Albert looked at Franz like a man who hears a reply he does not understand.
“Do you understand that, my dear Franz—no horses?” he said, “but can’t we have post-horses?”
“They have been all hired this fortnight, and there are none left but those absolutely requisite for posting.”
“What are we to say to this?” asked Franz.
“I say, that when a thing completely surpasses my comprehension, I am accustomed not to dwell on that thing, but to pass to another. Is supper ready, Signor Pastrini?”
“Yes, your excellency.”
“Well, then, let us sup.”
“But the carriage and horses?” said Franz.
“Be easy, my dear boy; they will come in due season; it is only a question of how much shall be charged for them.” Morcerf then, with that delighted philosophy which believes that nothing is impossible to a full purse or well-lined pocketbook, supped, went to bed, slept soundly, and dreamed he was racing all over Rome at Carnival time in a coach with six horses.
Chapter 34. The Colosseum
Franz had so managed his route, that during the ride to the Colosseum they passed not a single ancient ruin, so that no preliminary impression interfered to mitigate the colossal proportions of the gigantic building they came to admire. The road selected was a continuation of the Via Sistina; then by cutting off the right angle of the street in which stands Santa Maria Maggiore and proceeding by the Via Urbana and San Pietro in Vincoli, the travellers would find themselves directly opposite the Colosseum.