Transcriber's Note:
1. Page scan source:http://www.archive.org/details/ourownsetanovel00schugoog
At Rome in 1870. Roman society was already divided into "Le Mondenoir" and "Le Monde blanc" which as yet gave no sign of amalgamationinto a "Monde gris." His Holiness the Pope had entrenched himself inthe Vatican behind his prestige of martyrdom; and the King already heldhis court at the Quirinal.
Among the distinguished Austrians who were spending the winter in Romewere the Otto Ilsenberghs. Otto Ilsenbergh, one of the leading membersof the Austrian feudal aristocracy, was in Rome professedly for hishealth, but in reality solely in order to avail himself of theresources of the Vatican library in compiling that work on the Historyof Miracle which he has lately given to the world under a quaintpseudonym. He and his wife with a troup of red-haired Ilsenberghs, bigand little, inhabited a straggling, historical palazzo on the Corso,with a glacial stone staircase and vast drawing-rooms which looked morefit for the meetings of conspirators than for innocent tea-drinkingsand dances.
The countess was "at home" every evening when there was no betteramusement to be had. She was by birth a princess Auerstein, of theAuerstein-Zolling branch, in which--as we all know--the women areremarkable for their white eyebrows and their strict morality. TheIlsenbergh salon was much frequented; the prevailing tone was by nomeans formal; smoking was allowed in the drawing-room--nay the countessherself smoked: to be precise she smoked regalias.
It was in the beginning of December; a wet evening and the heavy dropssplashed against the window panes. Count Ilsenbergh was sitting in animmense reception-room decorated with frescoes, at a buhl table,evidently constructed for no more arduous duties than the evolution oflove letters. He was absorbed in the concoction of an article for "OurTimes." A paper of strictly aristocratic-conservative tendencies,patronized by himself, taken in by his fellow-aristocrats, but read byabsolutely no one--excepting the liberal newspaper writers when insearch of reactionary perversities. Count Ilsenbergh was in greattrouble; the Austrian Ministry had crowned their distinguishedachievements by one even more distinguished--for the fourth time withinthree years a new era was announced, and in defiance of prejudice aspick-and-span liberal min