Page:Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Volume 2.djvu/185

Rh sniffing at the famous statue, and wishing the man would die and done with it, and not lie squirming there.

"Come away, Mat: she has no soul for art, and it is all in vain to try and breathe one into her," said Amanda, with the calm pity of one who had read up every great picture, studied up every famous statue, and knew what to admire, when to thrill, and just where the various emotions should come in.

So they left the outcast perched on a wall, waving her muff at them, and calling out, "Nater for ever!" to the great horror of an English lady, who would have seen all Rome upset without any unseemly excitement.

That night the gas gave out, and mysterious orders were left at houses for lamps to be kept burning till morning. Thieves abounded, and the ladies prepared their arms, one pistol, one dagger, and a large umbrella, then slept peacefully, undisturbed by the commotion in the kitchen, where cats, live chickens, and Pina's five grandmothers, all lived together, rent free.

Amanda's last prediction was, that they would find themselves gently floating out at the Porta Pia