The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-31

may be: and now came an English-speaking wo-
man who wanted TO make US her guests.
and too muddy" but she would have us, and
not really very loath. We followed her up II stone
ina rsa9. TO there { sn.i; w aaa were tneh int iHeT auf 70 q her
sister. an Irish girl. and then came an eIplana:
ton, She and her sister were Irish; but had
lived in Florence for years; The elder sister
was married to an Italian. who was land agent
for The Count de Castelbarco.
When that explanation had been made the
tongues of the women wagged turiously.
while the men had to console themselves with
nora and Miss Murphy fitted about preparing
tea for us. The room was at least 80 feet long
mahogany table was In the centre. and heavy
old carved chairs were around the room. The
signora would not let us open our basket.
except my sister she explained. Besides.
why should you dirty the things you have
take them back clean" and She spread the finest
OF linen on the table linen with embroidered
s srG hon ON sho an, hr nsayy and Si'y hn,t ana c SEt s'@ ass
and wine. Nothing was too good for US. She
did let Us produce our supply of sand wiches: but
only because they would become stale II taken
back to Riva. and because their demolition could
not soil our table equipage.
every one on the estate was busy, for It was the
time of year that the kwor eggs batcled
out: and d" very one III but herself and her sister
In fact, every spare room In the house." she
said, lis in use. We have given up our own
IoOIIN alh dCh n"ug ri kio u W
the thirty days of the Matching" And later she
showed us what she meant.
In every room were boards. supported on
wooden tressels. and shallow trays were every
where, in which were the silk worm eggs. The
temperature OF the rooms had to be kept even;
the eggs had TO he watched constantly: when
the eggs Matched sheets OF paper with tiny pin
holes had TO be laid gently over the trays.
Through these holes the larvH would crawl,
thus scraping OIL any vestiRes of the egg that
might cling 10 them. Constant care was neces-
sary, night and day. and we did not wonder that
everyone WAS busy.
The signora took US everywhere about tho
place. II had been a monastery once on n time.
The old monastic garden still existed, with It's
formal walks and hedges; the old wine cellars
wine in. and part OF the refectury still stood.
Tho signora's kitchen, nearly as large as her
dining room, ought once to have been a part OF
the monastery. Rows on rows OF bright pans
and pots hung from tho walls, and the kitchen,
with its vast range and deep shadows. WAS by
Before we left the signor came In. a short.
busy Italian. with very little knowledge of Eng
lish, but polite and rs hOspttable as his Irish
him-better wine than, the ,signora had given
them; and then he had ~ bring a little very
excellent sweet wine for the ladies. Finally. as
the rain had stopped, we had actually To tear
ourselves away from them. Ths signora, espo-
cially. was exceedingly loath to have ma go. We
leave Riva soon; but we could promise 10 carry
our visit IA a most pleasant memory; and II IL
will do her any good, she may be confident that
We shall do so. SO we left the signOr to his silk
worms and mulberry trees, and the signOra and
her sister TO their household duties, and came
back here our excursion having been made by
their kindness the best we had had, In spite OF
tho downpOur.