IN DIREST PERIL

By David Christie Murray

AUTHOR OF "TIME'S REVENGES" "A WASTED CRIME" ETC. 

1894

PREFACE

It is not often that an honorable man commits a theft and yet leaves nostain upon his honor. It can happen still less often that a man of honorrobs the lady he loves and honors above all womankind, and wins her handin marriage by the act. Yet before we were married I robbed my wife offorty thousand pounds, breaking into her house to steal it; and here-nowthat we are both old-she is still so proud of me for having done that, that she must needs make me tell the story. A better writer would havedone it better, but my wife has polished my rough phrases; and, at anyrate, the plain truth about the strangest things which have happened inmy knowledge is here set plainly down. 

(Signed)

John Fyffe, (Late acting) General of Division

under General Garibaldi. 

IN DIREST PERIL

CHAPTER I

I have told my wife quite plainly that in my opinion I am as littlefitted by nature for the task she has laid upon my shoulders as any manalive. I have spent a great part of my life in action; and though thelater part of it has been quieter and more peaceful than the earlier, and though I have enjoyed opportunities of study which I never hadbefore, I am still anything but a bookish man, and I am not at allconfident about such essential matters as grammar and spelling. Thehistory I am called upon to tell is one which, if it were put intothe hands of a professed man of letters, might be made unusuallyinteresting. I am sure of that, for in a life of strange adventure Ihave encountered nothing so strange. But, for my own part, the utmost Ican do is to tell the thing as it happened as nearly as I can, and ifI cannot command those graces of style which would come naturally to apractised pen, I can only ask that the reader will dispense with them. 

The natural beginning of the story is that I fell in love with the ladywho has now for eight-and-thirty blessed and happy years been my wife. It may be that I may not again find opportunity to say one thing thatshould be said. That lady is a pearl among women; and I am prouder ofhaving fallen in love with her at first sight, as I did, than Ishould be if I had taken a city or won a pitched battle. I have soughtopportunities of doing these things far and near, but they have beendenied to me. I trust that I have always been on the right side. I knowthat, except in one case, I have always been on the weaker side; butuntil my marriage I was what is generally called a soldier of fortune. I am known to this day as Captain Fyffe, though I never held her mostsacred Majesty's commission. That I should be delighted to fight inmy country's cause goes, I hope, without saying; but I never had theopportunity, and my sword, until the date of my marriage, was always atthe service of oppressed nationalities. This, however, is not my story, and I must do my best to hold to that. Should I take to blotting anderasing, there is no knowing when my task would be over. I will be aslittle garrulous as I can. 

It was in the height of the London season of 1847, and I had just gotback from the Argentine Republic. I had been fighting for General Rosas, but the man's greed and his reckless ambition had gradually drawn meaway from him, and at last, after an open quarrel, I broke my swordacross my knee before him, threw the fragments at his feet, and left thecamp. I did it at the risk of my life; and if Rosas had cared to lift ahand, his men would have shot me or hanged me from the nearest tree withall the pleasure in the world. An event which has nothing whatever to dowith this story had got into the newspapers, and for a time I wasmade a lion of. I found it agreeable enough to begin with, but I wasbeginning to get tired of it, when the event of which I have alreadyspoken happened. My poor friend, the Honorable George Brunow, had takenme, at the Duchess's invitation, to Belcaster House, and it was there Imet my fate. There was a great crush on the stairs, and the rooms werecrowded. I never once succeeded in getting as much as a glimpse of ourhostess during the whole time of my stay at the house, but before halfan hour had gone by I was content to miss that honor. Brunow and I, tight wedged in the crowd, were laughing and talking on the staircase, when I caught sight of a lady a step or two above me. She was signallingwith her fan to a friend behind me, and I thought then, and I thinkstill, that her smiling face was the most beautiful thing I had everbeheld. Her hair, which is pure silver now, and no less lovely, was asdark as night, but her face was full of pure color, the brow pale, thecheeks rosy, and the red of the lips unusually bright and full for anEnglishwoman, as I at first thought her to be. Her beautiful figure wasset off to great advantage by a simple gown of white Indian muslin-thewhite was of a crearaish tone, I remember, and a string of large pearlswas her only ornament. My heart gave a sudden odd leap when I saw her, and I had the feeling I have known more than once when I have beenordered on a dangerous service. But the sensation did not pass away, asit does under danger when the feeling comes that action is necessary. Icontinued to flutter like a school-girl; and when by accident her eyesmet mine, a moment later, I felt that I blushed like fire. I could reada sort of recognition in her glance, and for a moment it seemed as ifshe would float down the stairs, in spite of the intervening crush, and speak to me. But instead of that she sighted Brunow at my side andbeckoned him. 

 * _Note by Violet Fyffe_. --My husband had saved the life of his general a day earlier, in circumstances of extraordinary heroism. I do not expect to find any record of that sort of act in any pages written by his hand. 

"Can you contrive to come to me, Mr. Brunow?" she asked, in a voice aslovely as her own eyes. They were the first words I heard her speak, andI seem to hear them again as I write them down, just as I can see herexquisite face and noble figure instinct with youth, though when I raisemy eyes I can see my old wife-God bless her!-walking a little feebly inthe garden, with a walking-stick of mine to help her steps. 

Brunow made his way to her, and they talked for a minute. I couldn'thelp listening to her voice, and I heard my own name. 

"You know the gentleman who stood beside you?" she asked. And Brunowanswering that he and I were old friends, she said, "It is CaptainFyffe, I think. "

"No other, Miss Rossano, " said Brunow. 

"Bring him here and introduce me to him, " she said. "I have a greatdesire to know Captain Fyffe. "

At this I hardly knew whether I stood on my head or my heels; but Brunowcalling me by name, and the crush thinning just then for a moment, Imade my way easily to the step below the one she stood on, and Brunowintroduced us to each other. Now I had lived very much away from womenall my life. I lost my mother early, and of sisters and cousins andsuch-like feminine furniture I had none, so that I had never hadpractice among them; and I speak quite honestly in saying that I wouldsooner have stormed a breach than have faced this young lady. Not thateven my intolerable shyness and the sense of my own clumsiness beforeher could make it altogether disagreeable to be there, but becausethere was such a riot in my head-and in my heart, too--and I was mortallyafraid of blurting out something which should tell her how I felt. Andif you will look at it rightly, a gentleman--and when I say a gentlemanI mean nothing more or less than a man of good birth and rightfeeling--has no right to think, even in his own heart, too admiringlyof a young lady at their first meeting. At the very moment when I sawmy wife I thought her, I knew her, indeed, to be the most faultlesslybeautiful woman I had ever seen, and I was as certain as I am now thather soul was as flawless as her face. My heart was right, but I was tooprecipitate in my feelings, and if I had dared I would have knelt beforeher. All this, I dare say, is romantic and old-fashioned to the vergeof absurdity; but it is so true that all the other truths I have known, excepting those I have no right to speak of here, seem to fall intoinsignificance beside it. I fell in love with my wife there and then;and without even knowing it I was vowed to her service as truly as Ihave been in the forty-two years that have gone by since then. I thankHeaven for it humbly, for there is nothing which can so help a man inhis struggles against what is base and unworthy in himself as his lovefor a good woman. If that has grown to be an old-fashioned doctrine inthese days I am sorry for the world. It is true, it has been true, andwill be true again. 

"I have heard of you often, Captain Fyffe, " said the charming voice, "and I am delighted to meet you. Your old comrade, Jack Rollinson, is acousin of mine. "

I blushed again at this; but I could have heard nothing that would havepleased me more, for, early as it was, I would have given anything tostand well in this lady's eyes, and Rollinson and I were fast friends. I had the good-fortune to save his life in a row at Santa Fé, and fromthat hour poor Jack sang my praises in and out of season. I knew that ifMiss Rossano had gained any opinion of me from Jack Rollinson it wouldnot be a bad one. Indeed, my only fear was that Jack had probablypraised me so far beyond my merits that nobody who had seen the portraitwould have the slightest chance of recognizing the original. But whenI had once heard my old comrade's name I was able to identify thischarming young lady. Rollinson had more than once spoken of hisbeautiful cousin, Violet Rossano, and I knew a little of her history. I learned more of it that night, and myself became concerned in it in avery surprising manner. 

Miss Rossano and I talked of Jack and of our common adventures, and tomy delight, and the great easing of my embarrassment, she treated mealmost like an old friend. She was swept off by the crowd at last;but in going she bade me call upon her at her aunt's house-LadyRollinson's-where I might have news of my friend; and it need scarce besaid that I promised eagerly to accept her invitation. 

When I saw that I had seen the last of her for that evening I had nodesire to stay in the crush which filled the rooms; and finding Brunowin the same mind as myself, I went away with him. Brunow lived offRegent Street, in a garret handsomely furnished and tenantable, butstuffy and confined to my notions, used as I had been to the open-airlife of a soldier on active service. We threw the windows wide open, andsat down beside them with a tumbler of cool liquor apiece, Brunow withhis cigar, and I with my pipe-which I was glad to get back to aftera regimen of those beastly South American cigarettes--and we madeourselves comfortable. My mind was so full of my beautiful newacquaintance that I must needs approach her in my talk, and I used JackRollinson as a sort of stalking-horse. Brunow, as I found out later on, was in love with her-after his fashion--which, as I shall have to showyou, was not very profound or manly; but, at any rate, he was glad of achance to talk about her, and I was glad to listen. 

"That beautiful girl you met to-night, " he told me, "has a strangehistory. She is one-and-twenty years of age, and her father is stillliving, but she and he never saw each other in their lives. "

I said something to the effect that this was strange, and I asked thereason of it. 

"I dare say, " Brunow answered, "that I am the only man in England whoknows the truth about the matter. The world has given the Conte diRossano up for dead years and years ago. His daughter has no idea thathe is alive. Yet I saw him no more than six weeks ago. "

"And you have not told her?" I asked. 

"Why should I pain her for nothing?" he demanded in his turn. "She neversaw him. She never even knew enough of him to grieve for him. He is notso much as a memory in her mind. And since they can never come together, it is better for her to go on believing that he died while she was inher babyhood. "

"What is to prevent their coming together?" I asked. 

"He is a prisoner, " said Brunow, gravely. "Mind you, Fyffe, I tell youthis in the strictest confidence, and I know you well enough to trustyou. "

I knew Brunow well enough to know that if there were any truth inthe story, it would be told in the strictest confidence until it wasproperty as common as the news of the town crier. I knew him well enoughto know also that if it were not true, but merely one of his countlessromances, it would be forgotten in the morning in the growth of some newinvention as romantic and as baseless as itself. In any case, I gave himthe assurance he asked for, and he went on with his story. 

"More than two-and-twenty years ago Miss Ros-sano's grandfather, GeneralSir Arthur Rawlings, and his wife made a trip through Italy. They tookwith them their daughter Violet, and in Rome they met the Conte diRossano, who by all accounts was then a young, rich, handsome fellow, and the hope of the National party. The National party in Italy hasalways had a hope of some sort, and their hope is always just about ashopeful as a sane man's despair. "

"I am not so sure of that, " I cried. "I shall live to see the Italians afree people yet!"

"You are one of the enthusiasts, " said Brunow, laughing. "And I supposethat if you got an opportunity you'd lend the cause a hand. " I said"Assuredly, " and Brunow laughed again. "Well, to keep to the story, " hewent on, "the count saw Miss Rawlings, and fell head over ears in lovewith her at first sight. He was young, he was handsome; he had spentyears in England, and spoke the language like a native. He made lovelike Romeo, but the young lady at first would not listen to him. Hefollowed the party to England, stuck to his cause like a man, andfinally won it. The only objection anybody had to urge against him wasthat he was hand in glove with the conspirators against Austrian rule. The Austrian's were just as much a fixture in Italy as they are at thisday; the Italians were just as hotly bent as they are now on gettingrid of them, and Sir Arthur, who was an old diplomat, was afraid ofthe prospective son-in-law's political ideas. He tried at first tomake marriage a question of surrender of the cause, but the count wasultra-romantic, ultra-patriotic, ultra-Italian all over in point offact. Not even for love's sake would he throw over his country, and, oddly enough, it was this bit of romanticism which clinched the lady'saffection. "

"And why oddly?" I asked him. 

"My dear fellow, " said Brunow, "why should I characterize or analyze awoman's whims. The story is the main point. Miss Rawlings married thecount. Within three months of their marriage the count went back toItaly to assist in the stirring up of some confounded Italian hot-potor other, and was never heard of again. Seven or eight months after, thegirl you met to-night was born. Her mother died a few months later. Thecount's estates were confiscated by the Austrian government, and thelittle orphan was bred by her grandparents. They are dead now, and MissRossano is chaperoned by her aunt, Lady Rollinson, and lives with her. When she is two-and-twenty she will come in for her dead mother's money, some forty or maybe fifty thousand pounds. In the meantime she inheritssome two thousand a year from her grandfather. There are better thingsin the marriage market, but--"

There he stopped and sipped at his tumbler, and I sat thinking fora while. Barring that one little point in the story at which Brunowintroduced himself, I was disposed to give the history entire credence. But that Brunow should have seen the mournful hero of the tale withinthe last six weeks was altogether too like Brunow to be believed withoutsome confirmation. One rarely tells even the most practised romanceroutright and in so many words that he is not telling the truth, but Ifenced for a time. 

"And the count's alive, you say?"

"Alive? I saw him barely six weeks ago. I'll tell you all about it. "He leaned forward in his chair, and I would have sworn that he wasinventing as he went on. "I was at a little place called Itzia, in theTyrol, when by pure chance I stumbled on a fellow I had known in Parisand Vienna--a fellow named Reschia, Lieutenant Reschia. He was onGeneral Radetsky's staff when I knew him first--an empty-headed fellowrather; but a man's glad to meet anybody in a place like Itzia; and whenhe asked me to dine with him at the fortress, I was jolly glad to go. 'We've got an old file here, ' he told me, 'the Italians would giveanything to get hold of if they only knew where he was. I believethey'd tear the place down with their nails to get at him. ' It was afterdinner, and he was ridiculously confidential. He pledged me to secrecyof course, and of course I told him that I should respect any confidencehe reposed in me. Of course I did, out there; and equally, of course, I'm not bound here. It came out they'd got the Conte di Rossano there, and when I heard the name I jumped. Reschia didn't take notice of mysurprise, and after a time I said I should like to see the fellow. Hepointed him out to me next day, taking exercise in the court-yard. "

"The count, " I said, still less than doubtful of the truth of Brunow'sstory--"the count must have been a man of unusual importance to thepolitical party to be remembered with such a passionate devotion afterso many years. "

"God bless your soul, " cried Brunow, "it was devotion! Those Austrianfellows are as cunning as the devil. The Italians have been made tobelieve these twenty years that the count was playing fast and loosewith both parties. His jailers made out that he had been a paid spyin their service, and pretended that he had been killed by one of theNationalist party, whom they hanged. "

"Of course you made no effort to release him?"

"How the deuce could I? Release him! If you knew the fortress at Itziayou'd think twice before trying that. Besides--hang it all, man!--I wasReschia's guest; and he told me the story under the seal of confession. "

I spoke unguardedly, but I was not allowed to go far. 

"If your story is true, Brunow--"

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, with sudden anger. Everybody knewhow utterly irresponsible he was, but nothing made him so angry as tobe doubted. "The story's true; and if proof were wanted, here is proofenough. "

He rose with unusual vivacity, and, throwing open an escritoire, tookfrom it a disorderly little pile of papers. He searched this through, muttering in a wounded tone meanwhile. "True? If the story's true? I'llshow you whether it's true or not! No! By George, it isn't here! Nowwhere on earth can I have put that paper?"

Just as I was laughing inwardly to think how well he thought itworth while to pretend, he slapped his forehead with a sudden air ofrecollection, turned again to the escritoire, drew from it a crumpleddirty scrap of paper, and striding over to me thrust it into my hand. "Read that, " he said. 

