"I once knew an Italian Count," said Miss Blagden reflectively.
"Did you? How nice!"
"I do not know about that. He turned out to be a barber."
"Horrible! Then he was not a count."
"I think he was, but he was poor and chose to earn a living in the only way open to him. I respected him the more on that account."
Mrs. Wyman was evidently shocked. It seemed to dissipate the halo of romance which she had woven around the coming boarder.
"Count Penelli did not appear to be in any business?" she asked, anxiously, of the landlady.
"He said he was a tourist, and wished to spend a few months in America."
The widow brightened up. This seemed to indicate that he was a man of means.
Prof. Poppendorf did not seem to share in the interest felt in the Count.