But he was clever, and had a natural,
unaffected wit. His difficult position as a master had taught him
prudence and reserve. He was obligingness personified to travelling
Scandinavians, and was proud of having, as he thought, made the
acquaintance in Rome of the flower of the good society of the Northern
countries. Even long after he had come to the front, he continued to
live in the fourth storey apartment of the Via Ripetta, where he had
taken up his abode on his arrival in Rome, waited upon by the same
simple couple. His circumstances could not improve, if only for the
reason that he sent what he had to spare to relatives of his in
Copenhagen, who had a son who was turning out badly, and lived by
wasting poor Ravnkilde's savings. After having been the providence of
all Danish travellers to Rome for thirty years, certain individuals who
had influence with the government succeeded in obtaining a distinction
for him. The government then gave him, not even the poor little
decoration that he ought to have had twenty years before, but--brilliant
idea!--awarded him the title of _Professor_, which in Italian, of
course, he had always been, and which was a much more insignificant
title than _Maestro_, by which he was regularly called.
Ravnkilde wrote my letters at the hospital for me, and the day I came
out we drove away together to the French restaurant to celebrate the
occasion by a dinner.
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