226 MARK TWAIN'S SKETCHES. ' 



" My noble boy, she is yours ! She'll be here in a moment ! Take her — marry 



her — love her — be happy ! — God bless you both ! Hip, hip, hur— — " j- 



"COME IN!!!!!" 



" Oh, George, my own darling, we are saved !" 



*' Oh, Mary, my own darling,, we are saved — but I'll swear I don't know why nor 



how I" 



CHAPTER V. 



[Scene — A Roman Caf^.'\ 



One of a group of Amercan gentlemen reads and translates from the weekly 

 edition of 7/ Slangwhanger di Homa as follows : 



" WON!)KHKUL DISCOVERY ! — Some six months ago Signer John Smitthe, an American gentleman 

 now some years a resident of Rome, purchased for a trifle a small piece of ground in the Campagna, 

 just beyond the tomb of the Scipio family, from the owner, a bankrupt relative of the Princess 

 Borghese. Mr. Smitthe afterwards went to the Minister of the Public Records and had the piece 

 of ground transferred to a poor American artist named George Arnold, explaining that he did it as 

 payment and satisfaction for pecuniary damage accidentally done by him long since upon property 

 belonging to Signor Arnold, and further observed that he would make additional satisfaction by 

 improving the ground for Signor A., at his own charge and cost. Four weeks ago, while making 

 some necessary excavations upon the property, Signor Smitthe unearthed the most remarkable 

 ancient statue that has ever been added to the opulent art treasures! of Rome. It was an exquisite 

 figure of a woman, and though sadly stained by the soil and the mould of ages, no eye can look 

 unmoved upon its ravishing beauty. The nose, the left leg from the knee down, an ear, and also 

 the toes of the right foot and two fingers of one of the hands, were gone, but otherwise the noble 

 figure was in a remarkable state of preservation. The government at once took military possession 

 of the statue, and appointed a commission of art critics, antiquaries and cardinal princes of the 

 church to assess its value and determine the remuneration that must go to the owner of the ground 

 in which it was found. The whole affair was kept a profound secret until last night. In the mean- 

 time the commission sat with closed doors, and deliberated. Last night they decided unanimously 

 that the statue is a Venus, and the work of some unknown but sublimely gifted artist of the third 

 century before Christ. They consider it the most faultless work of art the world has any knowledge 

 of. 



" At midnight they held a final conference and decided that the Venus was worth the enormous 

 sum of Un niillion francs! In accordance with Roman law and Roman usage, the government 

 being half owner in all works of art found in the Campagna, the State has naught to do but pay 

 five million francs to Mr. Arnold and take permanent possession of the beautiful statue. This 

 morning the Venus will be removed to the Capitol, there to remain, and at noon the commission 

 will wait upon Signor Arnold with His Holiness the Pope's order upon the Treasury for the princely 

 sum of five million francs in gold." 



Chorus of Voices. — " Luck ! It's no name for it!" 



Another Voice. — " Gentlemen, I propose that we immediately form an American 

 joint-stock company for the purchase of lands and excavations of statues, here, 

 with proper connections in Wall Street to bull and bear, the stock." 



^//.—"Agreed." 



