By leaving the second steamer at Messina and taking an eighteen-hour trip across Italy I saved ten hours.

But when I got here I found the French Consul had taken a holiday, AND WAS OUT BUYING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! So, I could not get permission to enter France.
With some Red Cross Americans, I raged around the French Consulate, but it was no use.

So I am here, and cannot leave UNTIL MIDNIGHT CHRISTMAS.

When I found I could not get away, I told Cook's to give me their rapid-fire guide, and I set out to SEE ROME.

The Manager of Cook's was the same man who, 19 years ago, sold me tickets to the Greek war in Florence, when the American Consulate was in the same building with Cook's, and Charley was Consul.