I have been ill again, in the first place; then as weak as a rag in consequence, and then with business accumulated on impotent hands; proofs to see to, and the like.

You may have heard in the buzz of newspapers of certain presentation _swords_, subscribed for by twenty thousand Romans, at a franc each, and presented in homage and gratitude to Napoleon III.

and Victor Emmanuel.

Castellani[72] of course was the artist, and the whole business had to be huddled up at the end, because of his Holiness denouncing all such givers of gifts as traitors to the See.

So just as the swords had to be packed up and disappear, some one came with a shut carriage to take me for a sight of these most exquisite works of art.