"These lines, " I read, "are written by the Conte di Rossano, for morethan twenty years a prisoner in the fortress of Itzia. They are carriedat grave danger to himself by an attendant whose pity has been moved bythe contemplation of a life of great misery. Should they reach the handsof the English stranger for whom they are intended, he is besought, forthe love of God, to convey them to the Contessa di Rossano, daughter ofSir Arthur Rawlings, of Barston Manor, Warwickshire, who must long havemourned the writer as dead. "

"That was slipped into my hand as I was leaving the village, " saidBrunow. "If the countess had been living--unless she had been marriedagain--I should have thought it my duty to let her know the truth. ButMiss Rossano knows nothing--guesses nothing. Why should I wound her witha piece of news like this?"

We did not talk much more that night, but I had plenty to think about asI walked home to my hotel. 

CHAPTER II

If I had never seen that pencilled scrap of paper, I should have hadno belief in Brunow's story. But though he was a romancer to his fingertips, and as irresponsible as a baby, I had never known him to take theleast trouble to bolster up any of his inventions, or to show the leastshame when he was discovered in a lie. I am told that people who sufferfrom kleptomania cannot be taught to be ashamed of stealing, thougheven a dog has grace enough to be abashed if you catch him in an act ofdishonesty. I have met in my lifetime two or three men like Brunow, wholie without temptation, and who do not feel disgraced when detected. 

For once I could not help believing him, and his story stuck in my mindin a very disagreeable way, for Miss Rossano fairly haunted me, andanything which was associated with her had an importance in my eyes. Itwas a hard thing to think that such a living tragedy should be so closeto a creature so young and bright and happy. I praised Brunow in myown mind for his sensible resolution to keep the secret of her father'sexistence from her, but I was constantly thinking whether there mightnot be some possibility of setting the prisoner free. If I had been arich man I could see quite enough chance of adventure to tempt me to theenterprise. I hated the Austrian rule with all my heart and soul, as atthat time the Austrian rule deserved that every freeborn Englishmanshould hate it. The thought of Italian independence set my blood onfire, and I would as soon have fought for that cause as for any in theworld. 

I don't care to talk much about my own character, but I have oftenlaughed to hear myself spoken of as a man whose life has been guided byromantic considerations. If I know anything about myself at all it isthat I am severely practical. I could not even think of so far-away anenterprise as the attempted rescue of the count, a thing which, at thetime, I was altogether unlikely and unable to attempt, without takingaccount of all the pros and cons, so, far as I could see them. In my ownmind I laid special stress on the friendly attendant mentioned in thecount's brief and pathetic letter. I felt sure that if I only had moneyenough to make that fellow feel safe about his future, I could have gotthe prisoner away. For in my own practical, hard-headed way I had got atthe maps of the country and had studied the roads and had read up everyline I could find. 

If I try to explain what kept me a whole four weeks from accepting MissRossano's invitation to call upon her at the house of her aunt, LadyRollinson, I am not at all sure that I shall succeed; I can say quitetruly that there was not a waking hour in all that time in which shedid not occupy my mind. Every morning I resolved that I would make thepromised call, and every day dwindled into midnight without my havingdone it. I need not say that I was by this time aware of the conditionof my heart. I ridiculed myself without avail, and tried to despisemyself as a feather-headed fellow who had become a woman's captive ata glance. It was certainly not her wealth and my poverty which kept meaway from her, for I never gave that matter a single thought--norshould I at any time in my life have regarded money as an inducementto marriage, or the want of it as a bar. It was no exalted idea ofher birth as compared with mine, for I am one of the Fyffes ofDumbartonshire, and there is as good blood in my veins as flows from theheart of any Italian that ever wore a head. The plain fact, so far asI can make myself plain, is that I had already determined to win MissRossano for myself if I could, and that I felt that she deserved to beapproached with delicacy and reserve. I knew all the while that Imight be wasting chances, and I endured a good deal of trouble on thataccount. But four whole weeks went by before I ventured to obey herinvitation to call, and by that time I was sore afraid that she hadforgotten all about me. 

It was Lady Rollinson herself who received me; a fat and comfortablelady of something more than fifty, as I should judge, though it is aperilous thing for a man to be meddling with guesses at a lady's age. She looked as if she could enjoy a good dinner, and as if she liked tohave things soft and cosey about her; but in spite of that, she wore acountenance of pronounced kindliness, and received me, so to speak, withopen arms. Her son, Jack, had inspired her with all manner of absurdbeliefs about me, and she praised me to my face about my courage untilI felt inclined to prove it by running away from an old woman. Iassured her of what was actually the fact, that Jack's rescue was a veryordinary business, and accompanied by very little danger to myself; butthis set her praising my modesty (which has never been my strong point), and I thought it best to turn the conversation. I ventured to hope thatMiss Rossano was well. 

"I am very sorry to tell you, " said Lady Rollinson, "that Miss Rossanois very unwell indeed. She has been greatly upset this morning. We havehad the strangest news, and I don't know whether we ought to believe itor not. I don't think I have ever been so flustered in my life; and asfor Violet, poor dear, it's no wonder that she's disturbed by it, forshe's one of the tenderest-hearted girls in the world, and the idea thatshe has been happy all the time is quite enough to kill anybody, I amsure. "

Lady Rollinson rambled in this wise, and if I had had nothing to goon beforehand I should not have been able to make head or tail of herdiscourse; but Brunow's story flashed into my mind in a second, and Iwas sure that in some fashion it had reached Miss Rossano's ears. Shegave me no time to offer a question, even if I had been disposed to doit, but started off again at once, and put all chance of doubt to rest. 

"Poor Violet doesn't remember her father, for he has been supposed to bedead this twenty years; but he was the Conte di Rossano, a very handsomeand charming young Italian gentleman, and I remember his courtingViolet's mother as if it were only yesterday. The poor dear girl has theright to call herself the Contessa di Rossano; but that would be littleuse to her, for the Austrian government confiscated all her father'sestates, and she never saw a penny from them, and I don't suppose sheever will. But her father went to Italy before she was born, and now itturns out that in place of being killed there, as every one thought atthe time, he was taken prisoner by the Austrians. He's alive still, itseems, and a hopeless prisoner. Poor Violet only learned the truth lastnight, and she has done nothing but cry ever since. "

I said I had heard the story from Brunow, but that I understood he hadbound himself to strict secrecy about it. 

"He might as well have held his tongue, " cried her ladyship, "for allthe good talking can do. But I've known George Brunow all his life, Captain Fyffe, and of course the idea of his keeping a secret is absurd. Mr. Brunow would talk a dog's hind-leg off, and you can't believe aquarter of the things he says. Only in this case he got a letter fromthe count, and some busybody persuaded him to surrender it, and broughtit to poor Violet, and she has compared the handwriting with someletters of her father's which came to her from her poor dear mother, andshe's quite convinced that it's the same, though twenty years is a longtime, and a man's writing changes very often in less than that. "

I heard a rustle in the room, and, turning, I saw Miss Rossano standingwithin a yard or two of us. How much of our conversation she had heardI could not tell, but I was certain from her look that she knew itspurport. 

"Good-morning, Captain Fyffe, " she said, holding out her hand. I roseand took it in my own, and found that it burned like fire. Her eyelidswere red and heavy, but her cheeks were almost colorless. She told melong afterwards that the pity she saw in my looks almost broke her down, and, indeed, I remember well how I felt when I saw her beautiful mouthtrembling with the pain and sorrow which lay at her heart. She kept herself-possession, however, but by a sort of feminine instinct, I suppose, she sat down with her face away from the light, and when she spoke againno one who had not known the condition of affairs would have guessed, from the firm and even tones of her voice, that she suffered as she did. I think very highly of courage, whether in a man or in a woman, and Ihave no words to say how I admired her self-control. 

"My aunt has been telling you of my dreadful news, " she began, and Ianswered with a mere nod. Her next words almost took my breath away. "Iam glad that you have called, and if you had not done so, I shouldhave taken the liberty to send for you. You are a man of courage andexperience, Captain Fyffe, and I wish to ask your advice and help. "

I answered that I should be glad to render any service in my power, butI was afraid to show how eager I was to be of use to her, and I thoughtthat my answer sounded grudging and reluctant. 

"Thank you, " she said, simply. I could see her great eyes shining fromthe dusk in which she sat, and they seemed never to leave my face fora moment. "I heard you say just now that Mr. Brunow had told you thestory. Did he show you this?"

She drew a scrap of paper from the bosom of her dress, and I took itfrom her hand. I told her I had seen it before, and returned it to her. 

"Without this, " she went on, "I should have had no faith in Mr. Brunow'sstatement; but I have compared it with old letters of my father's, and Ihave no doubt that it was written by his hand. Now, Captain Fyffe"--shedid her hardest to be business-like and commonplace in mannerthrough all this interview, and my honor and esteem rose higher everymoment--"now, Captain Fyffe, I want to ask you if in your judgmentthere is anything which can be done. I come to you--I tell youfrankly--because you have already done my family one incalculableservice. It is a poor way of offering thanks to burden you with a newtrouble. "

"If I have done anything to save you from grief or trouble, MissRossano, " I replied, "I can ask for no better reward than to be allowedto repeat my service. "

If she had been anybody but the woman she was she might have accepted mywords, which I knew were spoken with coldness and restraint, as a meresurface compliment of no value. But I never knew her yet mistaken' inrespect of that one virtue of sincerity. It is especially her own, andit is the touchstone by which a true heart tests all others. 

"Thank you, " she answered, simply. 

I told her it was four weeks that day since I had first heard ofthe matter, and that I had since given it a good deal of practicalconsideration. I drew for her a rough map of the country, showing theroads, marking the places where guards were posted, and so on, and Igave her what information I had been able to acquire about the ratesof possible travel. From Itzia I calculated we could, if well mounted, cross the frontier in about nine hours. There were no telegraph wiresin that region in those days, and I pointed out that with a start ofa single hour escape was probable. I laid stress on the value of thesympathetic attendant, and she hung with clasped hands and suspendedbreath on every word I spoke. 

"You have thought of all this already?" she asked, when I had said all Ithen had to say. 

"I have thought of little else, " I answered. "But now I must tell youthat all this will cost money. "

"We can see to that, " said Lady Rollinson, who was almost as interestedas her niece. She showed it another way; for while Miss Rossano hadlistened without a word, the old lady had been full of starts andejaculations. 

"I must be able to tell the man on whose aid I shall have to rely thatthe relatives of the count are wealthy, and that they will reward himhandsomely. I may even have to promise him an independence for life. "

"You may promise him anything it is in my power to give him, " cried MissRossano. "If I could secure my father's liberty I would surrender everypenny I have in the world. "

"The man is a common soldier, " I responded. "He has his rations andhis clothes, and a few copper coins a day to find him a little beerand tobacco. To such a man a pension of a pound a week would look likeParadise. Much depends on his condition. If he is a single man, I maysecure him. If he is married and has a family, I shall find greaterdifficulties in the way. The great thing is not to hope too much. I willtry, if you will allow me, and I will leave no stone unturned. "

"Captain Fyffe, how shall I thank you?" cried Miss Rossano. 

"I shall be repaid, madame, " I answered, "if I succeed. " She did notunderstand me then, but I told her afterwards what my meaning had been. I told her that I should have earned the right, if I brought her fatherback with me, to tell her I had earned the right to say that I knew nosuch pride as to live or die in her service. And that was simply true, though I had as yet met her but twice. I think that love at first sightmust be a commoner thing than many people imagine. If it was so realwith a sober-sided, hard-headed fellow like myself, who had spent allthe years of his manhood in rough-and-tumble warfare, what must it bewith romantic and high-strung people who are more naturally prone to it. 

"You will run great risks, Captain Fyffe, " said her ladyship. 

"It has been the habit of my life, " I answered, "to run as few risks aspossible. "

"I hardly know if we have the right to ask you to undertake such ahair-brained enterprise, " she said again. 

"I have not waited to be asked, Lady Rollinson. I am a volunteer. "

"Give us at least a hint of what you propose to do, " urged her ladyship. "Let us be sure that you do not intend to run into danger. "

"It would be futile to plan until I am on the spot, " I answered; "and asfor danger--I shall meet nothing I can avoid. "

"I shall trust Captain Fyffe entirely, " said Miss Rossano. "As formoney, Captain Fyffe, " she added, turning to me, "you must not becramped in that respect. Will you call and see my bankers to-morrow?"

"I should prefer, " I answered, "to start to-night. I have ample fundsfor my immediate purposes, and I shall make my way, in the first place, to Vienna. Tell me your banker's name, and I will find out his agentsthere. And now good-bye, Miss Rossano. I cannot promise success, but Iwill do what I can. "

She answered that she was sure of that; and when she had given me thename of her bankers and I had made a note of it, we shook hands andparted. For my own part I was glad that Lady Rollinson's presence madeour parting commonplace. 

I hailed the first hackney carriage I met and drove to my rooms. ThereI found my passport, and went with it to the Foreign Office, where, through the good offices of an old schoolfellow, I had it _vised_without loss of time, and then home again to pack. Travelling was slowerthen than it is to-day, but we thought it mighty rapid, and scarcely tobe improved upon, it differed so from the post-chaise and stage-coachcrawl of a few years before. There was no direct correspondence betweenHamburgh and Vienna, but the journey was shorter by a day than it hadbeen when I had last made it. I reached the Austrian capital after anentirely adventureless journey, and felt that my enterprise was begun. 

I called at the Embassy, and had my papers finally put in order. Icalled on the Viennese agents of Miss Rossano's bankers, and found thatno less a sum than one thousand pounds had been placed to my credit. Notonly was this liberal provision made for contingencies, but I receiveda letter from Miss Rossano telling me that anything within her means wasfully at my disposal. I thought it not unlikely that with so persuasivea sum behind me I might be able to win over the kindly jailer to ourside. My thoughts were very often with this man, and I spent a good dealof useless time in speculating about him. Was he married or single? Thatwas a point on which much depended, and I was half inclined to praythat he might prove to be a bachelor. Marital responsibilities were allagainst my hopes. Marital confidences might well upset the best-laidplans I could devise. 

I was thinking thus as I paced the Ring Strasse on the third day aftermy arrival in Vienna. I lingered in the capital against the grain, for Iwas eager to be at work, but it was part of a policy which I had alreadysettled. Itzia was not the sort of place for which one would make astraight road, unless one had special business there, and it wasthe merest seeming of having any special business there which I wasprofoundly anxious to avoid. So I lingered in Vienna, and on this thirdday, pacing the chief street, I felt a sudden hand clapped upon myshoulder, and, turning, faced Brunow. 

"Here you are, " he cried, still keeping his hand upon my shoulder as Iturned. "I have been to the bank and to your hotel. I have been huntingyou, in point of fact, all day, and here at last I come upon you bychance. "

"What brings you in Vienna?" I asked him. I did my best to be cordial, but I was sorry for his intrusion, and would willingly have known him tobe a thousand miles away. 

He glanced swiftly and warily about him, and, seeing nobody withinear-shot, answered in an easy tone:

"I have come to assist in your enterprise, Fyffe, and I mean to see youthrough it. "

"I think, " I told him, "that I prefer to go through my enterprisealone. "

"My dear fellow, " said Brunow, "I couldn't dream of allowing you torun any risk alone in such a cause. And besides that, I have a littleselfish reason of my own. In addition, you don't speak the language, andwill be in a thousand corners. I was bred here, and speak the languagelike a native. I have already the _entree_ to the place you desire toget into, and I can introduce you. My sympathetic friend--" He brokeoff suddenly because a foot-passenger drew near. "It is, as you say, a beastly journey, but, as you say again, it's done with, and when youknow Vienna as well as I do, you will say it pays for the trouble tentimes over. Vienna, my dear fellow, is the jolliest and the handsomestcity in the world. " The passenger went by, and he resumed at the droppedword. "My sympathetic friend will recognize me, and at my return willbe immediately on the _qui vive_. Negotiations will be as good as openedthe very minute of my arrival. You'll want an interpreter, and here am Isworn to the cause, and secret as the tomb. In effect, I'm going, and Idon't see how the deuce you expected to get on without me. "

"I suppose, " I asked him, "you know what to expect if we fail and arecaught?"

He took me by the arm and walked with me along the road, sinking hisvoice to a confidential murmur. 

