tant and ill-humored manner, which would have half destroyed the pleasure which the boy would otherwise have felt from his better view.

But Florence wished very much that John should enjoy his journey, and was willing that he should enjoy it in his own way. Besides, she knew very well that he would soon get tired of standing, and then he would sit down again.

So John rose from his seat and stood up in the carriage, supporting himself in that position by taking hold of the side. He, however, needed very little support, for the road was so hard and smooth that the carriage rolled over it as evenly almost as a railway car moves along the iron rails.

The peasants, as they came along the road, looked sickly and pale, and their clothing was all in rags and tatters. John wondered what made the people look so poor. There was a woman leading a donkey, burdened with vegetables for the market at Rome, and a man driving a queer old cart loaded with casks containing wine. Two pale and sickly looking children, a girl and a boy, stopped upon the sidewalk to see the carriage go by.

After standing up some time John sat down. again, and after going on for about an hour he took it into his head to go and sit upon the front seat with Pacifico.

"Florence," said he, "could I go now and sit with Pacifico awhile ?"

"Yes," said Florence. "You can go just as well as not. I have got a book that I can read, and if you see anything remarkable you can ask Pacifico about it and tell me."

So Florence asked Pacifico to stop the carriage a moment, having waited for a favorable time for doing this just as the horses had reached the top of a hill, when they would of course like the opportunity to stop and breathe a little before setting off upon a trot again. John then got on before. He liked this seat very much, and when the horses set off again, and began to trot along rapidly over the smooth road, he thought he was having one of the very best rides he had ever had in his life. In a word, he felt perfectly contented and happy.

It so happened that just after he had established himself in this new seat he saw another carriage coming in the opposite direction. As the carriage passed by he saw that, singularly enough, the condition of things in it was very much the same as in his own. The carriage was an open one, it was drawn too by four black and long tailed horses; and there were two persons—a gentleman and a lady—in it, besides the vetturino who was driving. The two passengers

moreover were seated just as he and Florence were, that is, the lady was alone upon the back seat of the carriage, and the gentleman was by the side of the vetturino, on the forward seat. He was holding a cigar in his hand, which he had just taken from his pocket, and seemed uncertain whether he should begin to smoke it or not.

These persons were a certain Mr. and Mrs. King, a newly married pair, who were taking their bridal tour together. This being the case it might be supposed that they were enjoying their ride still more than Florence and John were enjoying theirs.

But the fact is, they were not enjoying it at all. The resemblance between the two parties ceased altogether with the similarity in arrangements and outward situation. In all that was within there was a strong contrast, for while Florence and John were perfectly contented and happy, Mr. and Mrs. King were both of them uncomfortable, discontented and out of humor. How this happened will appear in the next chapter.