The Count of Monte Cristo

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took from it a paper folded in four, and after having examined it in a
manner almost reverential, he said--"Good! I have it still!"

The carriage entered by the Porto del Popolo, turned to the left, and
stopped at the Hotel d'Espagne. Old Pastrini, our former acquaintance,
received the traveller at the door, hat in hand. The traveller alighted,
ordered a good dinner, and inquired the address of the house of Thomson
& French, which was immediately given to him, as it was one of the most
celebrated in Rome. It was situated in the Via dei Banchi, near St.
Peter's. In Rome, as everywhere else, the arrival of a post-chaise is an
event. Ten young descendants of Marius and the Gracchi, barefooted and
out at elbows, with one hand resting on the hip and the other gracefully
curved above the head, stared at the traveller, the post-chaise, and the
horses; to these were added about fifty little vagabonds from the Papal
States, who earned a pittance by diving into the Tiber at high water
from the bridge of St. Angelo. Now, as these street Arabs of Rome,
more fortunate than those of Paris, understand every language, more