This morning, for instance, I have appointments with contractors, experts, and lawyers, and I have no notion how long they will keep me.

It's a wonderful country, isn't it?
And we are quite right to be proud of it in Rome.

Although I may have some worries just now, I can never set foot here without my heart beating with delight." A circumstance which he did not mention, was that his _amica_, Lisbeth Kauffmann, had spent the summer in one of the newly erected villas, where she had installed her studio and had been visited by all the foreign colony, which tolerated her irregular position on account of her gay spirits and artistic talent.

Indeed, people had even ended by accepting the outcome of her connection with Prada, and a fortnight previously she had returned to Rome, and there given birth to a son--an event which had again revived all the scandalous tittle-tattle respecting Benedetta's divorce suit.

And Prada's attachment to Frascati doubtless sprang from the recollection of the happy hours he had spent there, and the joyful pride with which the birth of the boy inspired him.
Pierre, for his part, felt ill at ease in the young Count's presence, for he had an instinctive hatred of money-mongers and men of prey.
Nevertheless, he desired to respond to his amiability, and so inquired after his father, old Orlando, the hero of the Liberation.
"Oh!" replied Prada, "excepting for his legs he's in wonderfully good health.