"You're a son of Mars, Fyffe, and you ought to be able to understand myfeelings. You've met Miss Rossano, and I dare say you can understandthe possibility of a man actually losing his head over a creature socharming and so well provided for. " I could have struck him for thecynicism of his final words, but I restrained myself. "Now I don'tmind telling you, Fyffe, that I've a little bit of a tendresse in thatdirection, and, between ourselves, I'm not at all sure that it isn'treturned. Miss Rossano is convinced that this is a service of especialand particular danger. So it might be for a headstrong old warrior likeyourself if you were in it alone; but as I shall manage it there won'tbe a hint of danger, and we shall get the credit without the risk. Andso, my dear Fyffe, I'm with you. My motives I believe are as purelyselfish as I should always wish them to be. Yours of course are aspurely unselfish as you would always desire. "

Of course I knew already the man's complete want of responsibility. Herealmost in his first breath he couldn't dream of allowing me to run therisk alone, and here in almost his last breath there was to be no riskat all. I dreaded his companionship; and when I had taken time to thinkthe matter over I told him so quite plainly. 

"My dear Fyffe, " he answered, "you don't know me. You haven't seenme under circumstances demanding discretion. You tell me I'm afeather-head, and I've not the slightest doubt in the world that if youasked any of our common acquaintances you'd find the epithet endorsed. It's my way, my boy, but it's only a little outside trick of mine, andit has nothing to do with the real man inside. And besides that, Fyffe, you know you can't prevent my going, and so--why argue about it?"

"There is risk in this business, " I said, "and grave risk. Let us haveno further folly on that theme. I could prevent you from going, andI would if it were not for the fact that I think it more dangerous toleave you behind than to take you with me. You would be hinting this tothis man, and that to the other, and I should have a noose about my neckthrough that slack tongue of yours before I had been away a fortnight. You shall go, but I warn you of the risk beforehand. "

"There's no risk at all, " he said, pettishly. "I've told you soalready. "

"Pardon me, " I answered. "I am going to show you the risk. If thisenterprise should fail by any folly of yours, if I am sacrificed by anyindiscretion or stupidity on your part, I will shoot you. I am goingout with my life in my hand, and I mean to take care of it. You can beuseful to me, and I will use you. But please understand the conditions, for so truly as you and I stand here, I mean to keep them. "

I knew enough of Brunow to be sure that he would treat this plainstatement as if it were a jest, and I knew that he read me well enoughto be sure that it was nothing of the sort. The threat made him safe. Inan hour he was talking as if he had forgotten all about it, but I knewbetter. 

CHAPTER III

We travelled at apparent random for nearly three weeks, and when at lastwe reached Itzia, no man could possibly have guessed that we had setout with that little place as our serious destination. It was Brunow whosuggested this lingering method of approach, and it was he also who gavea semblance of nature to our proceedings by pausing here and there toset up his camp-stool and easel in some picturesque defile, or in thestreets of some quaint village. Twice this innocent blind brought usinto collision with the military police, who were in a condition ofperpetual disquiet, and suspected everybody. Our papers, however, werein perfect order, and Brunow in particular was so well provided withcredentials that we were easily set going again, and so by a circuitousroad we approached Itzia, and finally pounced down upon it from thehills. 

I found it a village of not more than four or five hundred inhabitants, set in the midst of a green plateau surrounded by gaunt hills, andwatered by a fair, broad stream. The fortress in which the Conte diRossano was confined stood on the lowest slope of the nearest hill, andfrowned down upon the village with a threatening aspect, dwarfed as itwas almost into nothing by the surrounding majesties of nature. It wasa building of modern date--not more than fifty years of age I shouldbe inclined to say--and it boasted nothing in the way of architecturalbeauty. It was built of an ugly dark stone, was strongly fortified, and was flanked by outlying batteries which surrounded the mouth of thedefile which led from Zetta on the frontier. The artillery of to-daywould reduce the fortress of Itzia to a rubbish heap in less than anhour; but it was a strong place for the date of its erection, and evennow the difficulty of bringing siege guns along the broken and difficultmountain pathways makes it worth calculating as a point of resistanceagainst invasion. 

I saw it first at the close of a dull day when a storm was brewing. Thesky was overcast, and the clouds were mustering fast from the south inblack battalions. Every now and then a hoarse echoing rumble of soundwent wandering about in the hollows of the hills with a deep cavernoustone, which sounded astonishingly threatening and foreboding. I supposethat everybody knows more or less the feeling which associates itselfwith the first view of any memorable place, and fixes itself as it wereupon his recollection of it. After all these years I can hardly thinkof the fortress at Itzia without some return of the depression andhalf-dismay which fell upon me when I first looked at it, with the blackclouds gathering thickly over it, the mountain on which it stoodlooking as if it would topple over and bury fortress and valley, and onespear-like gleam of bleak sunshine lighting up a few of its windowsand a few square yards of its western wall. Of course I had neverbeen guilty of such a madness as to think of approaching the place byanything but wile and stratagem; and its bulk and blackness and thethickness of its walls had nothing in the world to do with the successor failure of my enterprise, and yet I could not resist a feeling ofdiscouragement which almost amounted to a sense of superstition. 

We had engaged a guide from some little village, the name of which Iforget, at which we had rested on the previous night; and the castle wasthe first object to which he had called our attention. 

"There!" he cried, pausing at a sudden bend in the road, and turninghalf round upon us with his right hand pointing forward. "There is thefortress of Itzia. The end of your journey, gentlemen. "

I spoke the language very feebly, but I happened to understand everyword he said, and his speech gave me a nervous chill. It was notaltogether unlikely that the end of our journey lay in that forbiddingheap of dark stone, and the thought was not an agreeable one. Brunowcaught the fancy too, and turning on me with a smile which I thought notquite natural, said:

"_A bad omen!_"

We trudged along pretty wearily, for we had made on foot a goodfive-and-twenty miles that day, and the country had been extremelydifficult. The mountain road had scarcely been worthy to be calleda road at all, and in the course of it we had had a score or so ofbreak-back climbs. Brunow had held out with an unexpected stoutness, butI think another mile of such a road would have left him helpless; andthough I was more innured to personal fatigue than he, I gave half agrunt and half a groan of comfort at the thought of stretching my legsin an arm-chair at the village inn. We were both as hungry as we hada right to be, and finding our feet set upon turf instead of insecurestones with points all over them, we mustered our forces for a briefrun downhill. The guide, who had done the journey with a stolidindifference, set up a whoop and raced after us speedily, gettingthe better of us, and so we entered the village racing like a trio ofschool-boys, Brunow and I shouting to each other and laughing. Some ofthe villagers came to their doors and looked with an ox-like kind ofwonder after us, but just then the first open growl of the tempestsounded, the premature blackness of the evening was split wide open by asudden flash, and the rain began to fall as it can only fall in mountaincountries and in the tropics, I suppose the inhabitants simply thoughtwe were flying from the storm, and, anyway, at the first sign of it theyslammed and fastened their doors, and we raced on, drenched almost tothe skin in the first minute. 

Brunow knew the inn, of course, and was recognized immediately on hisarrival. The fat hostess, stolid as she looked, seemed glad to see him;and her pretty daughter, who looked in the characteristic costume of thecountry as if she had just stepped off the stage or was just ready tostep on to it, received him with demure smiles and blushes. He was quitea lion among the ladies, was Brunow, and I had no doubt he had beendoing some little execution here. In a minute or two, at the landlady'sbidding, we had stripped off our soaked coats and were sitting by awood-fire, each in a brief Tyrolean jacket, with lace and silver buttonsall about it--the property, as we found out afterwards, of our host andhis son, who were out just then shooting on the hills, and likely, as welearned, to be away all night. 

We had an excellent meal: fish from the river, fowl from thepoultry-yard--we heard the clucking of the doomed hen, and the indignantremonstrances of her companions--a capital omelette, and country cheeseand butter. With these comfortable things we had a bottle of honest wineof unknown vintage, but palatable and generous; and when the meal wasover we sat and smoked in a kind of animal ease begotten of the pastlabor and present comfort. The storm lashed the panes, and though thetime of year was but late August, and the hour not beyond six of theafternoon, it was so dark we could scarce see across the road. Yet everyflash of lightning that hung with its blue, quivering light in the skiesfor two or three seconds at a time showed the fortress to either of uswho chose to look out of window; and tired and bodily contented as Iwas, I never saw its gloomy form thus gloomily illuminated; but my firstfeeling on beholding it came back to me, and with it the guide's phrase:"The end of your journey, gentlemen!" The Austrian government wouldhave seen to that if any merest guess of our purpose had occurred to thestupidest of its officials. I speak of Austria as she was, not as sheis. She has learned something in the universal struggle for freedomwhich has shaken Europe since I first opened my eyes upon the world. Butin those days--I speak it calmly, and with something, at least I hope, of the judgment which should belong to old age--Austria was a power tobe loathed and warred against by all good men, a stronghold of tyrannyand cruelty, a dark land within whose darkness dark deeds were done, acountry where the oppressed found no helper. I am heaping up words invain, which is a thing outside my habits. Every student of history knowswhat Austria was at that time, and there are thousands still living whoare old enough to remember. 

We went to bed early that night in spite of thunder and lightning, rainand wind, and slept as we deserved to do after the heavy marching ofthe day. When I got up in the morning the mountains were smiling in asun-bath, the river wound shining through fields of delightful green, and the fortress, ugly as it was in itself, took from its surroundings, and helped to give them back again a picturesque and pleasing look. Thefeeling I had first had in respect to it never came back again in itsfirst force; and when I looked at it with the refreshment of rest in myown heart, and the brightness of the clean-washed earth and heaven aboutit and above it, I could afford to smile at the womanish foreboding andchill of the night before. 

Brunow was still sleeping, and I was loath to disturb him; so dressingmyself carelessly but without noise, I went down-stairs, and theremunched a fragment of black bread and drank a draught of milk. Thenhaving tried in vain to say that I wanted a towel, I contrived toexpress myself to the landlord's pretty daughter by signs. I pointedout-of-doors, made a pantomime of undressing, diving, and swimming, andthen a further pantomime of rubbing myself down. At this she understood, supplied me with what I wanted, and led me to the door, whence shepointed to the left, and then seemed by a sweeping motion of the hand toindicate a turning to the right. I took the way thus signalled, and ina very little time found myself in a sequestered spot by the water-side, which looked as if it might have been made for my purpose. A greatboulder as big as a moderate-sized house protected the place from viewon the village side, and the place was bowered in trees. A short, softgrass made a delightful footing, and on the opposite side of the rivera fallen tree had been trimmed into convenient shape for diving from. A narrow track worn through the grass showed that this place wasfrequently approached. I was seated and in the act of unlacing my heavymountain boots, when I heard a cheery and melodious voice singing;and, looking up, I saw at a little distance through the trees a youngAustrian officer in undress, strolling at an easy pace towards me. He, too, had evidently come out for a morning dip, for he was swinging atowel in his right hand, and was lounging straight towards the river. 

As he came nearer I saw that he was handsome in an effeminate sort ofway, with a slight lady-like sort of figure, a blond mustache, so lightin color as to be almost invisible at a distance, and fine girlish eyesof a light blue. As he saw me in turn he gave me a good-morning in acheery tone, and I returned his salutation. He noticed my accent at onceand said, "Ah! An Englishman?" I answered, "Yes;" and having disembarrassed myselfof the heavy boots, stood up to throw off my jacket. "And a soldier?" hesaid. Then speaking in English this time, but with a very laughableand halting accent--an accent, I should be inclined to say, almost aslaughable and halting as mine sounded to him. "I mak yeeoo velkom at myplace. "

At this I asked him if the place were private and I an intruder, butthis little bit of English, took him altogether out of his depth. 

"I speak English abominably, " he said in fluent and accurate French;"properly speaking, I do not know it at all. May I ask if you speakFrench?"

French and Spanish are the only two foreign languages of which I knowanything, but I speak them both with ease, though I dare say withlittle elegance. I repeated my question, and he, with great good-humor, responded that he had no claim upon the place, and was delighted to finda companion of similar tastes; I went on undressing without more ado, and in a minute more was ploughing about in the water, the first nip ofwhich had an icy and almost maddening delight in it. I found out lateron that the stream came almost straight from the mountain-tops of iceand snow. 

"You would not have bathed here five or six hours ago, " said mycompanion, as he swam beside me. "The storm lasted but two hours, yetthe river was raging here until long after midnight. It falls, however, as soon as it rises, and now, except for the wet banks, you would hardlyguess that it had been in flood. "

I had reason to remember what he said not very much later on, at amoment perhaps as anxious as any I have ever had to face in my life. Butthat will come in its place, and I only notice it here because itwas one of those odd things in life that we all notice at one time oranother, that at our first accidental meeting the man whose business itwas to guard the prisoner I had come to rescue should give me a bit ofcomforting knowledge in this way. For my companion turned out to be noneother than that Lieutenant Breschia of whom Brunow had spoken. Whenmy swim was finished he gathered up his clothes in a neat bundle, andholding them in the air in one hand, paddled himself easily across withthe other, and dressed beside me. 

"It is ambition of mine, " he said, in a laughing, boyish way, which madehis manner very charming and natural, "to learn your English tongue. But I am stupid with it, and whenever I meet an Englishman I waste mychances and converse with him in one of the tongues I know already. Youare great masters of language, you Englishmen. "

I told him that we bore a very indifferent reputation in that respect, and that next to the French, who in that one regard are the mostintractable people in the world, we were probably less acquainted withforeign languages than any people in Europe. He looked surprised. 

"I think, sir, you rate yourselves too low. May I offer you a cigar? Ican assure you of its quality, for I import my own. It is true that Ihave not met many Englishmen in my time, but I have met none who havenot been admirable linguists. A friend of mine, an Englishman, who wasin this neighborhood but a few weeks ago, is one of the finest I haveknown. He may perhaps be known to you. Have you ever met, may I ask, thehonorable Brunow?"

This gave me a little inward start, and I had begun to guess alreadyat the identity of my companion. I bit the end from the cigar I hadaccepted from him a moment before, and asked, "The Honorable George Brunow?"

"That is he, " cried the young fellow, delightedly. "You know him?"

"He is my companion, " I replied. "I left him asleep at the auberge lessthan an hour ago. "

"You are the friend of my friend Brunow!" he exclaimed. "Sir, I amdelighted to meet you. And Brunow is here again? What news! And do youstay long? Oh, once again life will be bearable. In this dull hole, sir, I pledge you my most sacred word of honor, a man has but onecontemplation; his thoughts are all towards suicide. Figure for yourselfthe life we lead here: the commandant a bachelor of sixty, and "--helowered his voice and bent laughingly to my ear--"a bore the mostintense, the most rigid, the most unbending, conceivable by the mindof man. But pardon me--that is my name. You have not travelled in thisdirection with Brunow without hearing it?"

"No, indeed, " I answered. "Brunow has spoken of you hundreds of times. I have no card, but my name is Fyffe. Brunow shall give us a formalintroduction by-and-by. "

I did my best to carry off the situation, but I doubt if I achieved anyvery great measure of success. I can say honestly that if there is onething in this world I abhor with all my heart and soul it is treachery. And there was no escape from the fact that I was here for the expresspurpose of playing the traitor with this amiable and friendly youngfellow, and there is no escape from the fact that I was bound to goon playing the traitor with him, to receive his friendly advances, toaccept his welcome, and all the while to plot and plan to work away fromhim the prisoner it was his duty to guard, and for whose safe-keepinghis reputation at least, and perhaps his life, was responsible. Thisreflection kept me awkward and constrained, but luckily for me he tookno notice of my clumsiness, but rattled on as if he took an actualdelight in the sound of his own voice. 

