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been done to improve things, improvement implying renovation and the war precluded anything so radical; besides which the Villa is now sequestrated. It seems that on his way out, the Austrian gentleman leaned down to finger the worn grey piece of felt which covers the tiled floor and he affirmed it was very good pre-war felt indeed. Natalie went on to tell me that during the conversation her visitor was most contradictory for while showing his strong dislike of Germans, in the very same breath he expressed hopes that they might prove successful in their fight against Bolshevism. Were not the valuable carpets en jeu?

Natalie profited to ask for the address of the builder who had so successfully constructed a refuge in her visitor's garden. But this he refused to give, for, said he, the builder was away busily constructing double walls for the various villas about Florence, to provide proprietors with hiding places for the valuables in the case of a Communist invasion. Now Natalie left the decision concerning the carpets entirely to my approval, though she knew very well that not only I should be angry with her for letting in a stranger but that there was not the slightest possibility of making an agreement over carpets with him.

November 3rd. Natalie's fur coat and winter clothes are all moth-eaten, whilst mine hanging in the very same cupboard are intact. Is it a case of revenge? A little maid, sent away last spring, who hated