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Numa, however, adopted 355 days for his year, from his partiality to odd numbers. The intercalations were generally made in the month of February, after the 23d of the month. The management was left to the pontiffs ad metam eandem solis unde orsi essent dies congruerent; "that the days might correspond to the same starting-point of the sun in the heavens whence they had set out."
In the story of Louis Napoleon's abortive attempt at Boulogne to incite France against Louis Philippe's Government, we were much indebted to the narrative of Count Joseph Orsi, one of the Italians who from his earliest days had attended on his fortunes. The same gentleman has given us an account of his own experiences during the days of the Commune:
The life there was very hard, and that was fortunate for me; the food was scarce, and that was good too. If I ate like the grandees a bull would end me in the hot sun of the first fiesta; I'd double up like a pancake. I must work all the time run for miles and play pelota." Lavinia was possessed by a new contempt for her kind, which she centered upon Orsi, clumsy and stupidly smiling.
A small room, used in connection with the dining room for coffee and smoking, gave directly on the hall; there she saw her father sitting, with his hat still on, his face stamped with an almost comical dismay, and holding an unlighted cigar. "Gheta left me at the Guarinis'," Lavinia halted impetuously. "If it hadn't been for Signor Orsi I shouldn't be here yet; I was completely ignored."
It was again late afternoon, the daily procession was returning from the Cascine, and Gheta was at the window, looking coldly down. The Marchesa Sanviano was knitting at prodigious speed a shapeless gray garment. They all turned when a servant entered: Signer Orsi wished to see the marchese.
Two days later an order came to Satory to send all prisoners to Versailles, and the kind-hearted captain was forced to return Count Orsi to the column of his fellow-prisoners. At Versailles they were shut up in the wine-cellars of the palace, forty-five feet underground. The prisoners confined there were the very dregs and scum of the insurrection.
Cesare Orsi, too, said little, which was extraordinary for him. If Lavinia had made small mark on Mochales, at least she had overpowered the other to a ludicrous degree. It seemed that he had never before half observed her; he even muttered to himself and smiled uncertainly when she chanced to gaze at him.
Nevertheless Cavour declared: "I believe I am justified in proclaiming aloud, in the presence of Parliament, of the nation, and of Europe, that if there has been provocation it was offered by Austria." As shown by Orsi, the Italian historian, the great minister maintained this attitude as long as it was possible to hold back from the actual conflict.
The ridiculous coral charm hanging from his heavy watch chain, a violent green handkerchief, an insufferable cameo pin all contributed pleasurably to the lowering of her opinion of him. "I must find Gheta," she pronounced, suddenly aware of her isolation with Cesare Orsi in the crowd, and of curious glances. Orsi immediately took her arm, but she eluded him.
"What a cowardly attitude!" Lavinia declared contemptuously. "You allow yourself to be blackmailed like a common criminal." Orsi laughed, his equilibrium quickly restored. "I warned you that a stranger could not understand," he reminded her.
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