Strolling through the streets day by day Buttons and Dick beheld the triumph of the Senator. They gazed on it from afar, and in amazement saw their old companion suddenly lifted up to a position which they could not hope to gain. The companion of nobles--the associate of _beaux esprits_--the friend of the wealthy, the great, and the proud; what in the world was the cause of this sudden, this unparalleled leap forward to the very highest point of honor? Who, in the name of goodness, was that dashing woman with whom he was always driving about? Who were those fair ladies with whom he was forever promenading? Plainly the chief people of the land; but how the mischief did he get among them? They were bewildered even though the half of the truth had not begun to dawn upon their minds. They never saw him to ask him about it, and for some time only looked upon him from a distance. "Do you give it up?" asked Buttons. "I give it up." "And I too." "At any rate the United States might have many a worse representative." "But I wonder how he can get along. How can he manage to hold his own among these refined, over-cultivated, fastidious Florentines?" "Goodness knows!" "A common school New England education can scarcely fit a man for intercourse with polished Italians. The granite hills of New Hampshire have never been famous for producing men of high breeding. That is not their specialty." "Besides, our good friend can not speak a single word of any language but his own." "And frequently fails in that." "He hasn't the remotest glimmering of an idea about Art." "Not of the Fine Arts, but in the useful arts he is immense." "He looks upon Italy as he would upon a field of stumps--a place to be cleared, broken up, brought under cultivation, and made productive." "Yes, productive in cotton factories and Yankee notions." "What in the world can keep up his reputation among the most poetic and least utilitarian people in the world?" "There's the mystery!" "The beauty of it is he goes as much with the English as with the Italians. Can he keep up his vernacular among them and still preserve the charm?" "Well, whatever is the secret. I glory in it. I believe in him. He is a man. A more noble-hearted, sincere, upright, guileless soul never lived. Besides, he knows thoroughly what he has gone over." "He is as generous a soul as ever lived." "Yes, a stiff utilitarian in theory, but in practice an impulsive sentimentalist." "He would legislate according to the most narrow and selfish principles, but would lay down his life for his friend." "Think of him at Perugia!" "Yes; the man himself with his brave soul and invincible courage. Didn't he fight? Methinks he did!" "If it hadn't been for him it is extremely probable that you and I would now have been--well, certainly not just here."