work, disappeared with amazing celerity. Julia was in high spirits. It was the first time she had shared in such a _fete-champetre_, in the society, above all, of those who were her _bello ideale_ of all that was romantic, chivalrous, and gallant. Very near to her was her Muzio, disguised in the garb of a Roman model, and who was now known and proclaimed to be the descendant of an ancient noble family, and one of the richest heirs in Rome, it might yet appear. That resistless principle, which, like the loadstone and the needle, attracts loving souls one to the other, kept him at the side of the woman of his heart, watching her slighest wish, providing her with every thing with proud servility; and all the while humbly glancing at her with that look which art vainly seeks to represent--the look which alone can be given and understood between those who love with a true and perfect love. Julia also, with a little graceful dignity, enjoyed hearing Clelia and Irene converse with Jack in broken Italo-English. They drew him out to relate some of the episodes of his sea-life, the adventures he had met with, and the tempests he had witnessed in his long voyages to India and China, for he had been at sea since he was seven years old. The description he gave of the Chinese who stay at home and employ themselves in different kinds of work performed by women in other countries, while their wives row, and till the land, with their babies slung in a basket on their backs, caused much laughter among his fair hearers, and, indeed, to all present, when translated to them by one of the company.