"Brunow, " he declared, "is the most delightful man I have ever known. The common complaint I hear against your delightful countrymen, MonsieurFiff, is that they are devoid of _esprit of verve_--that they are tooalive to their responsibilities, that they live in a cave of depressionof spirits. As I say, I have not known many; but I have not found themso, and Brunow least of all. Brunow in his gayety, in his wit, is Frenchof the French. An astonishing man. Though, even here--in that infernalfortress yonder where I suffer incredibly from _le spleen_--I laugh whenI am by myself, and when the face and voice of Brunow present themselvesto my memory. What conversation, eh? What inventions! What a noble_farceur!_ Let us go and see him. "

He set off at an impetuous pace, which he moderated almost immediately;and gayly chattering all the way, led me--feeling like a villain atevery step, yet not in the least relaxing from my purpose--to thehostel, where we found Brunow chaffing the landlady, who was alreadybusy in the preparation of our breakfast. The impetuous LieutenantBreschia fell upon his neck and kissed him on both cheeks, and Brunowreturned the salute with heartiness. I may as well let the fact out atonce and have the declaration over: I was beginning to have a seriousdislike for Brunow, though I strove to subdue it, trying to reflecthow much our rivalry, of which he knew nothing, might possibly warp myjudgment of him. At that minute I felt a downright twinge of hatred andcontempt for him; and his kisses made him seem like a sort of Judas inmy eyes. I did not pause to reflect that the kiss meant no more to himthan a shake of the hand means to a man who has been bred in England, and it is a form of salute which--though I have been familiar with thesight of it for years together--I cordially hate. Those beastly SouthAmerican Spaniards, among whom I fought, were always at it, with theirbeards scented with garlic and tobacco! It was a form of salute I hadhard work to avoid at times; but I should always have been ready toastonish the man who had succeeded in getting at me in that fashion. Iloathed Brunow for his acceptance and return of that caress; and yet theman-was doing no more than his breeding demanded of him; and if he hadrecoiled from his friend he would have insulted him. I loathed myselfbecause this duplicity was necessary to our plan, but I never proposedto myself for a moment to go back from the plan itself. I stood pledgedto Miss Rossano to rescue her father from that horrible long-drawnimprisonment if the courage, or the wit, of man could compass it; and Imeant, with all my heart and soul, to keep my word. In spite of that Ihad no stomach for the means it was necessary to employ; and at lastit came to this: in place of hating and despising myself for using themeans, I took to hating and despising the Austrians for making the meansnecessary. 

In less than a minute Brunow was justifying his friend's opinion of himby an extravagantly farcical story of our adventures by the way, andthe young Austrian was laughing at him as if he would burst his stays. I knew, of course, that he wore those feminine additions to the toilet, because within the last hour I had seen him take them off and put themon again; and the effeminacy of that trick, which was of course merelynational and professional, and not in the least to be charged againsthim personally, added to the disgust I felt at him and at Brunow, andat the whole Austrian nation, and at myself, and at our jointtreachery--Brunow's and mine. 

So I carried my own moodiness out into the village street, and suddenlyremembering that I was smoking a cigar the harmless, merry-heartedyoungster had given me, I hurled it away and walked hotly along the roadin a state of mind altogether unenviable. I brought myself to reason ina quarter of an hour, and got back to the inn in time for breakfast; butI know that I made poor company, and sat there glum and silent whilemy two companions shouted with boisterous laughter, and drank more winethan was good for them at so early an hour in the morning. 

At last Brunow shook hands with the lieutenant, and embraced him intothe bargain, and kissed him, and was kissed on both cheeks again, theyoung officer having to go back to his duty. I escaped the kisses andwas let off with a hand-shake, with which also I would gladly havedispensed if I could. 

Then Brunow and I were left alone; but he was so full of hisconspirator's caution--developed in a minute when there was no need forit, and likely as soon to be forgotten when it was wanted--that thoughnot a soul in the house could understand a word of English, he would notspeak to me until he had led me into a deep pine wood at the back of thehouse, and on the first slope of the mountain, and even there he wentpeering about and beating the bushes and undergrowth with a stick, asif he had been a stage-spy, until I lost temper with him, and shouted tohim to begin. He came and sat mysteriously at my side. 

"You see, " he said, "how I stand with Breschia. I can have the run ofthe fortress at any time, and so, if you play your cards properly, canyou. "

"Was there any need, " I asked, ill-humoredly, "to bring me here to saythat?" I admit that I was in a quite unreasonable temper, and that anangel would have been tempted to quarrel with me. I called Bru-now "amelodramatic ass" I remember very well, and I told him that if we fellinto a habit of getting in the corners to conspire we should onlydraw suspicion upon ourselves. I spoke with a roughness altogetherunnecessary, but then it must be remembered that Brunow, whom I was fastlearning to dislike and despise, bade so far to be of more service thanmyself, and it is always bitter to be beaten by an inferior. I stunghim, and he replied angrily, and the result of it was that we separatedfor the day. I went uphill, and by-and-by lost myself and came quiteunexpectedly upon a highway, from which I could look down upon thefortress. Being assured by this that I could not easily lose myselfagain, I walked for a considerable distance, until from the top of ahill I could look down the straight road into a broad and fertile plain, with a city far and far away shining on the limit of it. 

"This, " I said, "is the road we shall have to travel if ever we get theConte di Rossano out of prison. "

And following the mental road pointed out by this finger-post ofthought, I sat down and allowed my fancy to carry me into all manner ofworthless and impracticable plans of rescue in which I could dispensewith Brunow's aid. I was engaged in this unprofitable exercise, whenI suddenly discerned a carriage near the hill-top. It came on withdifficulty, and the two horses that drew it were dead blown when theyreached the level, and stood trembling with their late exertion. Astrikingly handsome woman put her head round the front of the carriageas if to look at the road before her. Catching sight of me she smiledand addressed me in the language of the country. I responded in French, and in that tongue she asked me how far it still was to Itzia. I toldher as nearly as I could guess; she thanked me, and then leaned back inher carriage, waiting until the horses should have rested. In duetime she drove on, with a little inclination of the head so regal andcondescending that she might have been a princess at the least. When shewas two or three hundred yards away I arose and followed. The carriagewent out of sight in a little while, and I thought no more about it orits occupant until I saw the vehicle itself standing empty at the doorof the inn. 

The lady was seated in her rich dress in the common room, and she andBrunow were talking like old friends. Brunow's anger was no more lastingthan a child's, and by this time he had quite recovered his good-humor. 

"Oh, here you are, old fellow, " he cried, genially. "Baroness, permit meto introduce to you Captain Fyffe. Fyffe, this is the Baroness Bonnar. "

CHAPTER IV

When I saw the lady face to face I perceived that she was older thanI had fancied her to be, and I saw that she adopted certain devices tohide the ravages of time which had, as they always have, the effect ofemphasizing them. I wonder if women will ever learn the perfect follyand uselessness of that sort of trickery. 

The Baroness Bonnar was very gracious in her manners, but she seemed tome much less like a real great lady than like an actress who played atbeing a great lady. I am not very penetrating in that respect, and, asI have said already, I knew next to nothing of women and their ways, andso I was not disposed to trust my own judgment, but put it on one sidewith a certain contempt and impatience of myself. As a matter of fact, as I found out not so long afterwards, the Baroness Bonnar was no morea baroness than I was a baron, but simply and merely an adventuress whohad spent some time on the Vienna stage, where she had secured no greatsuccess. She was now one of that almost innumerable band of spies wholived at that time in the service of the Austrian government. She wasnot a very clever woman, I am inclined to think, but she had beenclever enough to induce a high official to fall in love with her, andby keeping this high official hanging off and on she had contrived toobtain promotion in her abominable calling far beyond her intellectualdeserts. Brunow, it seemed, had known her for a year or two, but Ilearned afterwards that he had made no guess as to her real business inlife. 

The foolish fellow was so delighted at the unexpected opportunity for aflirtation that the whole purpose of our journey seemed to be forgottenby him. The baroness, with her maid and her coachman--. Who were bothon the same pay with herself (without her having the least guess of it), and reported all her doings to her superiors--stayed only one night inItzia, and then went on to a village some dozen miles away, where sheput up with some friends of hers who had a country-house there. Thennothing would please Brunow but that he must hire a horse and rideoff to this country-house, and spend hours in the society of the shambaroness, while our scheme for the release of Miss Rossano's father hungin the wind, without making even a sign of progress. 

The young lieutenant was almost my only companion, and once or twicehe dined with me at the inn, and twice I had breakfast with him inthe fortress; but these interviews with him brought me no nearer to mypurpose. A third invitation brought something in its train, however, and, to tell the truth, I asked nothing much better than to have Brunowout of my scheme. The matter came about in this wise: Breschia and Iwere seated in his private room, when a non-commissioned officer enteredwith his report for the day, and stood, forage-cap in hand, at attentionwhile his superior read it over. Some conversation ensued between them, which my ignorance of the language prevented me from following; but Iunderstood the phrase with which Breschia brought it to a close. 

"Send him here, " he said. "Send him at once. "

The non-commissioned officer saluted and retired, and Breschia turnedlaughingly on me. 

"We have here an original who is always getting into trouble. A goodfellow, and an honest servant, but so incorrigibly kind-hearted thathe is always breaking our rules. I shall have to be serious with him inspite of myself. "

He poured out a cup of black coffee as he spoke, and set it with abottle of maraschino and an open box of cigars at my elbow. I hadscarcely selected and lit ray cigar, when there came a tap at the door;and at the lieutenant's call to enter a man in uniform came in, and, having closed the door behind him, stood rigidly at attention. Breschiaaddressed him in a tone of anger, which sounded real enough, and theman stood like a statue to receive his reproof. There was nothing in theleast degree remarkable about the fellow, who was just a mere simple, common soldier. He was attired in a sort of fatigue costume, and lookedand smelled as if he had just been sent away from stable duty. Hisshort cropped hair was of a fiery auburn, and his rough features, with aprodigious mustache and the most ponderous over-beetling eyebrows I hadever seen, gave him a look rather of ferocity than of good-nature. Butwhen in answer to the lieutenant's rating he began to excuse himself, it was evident even to an ear so untrained and ignorant as mine thathe spoke in a language which was not his own. He spoke haltingly andstammeringly; and at last, despairing of making himself understood, hemade a little motion of his hands without moving them from his sides, and so stood as if to receive sentence. Again Breschia spoke to him, andagain the man responded. The lieutenant broke into a fit of laughter, and the man stood there immovable, with his little fingers at the seamsof his canvas trousers, and his rugged visage frowning straight beforehim. 

"Go!" said the lieutenant, speaking, to my surprise, in his own haltingEnglish. "You are too much a silly fellow. Go; and do it not again. . . . Eh? Will you?"

"Well, sir, " the man answered, speaking, to my astonishment, in goodnative-sounding English, "I'm sorry to displease, and I try to do myduty--"

"Hold your tongue, " cried Breschia, and the man obeyed at once. "Beholda man, " cried the lieutenant, turning upon me and speaking in hiscustomary French, "who has been in the English army, and who is asincapable of an idea of discipline as if he were a popular prima donna. "

"Oh, " said I, turning round on the man and addressing him in English, "you have been in the army at home, I hear?"

"Yes, sir, " he answered, saluting me as he had done the lieutenant onhis entrance. "Two-and-twenty years, sir. "

"You don't mind my talking to the fellow?" I asked the lieutenant, reverting to French again. 

"Pas du tout, " said the lieutenant. "Vous le trouverez bien bête, jevous promis. "

"How long have you been in the Austrian service?"

"Not in the service at all, sir. General's groom, sir. "

"You're in fatigue dress?"

"Yes, sir. Old custom, sir. Like the feel of it, sir. "

"Been here long?"

"Ten years, sir. "

"Why, how's this? You don't look a day over forty. "

"Forty-two, sir. Joined the band at home as a boy. Sixteenth Lancers, sir. "

"What's your name?"

"Hinge, sir. Robert Hinge, sir. Son of Bob Hinge, sir. Tattenham Fancy. Champion of the light-weights years back, sir. "

"Oh! What have you been getting into trouble about?"

"Beg your pardon, sir. Mustn't talk about that, sir. Discipline, sir. Can see as you're an officer. That ought to be enough, sir. "

"Quite enough. Drink my health, _if_ there's anything fit to drink itin. You don't object, Breschia?"

"Not at all, " the lieutenant answered. "You have done with him? Verygood. Go. And let me hear of you no more, or I shall report you. To yourgeneral. Do you hear?"

The man saluted and went out. 

"He is so good, and so stupid--that individual there, " said Breschia, gladly plunging back into a more familiar language than English, thoughI could see he was proud of having acquitted himself so well in thattongue. "He is so stupid and so good, but I do nothing but laugh at him. But Rodetzsky is a martinet, and if he were here just now the man wouldbe in trouble. "

"What has he been doing?" I asked. 

"He has been smuggling tobacco to the prisoners, " Breschia answered, and all of a sudden I found my heart beating like a hammer. Was thisthe man, I wondered, who had shown compassion to Miss Ros-sano's haplessfather? And was he therefore the man of all others whom I needed to layhands on? If that were so it seemed nothing less than a providence thatthe man should be English, for my ignorance of all the patois dialectsof the country, and even of its main language, made the speech of theAustrian soldiers a sealed book to me. 

Did it ever happen to you that you have met a person whom you havenever heard of and never thought of before--a person who was destinedto affect your fate in some way--and that from the first moment ofyour encounter you seemed fated to renew acquaintance with him? It hashappened more than once to me, and it happened so in this case. Thatvery afternoon, when I returned from a lonely tramp upon the hills, I found the man Hinge in the kitchen of the inn. He bore a note fromBreschia to Brunow, and was awaiting the return of that gentleman, whowas once again away in pursuit of the _soi-disant_ baroness, but hadpromised to be back in time for dinner. When I entered the kitchen todemand a draught of milk, the man rose up and saluted me, and explainedhis errand. In the course of my ramble I had had hardly anything butthis man in mind, and I had been planning to make use of him. When I methim all my plans seemed to go to pieces. I shall have to confess beforeI have done with it that I am the poorest plotter in the world. Give mesomething downright to do, and I will try to do it; but in dodges andevasions and pretences I have little skill indeed. I took the note fromthe man's hand and promised that Brunow should receive it. Then I drankthe milk which the landlady's daughter had already set before me, andstood there tongue-tied and bewildered, not knowing how to begin. Theman himself relieved me. 

"Excuse me, sir, " he said, taking his glass in his left hand, andsaluting again with the right. "Your health, sir. "

"That's poor tack, " I said, nodding towards the glass. He had made agrimace over the wine. 

"Well, so it is, sir, " he replied; "but it's better than nothing, andit's about all we poor folks can afford, sir. "

"Did you ever taste Scotch whiskey?" I asked him. He smiled a slow smileas if he remembered something pleasing. 

"Why, yes, sir, I have, sir, and I won't deceive you. "

"Come to my room, " I said, "and I'll give you as good a glass as youever tasted in your life. "

He set down his glass of sour wine on the table with an emphaticquickness, and his soldierly tread sounded behind me in the uncarpetedpassage and up the bare deal steps. When he came to my room I bade himsit down, but he remained standing, and I had to give the invitation asan order before he would obey it. Then he sat like a figure carved inwood, with his shoulders back, his head well up, a hand on either knee, and a face as expressionless as the back of his head. I got my flask outof my knapsack, and with it a little collapsible cup of silver, foundthe water-bottle, and set everything before him. 

"Help yourself!" He took a thimbleful. "Help yourself, man!" He tookanother thimbleful. I seized the flask from his hand and poured himenough for a good tumbler. "Now, there's the water; help yourself tothat. "

He obeyed, and tasted the mixture with a solemn satisfaction. 

"My friend, Lieutenant Breschia, tells me, " I said then, for bythis time I had made up my mind how to begin with him, "that you areconstantly breaking the rules of the fortress. He tells me that you havebeen giving the prisoners tobacco. "

"That's a fact, sir, " he admitted. 

"Give them some more, " I said, "first chance you get. " I laid a goldcoin on the table before him, and sat down in front of him. "I'd givesome of the poor beggars something better than tobacco if I had my way. "

"And so would I, sir, " he answered. "And the Lord knows it. It needn'tall go in tobacco, I suppose, sir?" He had taken up the coin and washolding it in his thumb and finger by this time. "Any kind o' littlecomfort 'l do as well, sir?"

"Any kind of little comfort, as you say, " I answered. 

"Thank you, sir, " he said, pocketing the coin. "You're an Englishman andyou're a gentleman, sir, and I'm very much obliged to you. "

I made no answer, for I wanted to see if my man would talk. I thought helooked as if he would like to ease his mind. 

