Wearily, patiently, “No, Signorino,” she replied.

“Neither have I,” said he, “and I don’t desire to.”

Marietta shrugged her shoulders; then returned gallantly to her charge.

“If you would care to visit the castle, Signorino, you could see the crypt which contains the tombs of the family of Farfalla, the former owners.  They are of black marble and alabaster, with gilding—­very rich.  You could also see the wine-cellars.  Many years ago a tun there burst, and a serving man was drowned in the wine.  You could also see the bed in which Nabulione, the Emperor of Europe, slept, when he was in this country.  Also the ancient kitchen.  Many years ago, in a storm, the skeleton of a man fell down the chimney, out upon the hearth.  Also what is called the Court of Foxes.  Many years ago there was a plague of foxes; and the foxes came down from the forest like a great army, thousands of them.  And the lords of the castle, and the peasants, and the village people, all, all, had to run away like rabbits—­or the foxes would have eaten them.  It was in what they call the Court of Foxes that the King of the foxes held his court.  There is also the park.  In the park there are statues, ruins, and white peacocks.”

“What have I in common with ruins and white peacocks?” Peter demanded tragically, when Marietta had brought her much-gesticulated exposition to a close.  “Let me impress upon you once for all that I am not a tripper.  As for your castle —­you invite me to a banquet-hall deserted.  As for your park, I see quite as much of it as I wish to see, from the seclusion of my own pleached garden.  I learned long ago the folly of investigating things too closely, the wisdom of leaving things in the vague.  At present the park of Ventirose provides me with the raw material for day-dreams.  It is a sort of looking-glass country,—­I can see just so far into it, and no farther—­that lies beyond is mystery, is potentiality—­terra incognita, which I can populate with monsters or pleasant phantoms, at my whim.  Why should you attempt to deprive me of so innocent a recreation?”

“After the return of the family,” said Marietta, “the public will no longer be admitted.  Meantime—­”

“Upon presentation of my card, the porter will conduct me from disenchantment to disenchantment.  No, thank you.  Now, if it were the other way round, it would be different.  If it were the castle and the park that had gone to Rome, and if the family could be visited on presentation of my card, I might be tempted.”

“But that would be impossible, Signorino,” said Marietta.

XV Beatrice walking with a priest—­ay, I am not sure it would n’t be more accurate to say conspiring with a priest:  but you shall judge.

They were in a room of the Palazzo Udeschini, at Rome—­a reception room, on the piano nobile.  Therefore you see it:  for are not all reception-rooms in Roman palaces alike?