Then he began to talk, exerting himself as he had not exerted himself that morning for a princess who had lunched at his table.

And as he was one of the enchanters of his day, known for such in half a dozen courts, and two hemispheres, Lucy Foster's walk was a walk of delight.

There was only one drawback.

She had heard some member of the party say 'Your Excellency'-- and somehow her lips would not pronounce it! Yet so kind and kingly was the old man, there was no sign of homage she would not have gladly paid him, if she had known how.
They emerged at last upon the stone terrace at the edge of the garden looking out upon the Campagna.
'Ah! there it is!'-- said the ambassador, and, walking to the corner of the terrace, he pointed northwards.
And there--just caught between two stone pines--in the dim blue distance rose the great dome.
'Doesn't it give you an emotion ?' he said, smiling down upon her.--'When I first stayed on these hills I wrote a poem about it--a very bad poem.
There's a kind of miracle in it, you know.

Go where you will, that dome follows you.