The conquest of Rome

Transcriber's Note: A Table of Contents has been added.

The Conquest of Rome
By
MATILDE SERAO
AUTHOR OF THE LAND OF COCKAYNE THE BALLET DANCER ETC.
HARPER & BROTHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON PUBLISHERS . . 1902
Published October, 1902

The train stopped.
'Capua! Capua!' three or four voices cried monotonously into the night.
A clanking of swords dragged on the ground was heard, and some lively muttering that passed between a Lombard and a Piedmontese. It came from a group of subaltern officers, who were ending their evening's amusement in coming to see the night train from Naples to Rome pass through. While the conductor chatted respectfully with the station-master, who gave him a commission for Caianello, and while the postman handed up a mail-sack full of letters to the clerk in the postal van, the officers, talking to each other and making their spurs ring (from habit), looked to see if anyone got in or out of the train, peeping through the doors which were open for the sight of a fair feminine face or that of a friend. But many of the doors were closed. Blue blinds were stretched over the panes, through which glimmered a faint lamplight, as if coming from a place where lay travellers overpowered by sleep. Bodies curled up in a dark tangle of coats, shawls, and sundry coverings, were dimly discernible.