The motor flashed past the Palazzo Frankenstein, and Agnese and I came down “to hear all about it.” Coffee for all hands was demanded and furnished forthwith. In the kitchen Lorenzo, Eugenio and Agnese talked for an hour about the King’s visit. All I could get out of J. was the last precious sentence of the interview: “When I thanked him for the honor of the visit, King Victor said, ‘Not at all, my mother told me to come.’ His English is beautiful, just like Queen Margaret’s.” VI AT PALAZZO MARGHERITA “The Signorina with the bright eyes, who lives in the handsome _villino_,” Agnese began, “asks if the Signora can use her carriage today. That fat beast, her coachman, is very avaricious, he will expect a _mancia_ of three francs--still if we employ Napoleone, it will cost more--besides with a private carriage _se fa più figura_.” “As to making a good appearance, that’s of no consequence; the Signorina’s carriage, however, has better springs than Napoleone’s, rubber tires as well. What didst thou say?” “As the Signora was occupied I said yes, with _tante grazie_, and combined that the ‘milor’ should come at two o’clock. The afternoons are short; as the _mancia_ must be paid, it is better to have one’s money’s worth.” Agnese wears thirty-two flawless pearls in her mouth--as she said these things she showed them all to me with the guileless smile of an infant. Could it be by chance that Vera’s carriage was offered for this particular day? Impossible! Besides, Agnese knows I never go out till four. I have to believe in miracles, such miraculous things happen. Can it be that Agnese works the oracle? _Basta!_ best not lift the veil from such comfortable mysteries. We were booked to call on the Marchesa Villamarina at half past two o’clock; we had spoken to no living soul of this, and here was a fat coachman, a fine coach and pair coming to take us in state to the palace of the Regina Madre. If our very walls have ears, if our correspondence is tampered with, the result is fortunate--let us accept the “milor” the gods send us! We drove up sunny Via Veneto, through the Ludovisi quarter, past the smart hotels that have sprung up near the Palazzo Margherita--the Savoy, Regina, Palace, half a dozen more named out of compliment to the Queen Mother. If the sacrifice had to be made, the beautiful Villa Ludovisi cut up into house lots, transformed into the fashionable quarter of Rome, the great winter watering place, it’s a little comfort that the best site now serves for the site of Queen Margherita’s palace. “Do you remember the violets that used to grow here? “I can smell them now!” “It’s hard to forgive that vandalism, even if building lots were necessary.”