You heard incessantly, through the confusion, the shouts of
individuals one to another, and their jubilation when a long-attempted
and cleverly foiled extinguishing was at length successful, and the
clapping and shouts of _bravo!_ at an unusually brightly lighted
and decorated carriage. The pickpockets meanwhile did splendid business;
many of the Danes lost their money.
At eight o'clock I was in bed again, and shortly afterwards the people
of the house came home for a moment. Filomena looked splendid, and was
very talkative. "_Lei e ingrassato_," she called in through the
door. It is her great pleasure that the hollows in my cheeks are
gradually disappearing. She was now ascribing a special efficacy in this
direction to Moccoli Eve.
* * * * *
At half-past ten in the morning, there is a curious spectacle in the
street here. At that time Domenico comes and the lottery begins.
Lotteries are forbidden in Rome, but Domenico earns his ten lire a day
by them. He goes about this and the neighbouring streets bawling and
shouting until he has disposed of his ninety tickets.
Girls and women lean out through the windows and call out the numbers
they wish to have--in this respect they are boundlessly credulous. They
do not believe in the Pope; but they believe that there are numbers
which they must become possessed of that day, even at the highest price,
which is two soldi.
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