A FEARFUL DREAM 



all begged with tears to come back to England with 

 us, 



" Take but a postcard/' cried Camillo, " and write upon 

 it ' Camillo, come/ and instantly I start/' 

 "Will ever anyone drive the Excellencies as I drive 

 them 1" Aristide demanded. " I would learn the ways of 

 Londra in a daytwo days, To learn the ways of Londra, 

 that would be nothing/ but to drive another family, 

 that I feel I cannot ever again ! " 

 It was Fioravanti whom we loved the 

 most, and whom we did really try to 

 get over to us later. But it was a 

 case of binding engagements on one 

 side and the other. He had given his 

 word, as a man of honour, to re- 

 main a year with his new family, 

 and we were pledged to some new 

 cook at the moment when he was 

 free. So it all came to nothing 

 which was perhaps just as well, 

 He was a choleric little man. 

 Loki's Mamma dreamt he stabbed 

 the kitchen-maid and buried her in 

 the garden, which was not at all an 

 unlikely thing to happen, for, like Vatel, 

 his dishes were his glory, his honour was 

 bound up in them, and the race of 

 Cinderellas in this land wouldiinflame 

 the blood of such an enthusiast. 



This is not to say that all Italian servants are like those 



125 



