The donkey winked, and the countryman said that if the eye were good the beast would see that the noise was made by the fingers, and would not be frightened, and would therefore not wink.
"You see," said he, "he thinks it is a whip cracking, and so he is afraid." "Do donkeys always wink when they are frightened ?" I inquired.

"It is very interesting." "Yes," said the countryman, "they mostly do." At all events, I was obliged to take the man's own price, which was little enough,--not a third of what I had given.
The roads were good, and the long and the short of the matter, without any more details, is that we reached Rome very early the next morning, having caught the night train from Naples.

Hedwig slept most of the time in the carriage and all the time in the train, while Nino, who never seemed to tire or to need sleep, sat watching her with wide, happy eyes.

But perhaps he slept a little too, for I did, and I cannot answer for his wakefulness through every minute of the night.
Once I asked him what he intended to do in Rome.
"We will go to the hotel Costanzi," he answered, which is a foreigners' resort.

And if she is rested enough we will come down to you, and see what we can do about being married properly in church by the old curato." "The marriage by the sindaco is perfectly legal," I remarked.
"It is a legal contract, but it is not a marriage that pleases me," he said, gravely.
"But, caro mio, without offence, your bride is a Protestant, a Lutheran; not to mince matters, a heretic.