"You haven't been over the fortress, have you, sir?" I shook my head. "Miserable kind of an 'ole it is, sir, for a man to live in. I think Ishould go stark, starin', ravin' mad if I was to live there long, sir. "

"So bad as that?" I asked. 

"You may well say that, sir, " he rejoined. "I've got a nice, easy, comfortable place along with the general, and I don't want to lose it. So long as we're in Vienna or anywhere else but here, I'm satisfied. Buthere! Why, good Lord, sir, it's simply sickening. "

I supposed it was pretty dull. 

"Oh, it's dull enough, sir, but it ain't that. It's what you may callsuch a miserable hole, sir. There's nothing like it in old England, thank God, sir!"

"Have they many prisoners here?" I asked. 

"Prisoners, sir? There's a regular rookery of 'em. The place swarms with'em. I should think there's a matter o' five hundred, as near as I canguess. "

I ejaculated "Nonsense!"

"Don't you believe it's nonsense, sir, " he answered. "They're as thickon the ground as rats in an old rick, sir. P'litical prisoners most of'em is, sir; Eyetalians, mainly. Of course one doesn't value that kindo' rubbish much. They're foreigners, sir, every man Jack of 'em. Butthen, sir, these damned Austrians ain't no better, and they treat theirprisoners like they was so much dirt beneath 'em. "

"You look like an honest fellow, " I said, "but you're not very discreet. Suppose I repeated what you have told me to the general?"

"Why, sir, " he answered, with a twinkle in his eye, "I don't supposeyou'll do that, sir; but if you did, sir, the general's got a goodgroom, sir, and he knows it. He's a judge of a horse, sir, and he knowswhen a horse is in condition. And, besides that, he knows my opinionabout these here Austrians, sir. "

No, I thought to myself. Robert Hinge sounds very plausible, looks veryhonest, and is undeniably an Englishman. But supposing Robert Hinge tohave been put purposely in my way this morning as a very good-naturedand very stupid fellow, and supposing Robert Hinge to have been sentover to me on purpose to draw me out? Quite possible, quite likely, indeed--quite in the Austrian manner, as all the world knew well. 

"Don't get yourself into more mischief, anyway, " I said, rising from myseat. He took the hint, finished his glass standing, and left me witha military salute. I sat for a full hour smoking and thinking, occupiedmainly in wondering whether I had thrown a chance away. There wasnothing to be got by wasting time, and I worried myself into a state offeverish nervousness by thinking that this man Hinge was probably a trueand genuine fellow, and that I had missed my chance with him. It was theclattering of a horse's hoof in the back yard of the inn that awoke mefrom my reverie, and looking out I saw Brunow in the act of dismounting. He waved his hand to me, and surrendering his horse to a hostler, entered the house. I heard Hinge address him in English, and then hecame tearing upstairs. The note Breschia had sent to him lay uponthe table, and when he had read it he shouted from the stair-head, "Certainly. My compliments to the lieutenant, and we will come withpleasure. "

"Here's Breschia suddenly left almost alone, " he explained when here-entered the room. "He writes apologizing for troubling us with hispoor hospitality so often, but will I go over and take you with me?He declares it will be a charity, and in the great hereafter will beremembered in our favor. "

I was willing enough to go; and the hour being already near, we madesome slight change in our attire and strolled across to the fortress. Breschia met us gayly and entertained us well, but nothing of notehappened at the dinner. We sat late over our wine, and it was pitch darkwhen at last we rose to go. Breschia at first insisted on accompanyingus, but, to tell the plain truth about the matter, he had taken morethan was altogether good for him, and was not to be trusted to returnalone. We compromised for a man with a lantern, and on that shook handsand took our leave. A man in uniform met us at the gate of the grimplace, and was about to set out with us when Hinge appeared, and, without a word, took the lantern from his hand. As we made our way alongthe dark and stony road, with the little circle of light dancing andwaving in front of us, Hinge stumbled against me twice or thrice. Atfirst it crossed me that he had been making free with the gift of thatafternoon, and that he had spent a portion of it for his own benefit, rather than that of the prisoners, in whom he professed to take so greatan interest; but at the third or fourth lurch he gave it dawned upon methat with his left hand he was groping for my right. Brunow was just astep in front of us, and I held my hand out openly. The man slippedinto it a twisted scrap of paper, which I transferred carefully to mywaistcoat pocket. 

"Here's the bridge, gentlemen, " said Hinge, "and that's the inn rightbefore you, where the lights are. "

"All right, " I answered. "We can find the way now quite easily. Good-night!"

"Good-night, gentlemen, " he answered, and so turned away, while Brunowand I footed it home in silence. 

We occupied the same room, and I did not care to read whatever messageI might have received in his presence. He had proved so lukewarm inthe enterprise on which we had both embarked, and had now so apparentlyforgotten all about it in dancing attendance on the Baroness Bonnar, that I should have made no scruple of leaving him out of my councilsaltogether. When he had half undressed I made some pretence of wantingsomething from below, and read my missive in the kitchen. It was late, and the room was empty. 

I was not surprised to find I knew the handwriting, and that it was thesame that Brunow had shown me in his rooms on the night on which I hadfirst seen Miss Rossano. 

This is what I read:

"The wretched prisoner, the Conte di Rossano, who has languishedfor years in this fortress, asks, for the love of Heaven, that theEnglishman for whose hands this is meant will send a line to theContessa di Rossano, daughter of General Sir Arthur Rollinson, to assureher that her husband still lives. If she should still live, and haveremarried, for pity find some means to let the writer know it. "

I went to bed saying nothing of this, but held sleepless by it allthe night. With the idea which had come to me that afternoon of thepossibility of Hinge being set upon me to act as a spy and to discovermy intent so strong upon me that I could not shake it off, I tossedand tumbled in a very sea of doubt and trouble. I was more than halfpersuaded all along that this fancy was a mere chimera, and yet it tooksuch force in my mind. It was past two o'clock when the moon rose. Igot up noiselessly, filled and lit my pipe, and sat staring at the greatsolemn bulk of the fortress, as it stood for the time being almost whitein the moonlight against the monstrous shadow of the bills. My mindwas in a miserable whirl, and I knew not what to make of anything. Thiswretched state lasted until broad dawn, and I was still troubled by itwhen I walked into the keen morning air, towel in hand, for my customaryswim. I undressed slowly by the river-side and stood thinking, until Iwas so nipped by the keen breath of the wind which blew clear down fromthe mountain-tops that I plunged into the stream for refuge from it. Iremember as distinctly as if it had happened a minute ago, that at thevery second when I dived an impulse came into my mind. I thought as Istruck the water, "I'll trust that fellow!" I dived far, and swam underwater until I was forced to rise for air. "I'll trust that fellow!" Ithought again; and as I passed my hand across my forehead to squeeze thewater from my hair, I saw "that fellow" on the very top of a little riseof land which lay between me and the fortress, and hid it entirely frommy sight. 

I swam back to the place from which I had originally dived, towelledmyself hastily, dressed, and set out at a round pace towards the bridge. I reached it when he was within a hundred yards, and with a signal tohim to follow, sauntered on towards the pine wood. 

A backward glance assured me that he had seen my signal and was coming. 

CHAPTER V

"You gave me that last night, " I said, holding the scrap of paper beforeme. "You knew what was in it?"

"I didn't know, sir; I guessed. Poor gentleman's wife, sir? I thoughtso, sir. "

"Robert Hinge, you're an Englishman, and you've served your queen. "

"And king as well, sir. King William was on the throne when I joined, sir. "

"How long have you known this unhappy gentleman, this Count Rossano, whois imprisoned here?"

"Eight years and over. "

The man stood bolt upright before me until I gave him the word to standat ease. I questioned him closely, and with a growing belief in him. This was the substance of what I heard from him: He had been in GeneralRodetzsky's service for a year or thereabouts when he first came tovisit the fortress. The stables in which the general's horses werebestowed were in themselves beautifully tidy, but outside, immediatelybeside the door, was a great heap of manure and rotten straw, theaccumulation of years, which was an eyesore to the new groom, who tookimmediate measures for removing it. He was at work at it a whole day andthen left it. Returning a week later to his task, he thrust the prongsof his pitchfork through a pane of glass which lay hidden by the rubbishheap, and heard not only the crash and fall of the glass itself, buta startled cry. A peasant was in charge of the cart which was carryingaway the refuse heap, and Robert Hinge took no apparent notice of thiscry. He knew that the fortress was a prison. He had heard queer storiesabout the treatment the Austrians gave their prisoners. His interestwas awakened, and his fancy began to be excited. When he had filled thecart, and the peasant had gone away, Hinge cleared from the wall theremainder of the heap, and found that he had laid bare a grated windowalmost on a level with the ground. The glass was so thickly incrustedwith filth as to be as opaque as the wall by which it was surrounded, but at the broken pane a face appeared. The man in telling me the storywas honestly moved. He could not describe the condition of the man hesaw without imprecations on his jailer and the whole country that heldthem. He told me that the prisoner's hair grew to his waist, and was ofa dreadful unwholesome gray; that his beard and mustache were matted, his eyes were sunken, and his face was unwashed and of the color ofstale unbaked bread. The man spoke with difficulty, but had a fairknowledge of English, though he seemed unused to it. He had inhabitedthat hole in the earth for years. How many years he did not know untilHinge, in answer to his questions, told him the date of the year and theday of the month. The conversation was interrupted by the coming ofan officer, and Hinge covered up the window before anything was seen. Afterwards he broke a few more panes and heaped clean straw againstthe wall to hide the window, but in such a fashion as to admit air andlight. Many hundreds of times he had sat outside his stable door withinarm's-length of the prisoner, and had listened to him while he talked. They had a preconcerted signal at which the prisoner instantly ceasedto speak. Food and water were thrust in upon the unhappy man at regularintervals, but he was never visited, and lived a horrible, lonely deathin life there, which made the flesh creep to hear of. The stench ofthe chamber Hinge described as something horrible and sickening, and hethought it a marvel that the man had lived so long. 

The wretched man had never been allowed a minute's exercise outsidehis cell, and Brunow's pretence of having seen him was, of course, aninvention. That did not surprise me, but I hated Brunow for it. Theman's shallow and worthless spirit could go hovering about a tragedylike this with his butterfly irresponsible lies. The thought made meangry. 

"Hinge, " I said, when the groom had told me all he had to say, "I amgoing to trust you with a secret. I think you are the man to keep it. Iam going to ask you to help me in a difficult and dangerous bit ofwork. I think you are the man for the job. If we succeed, I am going topension you handsomely for life. "

"Thank you, sir, " said Hinge. 

"Walk quietly with me and listen. I am going to have a try to set thatman free. You hear?"

"Yes, sir. "

"And I am going to ask you to help me. "

"Yes, sir. "

"Will you do it?"

"If I can, sir. "

"Very good. Now when can we talk this matter over and get it ship-shape, and see what is to be done?"

"My time's my own, sir, " Hinge answered; "and being mine, sir, it'syours. "

I turned into the deeper recesses of the wood, and Hinge followed me. I had resolved to trust him, and I have never been a believer inhalf-confidences. I told him the errand which had brought me there. Itold him of the countess's early death, and I told him of my meetingwith her daughter and of the promise I had made to her. I set before himthe fact that, if the venture succeeded and he gave me his aid in it, he would find wealthy friends and protectors. I told him that I wasnot myself a _rich_ man, but I showed him Miss Rossano's letter and thedraft I had for a thousand pounds. 

"Better send that money out of the country, sir, " he said, quietly. "They're queer beggars, these Austrians, and they wouldn't be abovecollaring the lot if we got clear of the country with our man aforeyou'd got the coin out o' the bank. "

"And now, how to set about the work, Hinge?"

"You give your orders, sir, and leave 'em to me. "

"Tell me what you can. Now, how about the guards? Is the prisoner's cellwatched on all sides?"

"There's a man on stable sentry at night-time. In the day-time nobody'son watch on my side. "

I had provided myself with a flexible-jointed saw and a small bottle ofoil, and they were packed in my knapsack now. I asked Hinge if he wouldpass these to the prisoner, and he declared that he could do it easilyand without the slightest danger of discovery. 

He caught eagerly at the idea, and assured me that two or three of theiron bars which guarded the window were quite rotten at the bottom, andcould be sawn through in an hour. The day-time would be safest, and hewould undertake to be near, to cover any sound which might be made, andgive warning of any danger. 

"Gettin' out o' the cell is as easy as pie, sir, " said Hinge. "That'sall right. But gettin him out o' fortress--that's another pair o' shoesaltogether!"

I thought hard for perhaps ten minutes, and then I fancied I saw my way. Half a dozen questions cleared it. The general was away in Vienna. Thetime of his return was uncertain. There were half a dozen horses underHinge's charge. It would surprise nobody if a message came from thegeneral ordering Hinge to meet him at any hour with two led horses. Ifhe knew when that hour would come he could have the prisoner ready inuniform, and they could ride out together. But to do this we should needa written order from the general, which would have to pass the officeron duty. That order once being passed and sent on to him, Hinge would beanswerable for the rest. 

This threw a dreadful difficulty in the way, but the groom was readywith a partial help. He had received a similar order which had beencountermanded, and therefore never surrendered, as it would have been ifhe had passed the gates with it. He thought he knew its whereabouts, andhe would look for it. 

In effect, he found it, and found means to send it on to me. It wasscrawled in pencil from a posting place on the road to Vienna, distantfrom Itzia four-and-twenty miles English, or thereabouts. I pored overthis document in my own room, and made many heart-breaking attempts toimitate it. They were absolute failures, one and all. I had no facultyin that direction, and my own hand stared at me from the writtenpage the more plainly and uncompromisingly for every effort I made todisguise it. Apart from the utter vileness of the imitation, I did noteven clearly understand the words employed, and for aught I knew mightbe giving an order which, if put into execution, would be useless for mypurpose. 

I was compelled, unwillingly, to appeal to Brunow. He made light ofthe business, and in less than an hour he brought me an imitation whichlooked completely deceptive. He had been able, he told me, to trace thegreater part of the order on the window-pane from the original I hadgiven him to imitate; for the rest, to my surprise and gratitude, Brunowvolunteered. He took advantage of our next meeting with Breschia totell him that he was off on a three or four days' sketching expedition, leaving me behind. He commended me to the lieutenant's friendlyhospitality with all his usual gayety of manner, and on the followingmorning he rode away. The arrangement made between us was that he shouldreturn at about ten o'clock on the following night with news of thegeneral's approach. The general's horses should appear to have come togrief somehow, anyway (he guaranteed to find a plausible story), and Brunow was to pretend to have ridden on with a message orderingremounts. Then Hinge was to meet us at a given point, we being on foot, and we should all make for the frontier with speed. 

So long as I live I shall never forget that day or the day that followedit. Hinge was advised of everything, and no doubt was doing all thatneeded to be done, but the suspense was scarcely bearable. To saunterabout and look at those impenetrable walls, and to wonder what was goingon behind them--to invent a thousand accidents, any one of which mightwreck our plans for good and all, and to suffer in the contemplation ofeach of these inventions of my own as much as I could have sufferedif it had been true, to read knowledge or suspicion in every innocentglance that fell upon me, to fear and suspect everybody and everything, and to keep a constant guard upon myself lest I should seem for aninstant to be anxious and preoccupied with all this weight upon me--allthis was an agony. I am not afraid to confess all this, for I have shownmore than once that I am not deficient in courage of my own kind. Buthere I was a very coward, hateful and contemptible to myself. 

The long day passed, and the long night, and then the real day ofwaiting came. The thing that weighed upon me most of all was that whileI knew that every minute of rest and tranquillity I could snatch mightbe of moment to me, rest and tranquillity were absolutely impossible. For two whole nights I had not closed my eyes in sleep, and my brainseemed on fire. My nerves were going, too, under this intolerablestrain, and I feared that if a crisis should arise I should lackcoolness, and plunge into some avoidable disaster. 

But the day wore itself out at last, and at ten o'clock at night I waswandering along the road by which Brunow must come, and listening withmy soul in my ears for the first distant noise of hoof-beats. The sunhad gone down in a bank of threatening cloud, and before the moon rosethe last look I had taken at the hills which hemmed us in on every sidehad shown them seemingly hidden by driving mists, which travelled at anastonishing pace, betokening a wild wind up there, while the valley layin a hot stillness. The light of the moon was in the sky long before sherose above the mountains, and I could see that the wild work up therewas growing wilder every minute. The wind was descending, too, from itslofty altitude, and I could hear it now roaring and now muttering in thegullies like a discontented giant. 

