Part 5 (1/2)

”Why did you want me to take the carriage by the hour?” asked Rollo.

”Because it is very probable,” said Mr. George, ”that we shall not get in at the Hotel d'Amerique, and in that case we shall have to go to other hotels, and unless we take him by the hour, he would charge a course for every hotel that we go to, and the charge even for _two_ courses, is more than for an hour.”

The event showed that Mr. George was right in his calculations. The Hotel d'Amerique was full. The waiter, who came out, as soon as he saw the carriage stop at the door, told Mr. George this in French.

”Then please tell our coachman,” said Mr. George, ”to drive us to any other princ.i.p.al hotel that is near here, and if that is full, to another; and so on, until he finds a good place where they can take us in.”

Mr. George said this, of course, in French. The waiter delivered the message to the coachman in Italian.

”Yes,” said the coachman, to himself, ”that I'll do. But I shall take good care that you don't find any place where you can get in this two hours, if I can help it.”

The reason why the coachman did not wish that his travellers should find a hotel soon was, of course, because he wished to earn as much money as possible by driving them about.

He immediately began to think what hotels would be most likely to be full, and drove first to those. The first of all was a hotel, situated quite near one of the gates of the city, the one where the princ.i.p.al entrance is for all travellers coming from the north. It is called the ”Gate of the People,”--or in Italian, _Porto del Popolo_. The gate opens into a large triangular s.p.a.ce, which is called the _Piazza del Popolo_.

_Piazza_,[3] in Italian, means a public square.

[Footnote 3: p.r.o.nounced _Piatza_.]

This Piazza del Popolo is one of the most celebrated places in Rome.

There are three streets that radiate from it directly through the heart of the town. Between the centre and the two side streets, at the corners where they come out upon the square, are two churches exactly alike.

They are called sometimes the _twin churches_, on this account.

The Piazza del Popolo is a great place for public parades. On one side is a high ascent, with a broad expanse of gardens upon the top, and zigzag roads, handsomely walled up, and ornamented with statues and fountains, and with marble seats placed here and there for foot pa.s.sengers to rest themselves upon, when ascending.

Every year, at the end of what they call Holy Week, they have a great celebration of fireworks from the side of this hill and from the terrace above; and then all the people a.s.semble in the Piazza below to witness them.

But I must go back to Mr. George and Rollo. The coachman stopped at a large hotel, fronting upon this square. On inquiring at the bureau, (on the continent of Europe they call an office a bureau) Mr. George found that all the rooms were occupied except one large apartment, of four rooms. This was, of course, more than Mr. George wanted.

At the next hotel where the coachman stopped, there were no rooms at all vacant, and at the next only one small room, with a single narrow bed in it.

”If we can't find any other,” said Rollo, ”we will come back and take this, and I will sleep on the floor.”

”O, no!” said Mr. George.

”Why, uncle George!” said Rollo, ”I can make it very comfortable on the floor, by rolling up two coats or cloaks into two long rolls, and wedging them in under me, one on one side of me and the other on the other, and then putting a carpet bag under my head for a pillow. It feels just as if you were in a good bed.”

Mr. George smiled, and got into the carriage again, and the coachman drove on.

After a while, he stopped at the door of a hotel which stood in rather a retired place among narrow streets, though there was an open s.p.a.ce in front of it. Mr. George inquired for rooms here, and the waiter said that they had one left.

”Are there two beds in it?” asked Mr. George.

”No, sir,” said the waiter, ”but we can put two beds in. Would you like to go and see it, sir?”

”No,” said Mr. George, ”I will take it without going to see it. It is the best that we can do.”

So the porter of the hotel took off the baggage, while Mr. George paid the coachman for an hour and a half of time. Mr. George and Rollo then followed the porter to their room. In order to reach it, they had to ascend several stories, up ma.s.sive staircases of stone, and then to go out to the extreme end of a long corridor. The room, when they came to it, proved to be quite small, and there was but one bed in it. There was, however, room for another; and the waiter, who had followed them up, said that he would cause another one to be put in without any delay.