Her Royal Highness by William Le Queux

Soon after eight o'clock Hubert descended from a rickety _vettura_ outside the great dark Pantheon, and passing across the piazza, plunged into a maze of narrow, obscure, ill-lit streets until he came to a small quiet restaurant -- a place hidden away in the back thoroughfares of the Eternal City, and known only to the populace.

The place which he entered was long and bare, with whitewashed walls and red plush settees -- an unpretentious little place devoid of decoration or of comfort.