In the course of that waiting I was often mistaken in the sound ofdistant hoofs. I was tricked at least a thousand times. Now it was thewind in the trees, now it was a gurgle in the river, now it was a murmurof life in the village, now it was the movement of a goat, a cow, or ahorse upon the hill-side. But at last I caught the real sound, and knewit at once from all the noises which had till then deceived my fancy. The rider came along at a good round pace, and in a while I heard Brunowsinging--a signal to me, no doubt. I called aloud "Hello! that you, Brunow?" and he answered with a whoop, expressive of high spirits. Therewas light enough to see me as he passed without drawing rein. 

"I've a message from the governor to the officer in charge, " he shouted. "Meet you at the inn by-and-by. " There was no reason why we should havemet at all, but the sense of precaution which touched me in his wordsallayed my anxiety a little. If by any very improbable chance anybodywithin hearing had understood him, the pretence justified itself. Itcould do no harm, and it was worth while to look natural. I betookmyself at once to the point we had agreed upon for a meeting-place, andwaited there in a renewed suspense, to which all the wretchedness ofwaiting I had hitherto known seemed as nothing. Suddenly the wind tookme with a great gust, which almost carried me off my feet; a clap ofthunder directly overhead seemed actually simultaneous with a piercingglare of lightning, and the rain came down in torrents. After the flashof lightning everything looked so impenetrably black and formless that Imight as well have stared about me with my eyes shut, but a secondflash showed me the gate of the fortress quivering in the light, and sodistinct and near that I might have believed it no more than a stone'sthrow off, though I knew it to be a full mile away. In the suddenhowling of the wind and the pelting of the rain I could hear nothing, but I kept my aching eyes fixed in the direction of the fortress, andover and over again I saw it leap out of darkness distinct and seemingnear, but quivering as if it were built of air and shaken by a wind. Theriver, which flowed quite near me, began to take a roaring and ominoustone, and I grew anxious lest the ford we meant to attempt three or fourmiles below should have become impassable by the time we reached it. To have passed through the village would have betrayed the fact that wewere going in an opposite direction to the one proposed, and might haveexcited suspicion and immediate inquiry and pursuit. While the rivergrowled in a more and more menacing tone beside me, I began to wishthat our arrangements could be recast. We might easily have dared thevillage, trusting to a half-hour's start and the chapter of accidents, while now the swollen ford might delay us for whole hours. The planscould not be changed, however, and there was nothing to be done butwait. 

I was wet to the skin, and dazed by the noises of the storm, and wearywith want of sleep, but every sense of fatigue vanished when I saw, bythe glare of the lightning between me and the fortress, the recognizablefigures of Brunow and Hinge on horseback. There was a third horsemanwith them, and a led horse, and for a fraction of a second I could seethem all wildly prancing and leaping together, as if the beasts weremaddened by the storm, as no doubt they were. It seemed an hour--I haveknown a day seem to go by more quickly many a time--when another flashshowed them nearer, like a dark group of statuary, the horses quiveringat the glare, and the heads of the riders bent against the wind andrain. I ran forward, not daring to call, and found them again in thelightning and lost them again in the dark half a dozen times. When atlast we met I hailed them in a guarded tone, though it was a marvel tome that nobody was abroad at such an hour. Brunow replied boisterously, and I mounted in the dark, being half doubled as I did so by a kickfrom one of the plunging horses. I was fortunately too near for the fulleffect of the blow, but the hoof took me at the hipbone, and for themoment paralyzed me. I had much difficulty in getting astride my ownbeast, but I judged it best to say nothing of what had happened. Allsense of power had gone from my right leg, and I could get no grip uponthe saddle; but as the first sensation of numbness passed away I becamepersuaded that no great hurt was done, though I was in much pain andfound a difficulty in keeping my seat. 

The fear of the horses made this no easy task, for at every flash theyreared and broke away, and the ground over which we rode was difficult, and would have been uncanny even in the daylight, so that we made slowprogress. I had travelled the way repeatedly, for this was the route bywhich I had decided to travel if ever we were so lucky as to be allowedthe experiment, and I never had more reason to be thankful for my owncare and foresight. 

These mountain storms are very often things of an hour, and so to-nightit proved. By the time we had reached the ford the thunder and lightningwere far away, the wind had sunk to an occasional sob and moan, the rainhad cleared, and the moon rode high in a mass of skurrying cloud, whichat times obscured her light and at times left her almost clear. But theriver was terribly swollen, and it was evident that we should not beable to cross it for a considerable time. 

So far not a word had been exchanged among us; but now that we werecompelled to pause, I turned to our companion and looked at him, in suchdim and changing light as there was, with a profound interest. He satwith a tired stoop in his saddle, and his head was bent upon his breast. He wore a peaked forage-cap and a large, rough, military cloak, whicheffectually disguised his figure. 

"This is the Conte di Rossano?" I asked, leaning towards him. 

"The same, sir, " he answered, in a voice which I shall never forget. "Iknow from my faithful friend here, to whom I am indebted, but I cannotdistinguish my friends as yet. "

"This is the Honorable George Brunow, sir, " I said, "and I am CaptainFyffe, at your service. "

"Mr. Brunow, " he responded, raising his forage-cap and bowing, "CaptainFyffe, my dear friend Corporal Hinge, I am without words to thank you. God knows I thank you in my heart!"

His voice failed him altogether then, and we all sat silent for a time. 

"What are we waiting for?" asked Brunow. "Every minute is precious. Letus push along. "

"You see the ford, " I answered. "It may be passable in an hour, now thatthe storm has ceased; but at present--"

"Great God!" cried Brunow, with a savage impatience in his tone. "Why didn't we cross by the bridge? We could have made four times thedistance by the road!"

"It was a mistake as things have turned out, " I answered; "but we boththought it best when we talked things over the night before last. "

"I never thought it best!" cried Brunow, fuming. "Hark! What the devil'sthat?"

There was no need to call our attention to the sound, for everybodyheard it. There was no need to ask what it was, for it was impossible tomistake it. It was the sound of a cannon from the fortress. We stared ateach other in the uncertain light. 

"That's my fault, gentlemen, " said Hinge, calmly. "They've found thestable sentry, and he's told 'em what has happened. He came up, sir, "addressing himself to me, "just as the count was climbing out o' window. I knocked him on the 'ead of course, but they go the rounds at midnight, and they've come across him. Not a doubt about it. "

Just as he finished speaking another gun sounded. We were between threeand four miles away, but in the stillness of the night it seemed muchnearer. 

"And with a good road under us we might by this time have been withinhalf a dozen miles of the frontier and safe. "

"Safe?" said Hinge. "Quite so, sir. Safe to run into the ground at thetoll-gate, sir. We're a lot better off where we are. I know CaptainFyffe's plan, sir, and it's the best whatever happens. "

"Gentlemen, " said the count, "let us dismount and rest our horses. Wemay have need of all that they can do for us. "

A third gun banged from the distant battery. The river was raging beforeus. The clouds parted, and the full moon shone down with a light almostas clear as that of day. 

CHAPTER VI

Pursuit was afoot, and what should be done to avoid it no man amongus could guess. The foaming river ran in such volume that only madnesswould have attempted to ford it. Flight was cut off, and of courseresistance was hopeless. The first place our pursuers would make forwould be the bridge and the ford, since they were the only roads bywhich we could hope to reach the frontier. To take to the mountainswould have been a purposeless folly. We could look for nothing butstarvation and ultimate surrender there. 

Happily for myself I was in my element again. We were forced intoinaction once more, but it was a form of inaction which differedfrom that weary waiting which had so torn my nerves for the pasteight-and-forty hours. 

"I suppose, gentlemen, " I said, "that, in any case, surrender is out ofthe question. "

"I decline, " cried Brunow, "to be the victim of your folly. If you hadtaken the road we should have been out of danger long ago. You chooseto be caught like a rat in a trap, and I wash my hands of the wholebusiness. I shall walk back to the inn. "

He was already in the act of dismounting, when Hinge spoke. 

"I wonder, " he said, very dryly, "what them Austrians will think of thegentleman as brought the letter from the general?"

Brunow settled back in his saddle with a muffled exclamation, and spokeno more. 

"Gentlemen, " said the count, "if there is any possible way of escapewithout me I beseech you to take it. "

Nobody answered. We sat for a long time in silence, and the river roaredby. We strained our ears to listen, but not a sound reached us from thedirection of the fortress. The night, late so stormy, was quite lightand quiet. An intense silence reigned on the hills, and not a sound washeard but the noise of the tumbling, hurrying water near at hand. 

When I had gone to look at the ford I had taken keen note of everything, for to have mistaken the spot might have been fatal to us, even if nopursuit had been started. I had noticed a rock which stood in mid-streamabout a score of yards above the ford, rising some four feet above thelevel of the stream. When we had reached the water-side this rock hadbeen invisible, and I could only guess how deeply it was covered. Inoticed on a sudden that its forehead was bare once more, and I staredat it with my heart in my eyes until I was persuaded that it was growingabove water every instant. The river ran in this spot in a perfecttorrent, with an incline, I should say, of nearly three feet in ahundred. The stream bore off the rainfall of a whole net-work of hills, but at the pace at which it ran it could not take long before itwould become passable at some risk. I said nothing as yet, but theconversation I had held with Lieutenant Breschia on the morning ofour first meeting filled my mind with hope. The torrent seemed no lessnoisy, but measuring it by the projecting arms of the rock I could seethat it was falling with a greater rapidity than I had dared to hopefor. Within ten minutes it had dropped six iuches, but for the next tenminutes it hung stationary; and sometimes to my fancy seemed to gain. The thousand mountain rills and watercourses which helped to fill itsbed, and which had themselves been latest to receive the rainfall, werecharging down with new forces; and thinking of this I almost surrenderedmyself to despair. But I had not even yet given way, when the volume ofwater fell with an astonishing suddenness, and in little more than fiveminutes by my watch I could see a foot of the rock clear. 

At ordinary times the ford was about a foot deep, and even then therapid incline of the ground sent the shallow water swirling along atsuch a pace that it made a horse's foothold on the sliding pebblesprecarious. Now it was four feet deep at least, and to cross at presentwas as impossible as it had been half an hour before. But as I watchedit became more and more evident that the stream had received its lastimpetus, and the very element of speed which made the passage dangerouswould diminish danger every moment. 

The river seemed to grow noisier as it fell, chafing against obstacleswhich it had hitherto overflowed, and listen as one might we could makeout nothing but its sullen roar. I told Hinge what I had noticed aboutthe stream, and with a few words to my companions I rode until the noiseof rushing water was no longer oppressive to the ear, and listened withall my might. I heard a thousand distant-seeming noises, which had inthem no reality--shoutings and stealthy whispers, the thud and jingleof cantering troops of horse, lonely far-away footfalls, all mannerof phantom sounds. Suddenly, in the midst of these illusions, my heartstood still for a mere half-beat at a noise which I knew in an instantto be real. A troop of cavalry at a gallop crossed the wooden bridgewhich spanned the river a couple of miles away. It sounded like a pealof thunder, but I knew what it meant well enough. The pursuers would beahead of us, and every pass and pathway would be threaded, and guardswould be everywhere. 

Half an hour passed away without bringing anything further, and I rodeback to the ford. All three of my companions were watching it with anabsorbed and gloomy interest, and the rock by which I marked the fall ofthe stream stood a clear three feet above its surface. 

"Let us try it now, " I counselled, and was heading my horse at thewater, when Hinge interposed. 

"What's the depth, sir?" he called out to me. 

"About two feet, " I answered. 

"Then I shall wade, " said Hinge. "It 'll give the hoss more confidence, and I'll back leather against iron for a foothold. "

I saw the force of his advice, and, dismounting, I stepped cautiouslydown into the stream. At first the rush of water carried me off my legs, and if it had not been that I had firm hold of the reins, and that myhorse still stood on dry land, my share in the enterprise would in allprobability have been then and there over. As it was I succeeded inregaining a foothold; but though the stream reached only to mid-thigh, it swept along with such violence that I had all my work cut outto stand against it. My horse, encouraged by hand and voice, cametremblingly after me, and the others followed. The stiffest bit of allthe crossing lay at the point where the rush of water diverted by therock caught us, and here we were at the deepest. This spot once passedwe were under partial shelter, and from the centre of the stream thebank rose so rapidly that in half a dozen yards we were scarcely kneedeep. We gained the farther bank and remounted, and then I called acouncil of war. 

"I have already gone over the ground we shall have to travel, " I began, "and we ought to be within three hours of safety. But the alarm has beengiven, and we shall find every pass guarded. What is to be done?"

"Sir, " said the count, "I have no claim upon you or your companions. I thank you from my heart for your brave attempt in my behalf. But thefates are against us. For my own part, I counsel that we resign thestruggle, and that you do your best to cross the frontier singly. Ishall not be taken alive. "

"There is no going back, " I answered. "It is no safer now to abandon theenterprise than to go on with it. We are not likely to be intercepteduntil we reach the pass. My advice is that we ride as far as we dare, and then take to the hills on foot, avoiding the passes. We shall have ascramble for it, but life and liberty are worth that. "

"Neither life nor liberty should have been in danger, " said Brunow, sullenly. "It is your fault if they are, and if I lose either throughyour folly, on your head be it. "

I reminded him that we had laid our plans together, and that they hadhad his full approval; but he was not in a mood to listen to reason, andI got no answer from him but a grunt of anger and disdain. The councilof war had not served any very great purpose so far, and I turnedaway with a touch of desperation in my mind. I rode on, and the othersfollowed. We skirted a wood which stretched from the river towards thenearest range of hills, and our horses' footfall on the turf, sodden asit was by the recent raiu, made hardly a sound. We kept well in shadow, and had advanced perhaps a couple of miles, when I made out the highwayat a little distance looking like a broad ribbon in the moonlight. Suddenly a bugle-call shrilled on the air, and while we shrank closerinto the shadow of the trees a tumult of hoof-beats filled the quietnight, and a whole squadron of cavalry came in sight, riding full tiltin the direction of the fortress. We could feel the reverberation causedby the galloping mass beneath us, and in a minute they were out of sightand almost out of hearing. 

"That's a curious thing, sir, " said Hinge, speaking almost at my ear. 

"What is a curious thing?" I asked. 

"That is, " he replied, stretching out a hand in the direction of thevanished body of horsemen. "They've left nobody to guard the roads. "

"How do you know that?" I asked, eagerly. 

"I counted 'em as they went by, " he answered. "There's every mounted manthey've got in the place. They're all there down to the farriers. I'm aborn fool, I am, " he added, in an accent of the greatest delight. "They've never been after us at all, sir. It's a bit of midnight drill. That's what it is. I'll bet the road's as clear in front of us as everit was. "

After the fright we had had the news seemed too good to be true, but abrief consultation decided us to act on Hinge's hope, and to push boldlyforward. We made for the highway, and following it at a road trot foundourselves breasting the first upward slope of the pass within a quarterof an hour. By-and-by the hills began to enfold us round, but the moonrode high and the road was clear and firm. For the first mile or sowe kept an anxious outlook, but as the minutes went on our fears ofinterruption grew fainter, and our hopes rose to fever heat. We were allwell mounted, our horses were fresh and full of vigor, and to all butone of us the ride itself was the merest bagatelle. But I noticed, riding side by side with the count, that he was reeling in the saddlelike a drunken man, and at one moment he gave such a lurch towards methat if I had not been at hand to support him he would have fallen tothe ground. 

"I am weak, " he said, as I checked his horse and mine. "It is no wonder. I am surprised that I have come as far. "

He spoke with a gasping voice as if in pain, and with one hand claspedto his side. 

