Pacifico was distributing the fees to the servants. so as to see when Teresa received hers. She had assisted Florence to get into the carriage, and had handed in her bag to her, and had then stepped back and taken her place upon the step of the door, waiting to see the carriage move away.

Pacifico, after distributing fees to the other servants, came at length to Teresa, and saying something to her in Italian, he handed her a large piece of money. She seemed at first surprised, and then extremely pleased; and looking up to Florence and John in the carriage, she thanked them with bows and smiles, and with an expression of gratitude and joy upon her

countenance.

Poor child! She was engaged to be married to a vetturino, an acquaintance and friend of Pacifico's, and she was saving all the fees and gratuities that were given her by travellers to make up the sum necessary to enable her lover to pay for a carriage and pair of horses that he had bought. As soon as they were paid for, he would be able to earn a living for himself and his wife, and they were then to be married.

Pacifico knew all this, and he felt a great nterest in Teresa's success. This was the reason why, when Florence gave him the direction

to offer her a double fee, that he responded so readily and cordially, "I shall do so willingly, my young lady."

When the servants' fees were all paid, and the beggars had received their charity, Pacifico mounted to his seat, took the reins into his hands, cracked his whip, and the carriage was soon thundering along the streets again, with all the fracas and din that it was possible to make.

After this prosperous beginning of their journey, the children went on for several days in a very successful and happy manner. Pacifico took as much care of them as if he had been their father. He provided everything for them that they could possibly require, and protected them from all causes of discomfort and annoy

ance.

The country through which they travelled was delightful, and though the evenings and mornings were cool at the beginning of the journey, it was warm and pleasant in the middle of the day, and as they were travelling toward the north, the sun was chiefly behind them. There was a double advantage in this. The landscape before them was made far more alluring to the view on this account, as the various objects

which composed it-the trees, the houses, the walls of castles and towers, the precipices of the rocks and the slopes of the mountains, all had the sides which were turned toward the travellers illuminated by the rays of the sun, while their own eyes were sheltered, however dazzling the effulgence of his rays might be.

If they had been travelling in the contrary direction, these things would be reversed. The shaded side of all the objects in the landscape would have been turned towards them, which would have made everything, in a measure, comparatively indistinct and dim, while the sun would have been shining all the time full in their faces.

This is an important consideration to be taken into account in travelling in Italy. Most persons, in making their tour, make the journey in one direction by sea, in the steamer, and in the other by land; and in this case it is generally best for them to go by sea and return by land, rather than to go by land and return by sea, for thus they have the sun right for them while viewing the scenery of the country from the carriage.

Such calculations as these, however, are likely to be all set aside by the advance of the railroad system, which is rapidly making progress in

Italy, and threatens to put an end to the vetturino travelling entirely. A few years hence, the vettura will very probably be as rare a sight on all the great thoroughfares in Italy as a stagecoach is now in England.

It is well, however, for the young readers of this volume to remember this principle about the sun, as it may sometimes be of service to them in planning rides at home. It is true, that in going out in short excursions it is necessary to go in one direction and return in the contrary one, on the same day, and thus it would seem unavoidable to have the sun in your faces at one time or another. But as the sun in his daily motion is continually changing his position in the sky, it is easy to plan a ride or drive in such a manner as to avoid any special inconvenience at any time. Thus, for a morning ride, if the roads were equally pleasant in all directions, it would be better to go westward and southward, and then return to the northward and eastward toward the middle of the day, when the sun would be to the southward; and for an afternoon ride, to go toward the east, and then return toward the west after the sun had gone down.

CHAPTER IX.

IMAGINARY DANGERS.

ALTHOUGH, for the first day or two, John found enough in the novelty of his situation, and in the frequent recurrence of exciting scenes and incidents to occupy his mind, he began, on the third day, to feel a little tired, and to ask how much longer it would be before they would arrive at Florence.

Sometimes, too, when they came to a lonely road among the forests and mountains, or to a long and monotonous avenue of many miles running straight as an arrow over what seemed a boundless plain, he appeared a little uneasy and alarmed, and once or twice he asked Florence whether there were any robbers in that part of Italy. This led Florence to think that it would be well for her to attempt to contrive some plan for amusing and occupying his mind. She afterward resorted to various contrivances for this purpose, in the course of the journey, one of which might be called book-making.