BY ORDER OF THE CZAR. 249
Yes," was Jenny's reply, " what is the time ? "
" Ten," said Walter.
So Beppo and his comrade ate their polenta and drank a measure of wine, and smoked their cigarettes by the quay, while the merry English party had their supper near the hotel balcony, where you could see Carlo, the head waiter, flitting to and fro in his dress coat, enjoying the chatter of the guests. Beppo and his comrade agreed that the ladies were very pretty girls. Jenny would have been much complimented if she had heard Beppo speaking of her as a girl.
" They are so free and pleasant," Beppo said, as he lay back in the boat looking up at the hotel windows. " Most English ladies are, they are like our Queen ; she is for a queen wonderfully free and pleasant-spoken. Just the queen fora free people, eh, Bettina? "
Beppo called his comrade by his nickname Bettina, which had been given to him, because he was supposed to be womanish in his manners and had never been able to grow a beard, but who in his build and in his strong arms was quite unlike a woman : and he was still more unlike in the fact that he rarely talked, only as a rule said-" Yes " and " No " when he was not simply content to smile or frown his yeses and noes
" Yes," said Bettina.
" She will be here to-morrow, Bettina, and the King will unveil that noble statue of his royal father, Victor Emanuel, under whose banners we fought in the war, Bettina."
" Yes," said Bettina.
" And conquered, eh, Bettina ? "
" Yes," said Bettina.
" And at the base of it there is Italy in chains and Italy free ; and we helped to break her chains, eh, Bettina ? "
" Yes," said Bettina.
"And these English people are our best friends,