"No hurry, " I answered. "Let us go at an easier pace. "

He soon recovered, and professed himself ready to push on again; buthalf a mile at the old pace brought him once more to a standstill. Igave him a little brandy from a flask with which I had been carefulto supply myself, and once more he managed to ride on. From this timeforward, however, he had to be watched with the utmost carefulness, andhis feebleness so delayed us that we were a good three hours later inTeaching the end of the pass than we had expected. I had ascertainedthat the downs, which showed the frontier line, might be skirted bytaking a lonely and difficult road to the right within a mile or so ofour exit from Austrian territory. I had ascertained also that a sentrywas on duty on this pathway night and day, his main duty being toprevent the passage of contraband goods. That we should have to dealwith this fellow was an absolute certainty, and had been from the first, but it was easier to reckon with one man than with the dozen posted atthe barrier. 

We had come at so easy a pace that our horses showed no signs ofdistress or travel, and by this time the daylight was shining broadly. The dawn was two hours old, and there was on the face of thingssuspicion in our being on the road at such a time. Already the land ofpromise lay in sight, when the last obstacle to be encountered on ourjourney presented itself. The sentry sat as if dozing, with his riflebetween his knees, but at the noise of our approach he sprang to hisfeet and hailed us sharply. We had passed a quick bend in the road, andhad come upon him rather suddenly. We had already decided to ride up tohim without reply, but he cocked his piece and called on us to halt. Iwaved my hand to him and we all rode on quickly. He seemed puzzled andirresolute for a moment, but he ended by clapping the butt of his rifleto his shoulder, and sang out "Halt!" once more. 

"Good! good! my friend, " I answered. "We are Englishmen, and travellers. There is no need to fire. "

My foreign accent was proof enough that we were strangers, and hehesitated again. I was almost abreast of him by this time, and wishinghim a good-day I was in some hope of being able to push by withoutfurther parley, but he set himself in the way with his rifle across hisbreast. 

"What brings you travelling this way?" I made him out to ask. "You haveno right to pass by here. Take the lower road, " he added, with a gesturewhich helped me to his meaning. 

"We have passports, " I told him, producing my own paper and holding ittowards him. "This is my friend, and this is my servant. The guide theygave us at Itzia has fallen ill. "

"You cannot pass this way, " he answered, gruffly, disregarding thepassport. "You must go round by the lower road. "

"My good fellow, " Brunow broke in, airily, "you mustn't talk nonsense. We are going by, and there is an end of it. This gentlemen and I arepersonal friends of General Rodetzsky's. We have been on a visit to myfriend Lieutenant Breschia at the fortress at Itzia, and we are now onour way to Pollia. That is the town below there I believe. "

I more than half made him out at the time, and he confirmed my guesseslater on. Suave and easy as he was, he made no impression on the sentry, who stood there immovable, bent on duty. 

"We don't want to be troublesome, " said Brunow, "and it's too absurdto talk of one man stopping four. Look at our papers if you like, andthere's a little something for yourself. " He threw the man a gold coin. The fellow stooped to pick it up, and we rode on like men whose businesswas accomplished. He ran after us, shouting and gesticulating for aminute or two, but we paid no heed to him, and in a while he left us toourselves. 

In five minutes we were breathing free air in a free land. 

Half an hour later we rode into the main street of the town and hammeredat the gate of a hotel. When we had awakened everybody else in theneighborhood our summons was answered by a sleepy hostler, who admittedus to the yard and took in our horses. A sleepy waiter appeared andled us to a room, the shutters of which were still closed against thedaylight. We asked for coffee; and the man having thrown open thewindow to admit the light and air, and having gone away, I turned to ourrescued prisoner, who had fallen all in a heap on a couch in one cornerof the room. 

Until now I had but little opportunity of observing him, for he hadridden all the way wrapped up in his great common soldier's cloak withits big collar turned up until it obscured every feature but his eyesand the mere point of a beak-like nose. Now, as he lay in an attitude ofexhaustion, I went to assist him to a position of more comfort. I tookthe hook-and-eye which fastened the collar of the cloak and drew themapart; and such a countenance revealed itself as I never saw before, andpray Heaven I may never see again. A huge sweeping beard descended tothe waist, and its whiteness was obscured by filth incredible. The longlocks that mingled with it and overlay it on either side were ropedtogether and tangled beyond hope of severance. The face was horriblypinched and meagre, and was of the color or want of color which yousee in plants which have grown wholly in the dark. I will not describefurther what I saw--what loathsome evidences of foul neglect. I have noheart for it, and I feel as if it insulted the memory of a gentleman torecall the evidences of the long and miserable martyrdom he hadendured. They had kept him stabled like a wild beast--those accursedAustrians--for twenty years, and during all that time the martyredwretch had never known the use of the simplest appliance of cleanliness. In all the years I have lived I have never met a man who was morecompletely a gentleman by nature--more fastidious in his nicety of dressand person. I had to learn that afterwards; but for the moment, whetherrage or pity or repulsion most filled my heart at this first clear sightof him, I could not have told. I think he saw nothing but the horror inmy face, for he blushed crimson, and started to his feet with his coarsecloak clutched about his neck, and stared at me half appealing and allashamed. 

If I had had one of his jailers to account with at that moment it wouldhave gone ill with him, I fancy. I have lived to see the death of thathorrible tyranny, and I know now, that outside the borders of the oneblackguard power which still darkens in the East, no such a life as thisman had led is possible for any political prisoner in Europe; but evennow, when I am an old man, and ought to be able to take things quietly, my blood surges in my veins when I think of that one minute of my life. I was no milksop, and I had led a soldier's life, and had seen plenty ofthings that were not pretty to look at. But I was horrified, and I can'teven write about it now without the old wrath and disgust and shame. 

I got the poor gentleman a room to himself, and when, in the course ofa few hours, the town was alive, I wandered out into the streets andbought a pair of scissors. Any old campaigner may be a tolerable barber, and I was a pretty good one. I trimmed the late prisoner into decency, and with my own hands carried up a pail of water, a piece of soap, and towels. I had taken good stock of him, and carried his bodilymeasurements in my mind when I went out again to an outfitter's, takingHinge with me to translate. I bought underclothing, and a suit ofclothes; and I took back a shoemaker with me, and when the-count haddressed sent the man to him to try on a number of pairs of boots he hadbrought with him in a basket. 

When the Conte di Rossano, clothed like himself for the first time intwenty years, came into the room in which breakfast was set for us, Ihardly recognized him, though I myself had taken part in bringing aboutthe transformation which had been worked in him. He came in alert anderect, and for a mere second looked every inch a gentleman. But thebroad light to which he had been so long a stranger made him blink, andsent his hand to his eyes. He came across to the table with a falteringand uncertain tread, and with a curious crouch in his walk. It struck mefor the first time then, but I saw it so often afterwards that I almostceased to notice it at all. For an instant pride and liberty had buoyedhim so that he could present a passing semblance of what he had been, but the change fell upon him as quick as lightning, and no flash oflightning could have blighted him more dreadfully. He approached thetable shuffling, with bent head, and purblind eyes peering this way andthat. I placed a chair for him, but he seemed uncertain what to dowith it until I helped him to seat himself. The filthy floor of thatunspeakable dungeon had been his only seat and couch for a score ofyears. 

He sat crouching at the table as if hugging himself together for warmth, though the day was balmy, and the sun was bright and hot outside. Whenhe drank he took his cup in both hands as an ape would have done, and ashe tasted the fragrant coffee he made an animal noise of satisfaction. He caught himself at this, and a swift tide of crimson passed over hisface; but a minute later the old felon habit was upon him again, andI saw him tearing his bread with his teeth in quite the jail-bird way. Looking at his thin hands, I saw that he had clipped his nails; but theskin had overgrown them, and had split into ragged fragments. I caughthim peering at them in a distasteful way, and when he detected me in theact of watching him he hid them beneath the table. 

We were still at table, when there came a sudden bang at the door, andwithout waiting for any reply in walked a gentleman with every sign ofthe public functionary about him, cocked hat, official stick, and all. He bowed, closed the door, stepped forward, and bowed again. 

"The gentlemen speak French?" he asked. 

I answered in the affirmative, and our visitor announced himself asthe _huissier_ of the magistrates court. It was his duty to demand ourpresence before the bench. On what ground, I asked. The functionaryresponded fluently and with an evident sense of his own importancethat we had passed the frontier without showing our papers, and by anunrecognized route; that one of us was an escaped political prisoner;that the others were charged with assisting in his flight; that alieutenant of lancers had been sent to demand our return, and that wewere at once to appear at court. To all of which I answered flatlythat we would not go; whereupon the functionary retired, leaving, as wediscovered afterwards, a guard outside the house. A little later came agentleman in official robes, who turned out to be the chief-magistrate. He explained his errand with some pomp. 

"Sir, " I said, when he had come to a peremptory end, "I am an Englishmanand a soldier. Here are my credentials. This gentleman, the HonorableGeorge Brunow, is a son of Lord Balmeyle, and is also an Englishman. This gentleman is the Conte di Rossano. "

And here, to my surprise, the Conte di Rossano arose from his seat atthe table, and, turning towards the official, with one hand on the backof his chair, said, in a clear, loud voice:

"Also an English subject! I was naturalized before my marriage, " headded in a changed tone, and so sank into his seat again. 

"You hear, sir, " I said, respectfully. "I am about to order a carriage, and in half an hour shall leave the town with these gentlemen and myservant on my way to England. Any official person molesting us will beheld officially responsible for his conduct. "

The mayor wavered. 

"I have the honor, sir, to wish you a good-day. "

I opened the door, and in walked Lieutenant Breschia. 

"These are my birds, " he said, laughingly. "I haven't the pleasure ofbeing acquainted with this gentleman, " signalizing the count, "but Idare say we shall learn to know each other. "

"My dear Breschia, " cried Brunow, "we are sorry to have defrauded you;but you know us, and you know it will not pay to meddle with us. Weare on neutral soil. We are all three British subjects. You have noauthority here, and you know it. "

"Eh, bien!" said the lieutenant, laughing still. "Civis Romanus sum. Hisexcellency, the mayor, will bear out my statement that I came and sawand strove to conquer. You do not find it in your competence, sir, toarrest these gentlemen, who are all subjects of the British crown?"

"It is not my affair, " said the mayor. 

"And I am not authorized to employ force, " said the lieutenant. "We arenonplussed, Monsieur le Maire. "

"It would so appear, " said the puzzled functionary; and being bowed fromthe room by the lieutenant, he retired. 

"Civis Romanus sum, " repeated Breschia, when we were left alone. "It isa great saying. And so you positively won't come back?"

"Positively we will not, " said Brunow. 

"Then, positively, " returned the lieutenant, "I will go back and reportmy failure. "

"Permit that I condole, " said Brunow. 

"Permit that I felicitate, " answered Breschia; and so with a burlesquefriendly bow on either side they parted. 

CHAPTER VII

It was a strange and memorable journey home with the escaped prisoner, and men have been rarely more embarrassed than Brunow and myself. Wehad to deal with the strangest creature, a thing alternately beast andgentleman, sensitive in every fibre of his nature, and so animalized bythat awful life of imprisonment that he was a constant dread and terrorto himself. To see him slinking in his corner of the railway carriageor any room at our one or two halting-places, dull, blear-eyed, withhis fingers tapping at his teeth, was pitiable and dreadful, but not sopitiable and dreadful as to see him grow suddenly conscious of his stateand aspect and awake to some shamefaced effort to arouse himself andreassert the manhood that had once been in him. 

The most astonishing thing in him was the way in which, through allthese silent and horrible years, he had possessed his faculty ofspeech. He had been an exceptional linguist in his youth, and he wasan exceptional linguist still. He was most companionable and leastembarrassed with us when he was in the dark, and it was in the dark onthe deck of the steam-packet which carried us to Dover that he gave methe secret of his retention of this faculty. 

He sat with one arm thrown over the vessel's rail and with his face halfaverted. 

"Do you know, sir, " I said, after trying in a dozen ways to draw himout, and after having failed in all of them--"do you know, sir, that Iam quite sure of one thing about you?"

"What is that?" he asked. 

"During all those years of cruel solitude you never abandoned the hopeof freedom. "

"How should you know that?" he demanded, with a strange and vividmanner. I had never known him so roused and interested, even when I badtold him of the existence of his daughter. 

"You have carefully preserved your power over language, " I answered. "You would never have cared to do that if you had not had some hope offuture freedom. "

"I had no hope of freedom, " he returned. "But everything else had gonethat held me from the beasts, and that I determined should not go. I amno poet, but I have occupied myself in making verses. I have done intoverse every incident of my life, and the character and aspect of everyperson I have known. I have translated every line into every language ofwhich I am master. I have hundreds of thousands of lines in my head--howcan I tell how many? They are poor enough, I dare say, but I could talkevery working day for weeks and not exhaust them. They are in French, Italian, German, English, Spanish, in Greek and Latin, in the patoisof a half-dozen districts of my native country. How many hundreds ofthousands of hours have had no other occupation. But for that I had gonemad, my friend. "

He rose and began to pace the deck, and I watched him. The night wascalm, and the sea was like a mill-pond. Sometimes he forgot himself, and prowled with bent shoulders and clasped hands in a limited space, walking to and fro, with a sharp check at the end of such briefpromenade, as if an invisible world had put a limit to the space hemoved in; that was the jail-bird's gait, and the prison limits wereabout him again to his unconscious memory. Then, at other times he wouldassert himself with an effort only too visible. He would lift his head, throw out his chest, and march the full length of the deck with anassurance of freedom and manhood. But the slouching gait was always backin a minute, and his unconscious fancy began to confine his footstepsonce more. On a sudden he paused in his walk and stretched out his righthand. 

"That light?" he said. 

"Dover, " I answered. "We shall land in half an hour. "

We were fortunately alone, for I would not have had it happen in thepresence of a stranger for a thousand pounds. I had scarcely spoken whenhe dropped his face into both his hands and broke into an hysteric fitof crying. His limbs failed him; and in the passion of his emotion hewould certainly have fallen to the deck if I had not put an arm abouthim. His poor body was all crate and basket, ribs and spine; and thewretched man's skeleton figure shook in my arms as if each sob were anexplosion. He laid his head on my shoulder at last, and I put my otherarm round him and held him to my breast. I love my country, and I thankGod for her daily that she is free, and has taught the world the lessonsof freedom, for that is the great and just pride of all Englishmen; butI never blessed her in my heart as I did then. 

"God bless the dear old land, " I said. "There is freedom there atleast. "

I did not know that I had spoken until he answered me. 

"There is freedom there, " he said, in his foreign voice, broken withsobs. "Thank God for freedom. "

The town lights were almost blotted out for me; but I hugged him andpatted him with less shame than I should have felt if he had been anEnglishman. He disengaged himself at last and shook me by the hand, andbegan his promenade again. Before we had exchanged another word we wereslowing alongside the pier, and men were bustling along the deckand racing beside us on the land. Brunow came on deck, and Hinge gottogether our simple baggage. 

We had but just landed when I saw two ladies, whom I recognized at once. Miss Rossano and Lady Rollinson were waiting to meet us. Miss Rossanocame to me and took my hand in both hers. 

"Thank you, Captain Fyffe, " she said. "My father is here?"

"You are my daughter?" said the count. 

She bent and kissed him on the forehead gravely, and with perfectself-possession. An onlooker, who had known nothing of the story, wouldhave guessed little from their meeting. They had a carriage in waiting, and Miss Rossano led the count towards it. 

"You will join us at the Lord Warden?" she said. And at that minuteBrunow approached her. She took his hand in both of her own, preciselyas she had taken mine; but entered the carriage without a word to him. Now, I have said nothing lately of my feeling for Miss Rossano; butanybody who reads this record may be sure that what had happened since Ihad last seen her had not tended to put her out of my mind. I knew thatI was going to be very happy, or very unhappy, about her. I knew thatthe power lay in her hands to make my life mainly cloud or mainlysunshine. That was quite settled in my own mind by this time, and mywife and I have laughed a thousand times and more about it. Yes; I knewscarcely anything about her, and yet I was prepared to fight in theassurance that she possessed every virtue and every grace of characterwhich I have since proved in her. This is the folly of love; but it isat the same time that which makes it so beautiful. Most young men, andmost young women, live to be disillusioned. But I fell in love withbetter fortune, if with no more discretion, than the average mandisplays, and after many years of trial and happiness I know my wife tobe a better woman than I had power to guess all those years ago. And Iknow, as every husband of a good wife knows, that I was a much betterman than I could ever have been without her influence. 

