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people in them who were Roman Catholics got out and 

 knelt down to wait for the Pope s blessing as he went by. 

 As for us, we were contented to wait sitting in the carriage. 



On came the Pope, looking like a fat, mild, kind-hearted 

 old gentleman, smiling and blessing the people as he went 

 on, and the cardinals scuffing along in the dust behind 

 him. He walked very near to our carriage, and Miss 

 Florence, notwithstanding all our attempts to keep her 

 decent, would give a smart little bow-wow right in his face 

 just as he was passing. He smiled benignly, and put out 

 his hand in sign of blessing toward our carriage, and 

 Florence doubtless got what she had been asking for. 



From Rome we travelled to Naples, and Miss Flo went 

 with us through our various adventures there, up Mount 

 Vesuvius, where she half choked herself with sulphurous 

 smoke. There is a place near Naples called the Solfatara, 

 which is thought to be the crater of the extinct volcano, 

 where there is a cave that hisses, and roars, and puffs out 

 scalding steam like a perpetual locomotive, and all the 

 ground around shakes and quivers as if it were only a 

 crust over some terrible abyss. The pools of water are all 

 white with sulphur ; the ground is made of sulphur and 

 arsenic and all such, sort of uncanny matters ; and we 

 were in a fine fright lest Miss Florence, being in one of 

 her wildest and most indiscreet moods, should tumble into 

 some burning hole, or strangle herself with sulphur ; and 