All this leads me away from what I meant to say, which was simply thatMiss Rossano's wordless reception of Brunow made me furiously jealous ofhim, and altogether dashed my happiness. She had spoken to me--_ergo_, she could speak. She had not spoken to him--_ergo_, the emotion ofencountering him was too great for her. We had been six years marriedwhen I told her of this. 

I saw her with both hands reached out to help her father into thecarriage. I saw her beautiful face, so soft and serious and lofty in itslook that I have no words to say how it touched me. The carriage droveaway. Hinge shouldered our bit of luggage easily, and Brunow and Iwalked up to the hotel side by side. We were met in the hall by a waiterwho asked us if we would go to Lady Rollinson's sitting-room in half anhour, and then Brunow and I went to a private room of our own, and drankeach a pint of English ale, as every Englishman did on reaching theLord Warden in those days. It was a libation to liberty, the health ofwelcome home which the loneliest traveller poured when he felt himselfupon his native land again after an absence however temporary. 

When we had got through this ceremony we sat glum and silent enough, and I have since thought it likely that Brunow was as much hurt at thedifference in our greetings as I had been. For Miss Rossano had thankedme in words and had not spoken to him, and he was probably reading thething the other way about. But he was much more at home within himselfthan I was, and at any time I don't think he was capable of any verydeep feeling. Perhaps I do him less than justice, and we are all apt tothink our sensations more striking and real than those of other people. 

At the appointed time we went out into the corridor and walked to theroom which bore the number the waiter had already given us. I tappedat the door, and Lady Rollinson admitted us. The count sat in aplush-covered arm-chair and his daughter leaned above him with a hand oneither shoulder. The scene looked purely domestic, and if a stranger hadseen it he would have discovered nothing unusual in it. At the moment atwhich I entered the count's hand strayed to his shoulder, and for a mereinstant touched the hand which rested there. His daughter's hand closedupon it and held it, and she looked up with her beautiful face brightwith feeling. 

"Be seated, gentlemen, " said the count, and we obeyed him. "I have triedto thank you often, but I have never succeeded. I shall succeed lessthan ever now, but I thank you. "

Lady Rollinson sat in one corner of the room with some trifle of woman'swork in her hand, pretending to be busy over it. She looked up at MissRossano once or twice, and it was plain to see that she had been crying. As for the girl herself, her eyes shone, her beautiful lips were apart, her color came and went, and it would have been evident to the dullestsight that she was deeply moved; but she showed no sign of having shedtears, and looked altogether brave and exultant. It was a beautifulthing to notice the caressing and protecting air with which she leanedabove the count; and it was strange to read the likeness which existedbetween her bright young face and his worn lineaments. 

We had paused more than once upon our journey, and he was in allrespects trimmed and dressed as became a gentleman. As he sat there withhis face alight and his whole manner animated, there was no trace ofthe jail-bird period about him. I remembered the man I had first seenat Pollia--the man with the colorless face, the sunken eyes, the mattedhair and beard--and was puzzled to identify him with the polishedgentleman who sat before me. And yet, in spite of the disguise, thejail-bird was back again in as little time as it would take to snap yourthumb and finger. The cloud lowered upon him in a second, and he satbiting his nails with an air altogether lost and furtive. I think hisdaughter first read the change in him from my own look, for after oneswift glance at me she bent over him and gazed into his face. He seemedunconscious of her presence or of ours. 

"You were saying, dear--" she said, and there halted. 

He looked up with an undecided half-return to his former brightness. 

"I was saying--" he began, and then stopped, as if searching in his ownmind for the clew to what had passed a moment earlier. 

"You were thanking Captain Fyffe and Mr. Brunow. "

"Gentlemen, " said the count, with a complete momentary repossession ofhimself, "I know not how to thank you. You have seen enough already toknow that the life I have led this many year's has left its mark uponme. I fail in words--sometimes, to tell you the whole truth, I fail infeelings. There are moments when I have not even the heart to be gladthat I am free again. But you will understand, and you will forgivebecause you understand. If words of gratitude do not come easily to mytongue, it is not because you have not deserved them. "

"The man who really deserves the thanks of all of us, " I answered, "isCorporal Hinge. Without him we should have been nonplussed; withhim everything fell out in the simplest way. We have encountered nodifficulty, and run no dangers. "

"But, " said Brunow, in his lightest and airiest fashion, as if hedisclaimed credit in the very act of claiming it, "I need hardly tellMiss Rossano that in fulfilling the commission we accepted at her handswe should have been delighted to encounter either. As it was we had themost extraordinary good-fortune in the world. The whole thing has been achapter of happy accidents. "

"It pleases you to say so, " said the count; "but my daughter and I enjoyno less the privilege of gratitude. "

The position was embarrassing; for the more I thought about it the moreI saw how little we had done, and how plain and simple a piece of dutyit had been to do that little. 

"Your father is tired, Miss Rossano, " I said, taking the shortest wayout of the difficulty. "You and he, besides, will have a thousandthings to say to each other with which nobody else will have a right tointerfere. " I rose and held out my hand, and she came from behind herfather's chair to meet me with an exquisite frankness. 

"You shall have my thanks, Captain Fyffe, " she said, "all my life long, whether you disclaim them or not. And you too, Mr. Brunow. I suppose weall go to town together?"

The count had risen from his seat while she spoke, and stood before uswith one hand stretched out to Brunow and the other to myself. "I ampoor in words, " he said, with a shaking voice; "I am poor in everything. But believe me, gentlemen, I thank you, and shall thank you always. Forwhatever of life is left to me I am yours. "

Two or three tears rolled over from his bright, sunken eyes, ran downthe deep-channelled line in his cheeks, which misery and solitude hadbitten there, and rested in his white mustache. He gripped our handshard, and, turning away from us, sat down again. 

We said good-night in hushed voices, as if we were speaking in a churchor a sick-chamber, and came away. 

Even at this, distance of time I am ashamed of my own sensations;but when I got away to my own room my whole feeling was one ofdisappointment and dissatisfaction. I had meant to do everything bymyself--to have had no rival, to have brought back Miss Rossano's fatherunaided, and to have taken whatever gratitude was due for that serviceentirely to myself. As it turned out, I had done nothing. The originaldiscovery of the count's whereabouts was entirely due to Brunow. Withouthim the expedition would have been fruitless, and but for the pureaccident of Hinge's presence we should both have been helpless. 

My bedroom window overlooked the sea, and I sat at it for three or fourhours, smoking and staring across the motionless waste of water beforethe truth about myself occurred to me. When it came it brought as littlecomfort as the truth is apt to bring. I saw that my whole purpose hadbeen to do something that should make me look noble and exceptional inMiss Rossano's eyes, and that the recovery of a living man from thatinfernal dungeon meant almost nothing in contrast with my own selfishwishes. 

It took a long time to swallow that pill, and it took a longer time yetto digest it; but it had a wholesome effect upon me, and I was all thebetter for it in the end. 

When I got down into the public breakfast-room I found Brunow there inthe act of making inquiry of a waiter as to the hour of the arrival ofthe London papers. I attached no particular importance to the fact atthe moment, but a few minutes later I passed him in the corridor andfound him repeating the same inquiry to another waiter; and a littlelater, when we were seated at table together, he propounded the samequestion to a third. 

"You're in a hurry for news, " I said. 

"I want to see what they've made of it, " he answered, smilingly. "Thelocal man down here seems to be a smartish sort of fellow, and I wascareful to see that he had the facts all right before he went away. "

"What local man? What facts?" I asked. 

"My dear fellow, " said Brunow, smiling and waving his table-napkin inthe air, "we are people of distinction, and under the circumstances ourcomings and goings are naturally chronicled. We shall have a receptionin town, I promise you. "

I understood by then what he had been doing, and I was almost as muchashamed as if I had done it myself. He had taken the trouble to blazethe whole affair in the newspapers; and when, an hour later, the trainwhich brought the London journals down to Dover arrived at the station, I was there with him to meet it. He was so obviously satisfied with hisown action that it would have been useless to say a word to him. And yetI fairly boiled over when I saw the travesty of the whole adventure withwhich he had duped the _Times_. One would have supposed from the storywith which he had primed the representative of that journal that wehad run every conceivable kind of risk, and had, by our own courage andcunning, surmounted every obstacle the wit of man could compass. Allthis was absurd enough and annoying enough, but the introduction ofMiss Rossano's name into the narrative looked altogether wanton andunwarranted, and, I dare say, now that I can recall the whole thing incool blood, that I was more disturbed and angry than I need have been. Brunow took what I had to say with imperturbable good-humor, and wasaltogether satisfied with himself. 

"We shall have a crowd to meet us, " he prophesied. "There are thousandsof Italian refugees in London at this minute, and they will all be thereto cheer the illustrious Fyffe, and the no less illustrious Brunow. Allthe exiled noblemen who live in Hatton Garden, and make London stand anddeliver at the barrel-organ's mouth, all the dukes and counts who shaveand teach dancing, and sell penny ices, and keep cheap restaurants, willbe there to welcome their delivered compatriot. The railway terminuswill be odorous with garlic and the humanity of Italy. Fyffe, my dearfellow, we shall have a glorious day. "

When I told him, as I did, that he was a thick-skinned idiot andbraggart, he looked amazed. But I left him to his surprise, and tookwhat precautions I could against the newspaper falling into the hands ofMiss Rossano. We all travelled to London together at her request, andI had some difficulty in persuading Brunow that I was in earnest ininsisting that she should see nothing of the nonsense he had caused tobe written and printed about our expedition. 

"My dear fellow, " he declared, "the man was eager to get the news, andwould have printed three times as much if I had felt inclined to give ithim. You can't expect, " he went on, "to do a thing of this kind at thistime of day and not have it talked about. And of course it's best to letthese press fellows come to the fountain-head and get the plain, simple, unadulterated truth. "

This, in face of the story he had told, was so monstrous, and, when Icame to think about it, so astonishingly like him, that I forbore to sayanother word, except to warn him that the newspapers should not reachMiss Rossano with my good-will. 

He gave in at last, though he grumbled a great deal, and was evidentlyas far from understanding me as I was from comprehending him. 

We made a dull party on the whole, for nobody could help feeling thatthe count and his daughter were absolute strangers to each other, orthat our presence was a little awkward at the time. It was ridiculousto try to talk commonplace. It felt brutal and unsympathetic to sit insilence, and almost equally brutal and unsympathetic to say a word ofwhat was nearest to all our hearts. But if we had been embarrassed onthe journey, all our memory of it vanished for the moment in the deeperembarrassment of the reception which Brunow's babble had prepared forus. His prophecy of what would happen was fulfilled, and more thanfulfilled. The platform of the terminus swarmed with people of everynationality known to London, and everybody there present seemed crazywith excitement. How, or by whom, our little party was singled out wasbeyond my power to guess. But we were recognized in a moment, and inanother moment were swept asunder from each other amid such a polyglotbabel of voices as I had never heard before. People were laughing andcrying and cheering and fighting all at once, and I had a glimpse ofthe count in the arms of a score of mustachioed, sallow-featured men whowere weeping and shouting, and hugging and kissing him and each otherlike a pack of lunatics inspired with the instinct of welcome. I wasfaring little better at the hands of the populace, though I cooled theenthusiasm of more than one patriot, I am afraid, as I fought my way outof the railway station. I escaped to a hackney carriage and found my wayto my own lodgings, accompanied by Hinge, who was as delighted at thescene as I was angry at it. Before I had driven away from the terminusI had seen from no great distance that the count, Miss Rossano, and LadyRollinson had safely reached her ladyship's carriage, which had beentelegraphed for before our leaving Dover. I had interfered to preventthe taking out of the horses, and had seen the carriage start for homeamid a roar of "vivas" and "bravas" and "hurrahs. " The last I had seenof Brunow was in the middle of a crowd, with whom he was exchangingpolyglot congratulations in the height of good spirits and enjoyment. 

Hinge had not been three minutes in my room before he had made himselfmaster of the place. He installed himself without engagement orinvitation as my body-servant, and I found him in my bedroom hunting thewardrobe and chest of drawers for a change of clothes. 

"You'll find me 'andier when I gets to know my way about, sir, " hesaid. "I was the colonel's batman for three years, and I can valley agentleman as well here as there, sir. You'll feel more like London whenyou've got into these, sir. "

He pointed to the garments laid out symmetrically on the bed, and, motioning to me to be seated, knelt down before me and began to unlacemy boots. 

I was still in the act of dressing when a knock sounded at theouter door; Hinge marched off to answer it, returning with a largevisiting-card edged with a line of mourning. He presented this to me, and I read the words "Count Ruffiano, " printed very badly in bluntscript type. 

I told Hinge to ask the visitor his business, and I learned that he camedirect from Miss Rossano with a message. I excused myself for a minute, and hastily finished dressing. 

The Count Ruffiano, a head and shoulders taller than myself, stood inthe middle of the room and bowed with surprising courtliness when Ientered. He was six feet seven or eight in stature, had an eagle beak, ahuge gray mustache, and a head of stiff, upstanding hair, close croppedand mottled in jet black and snow white. His cheeks and chin had beenstrange to the razor for a week; his linen was limp and discolored;and his clothes, which were of foreign cut, had once been shapely andfashionable, but were now seedy beyond belief. The hat he held in onehand was a monument of shabbiness; but his habitual stoop had the air ofhaving been acquired by a constant courtly condescension. He was as leanas his own walking-cane, and his air of condescending gentility puta strange emphasis on his shabby clothes, and made them ten times asnoticeable as they would have been without it. And yet at the very firstsight of him I was persuaded that he was a gentleman. 

"You are Captain Fyffe?" he said, with a marked Italian accent. 

"That is my name, " I responded. 

"You are possessed of mine, " he answered. "Permit me that I shake hands. I read in your English _Times_ this morning of the arrival of the Contedi Rossano. I have seen my friend, and, so far as I know, I am theonly survivor of the enterprise in which he lost his liberty. I lose nomoment in coming here to pay my homage to the disinterested valor whichgave my compatriot his freedom, I am, sir, " he bowed and extended hishands with a smiling humility--"I am, sir, this many years a pensioneron the bounty of Miss Rossano. She knows me as a comrade of the fatherwhom she has always until now thought of as lost to her. She haspencilled for me a line or two on the back of my card. "

I held the card still, and, turning it over, I read: "This brave andloyal gentleman is my father's one surviving friend. He wishes to knowyou. V. R. "

I looked up after reading this brief but expressive message, and theface of the gaunt spectre who stood before me was flushed, and hishead was in the air, as if he had read it with me, and was proud of thetestimony it conveyed on his behalf. 

I asked him to be seated, and gave him to understand that anybodycarrying such a recommendation was welcome. He held out a long, leanhand, and when I gave him my own stooped over it and kissed it. 

"Sir, " he said, "you have done more than restore an individual toliberty. You have reanimated a cause: you have inspired a people. Thereare a thousand of us at this hour in London to whom the name of theConte di Rossano is a legend and an inspiration. Twenty years ago hewas our leader--a spirit of the subtlest and most indomitable. A soulwithout fear, and of resource astonishingly varied. 'You have restoredhim to us, and before a month is over his name will ring through Italy. We are preparing for such a rising as we have never made. For years ournames have been written on the sands of failure. We shall write themto-morrow on the lasting granite of success. "

He talked with any amount of fire and vigor, and in a voice pitched sohigh that he might have been haranguing a multitude. He gesticulatedwith the shabby old hat and the slim walking-stick as if he had beenwielding sword and buckler in an opera, and his narrow chest swelledunder the tight buttons of his ragged old frock-coat. Every English wordhe spoke was supplemented by an Italian vowel, so that his language, though it was perfectly fluent and correct, sounded quite foreign. Hisextraordinary height and leanness made him grotesque to look at, butneither the comicality of his figure nor his theatrical voice andgesture could kill the fact that he was in earnest, and I felt animmediate liking for him. 

"I am not here, " he said, "on a visit of impertinence. I have an actualobject. I am charged by the Conte di Rossano to tell you that a meetinghas been already arranged to welcome him to London. It will be heldto-night, and he beseeches you through me to be present at it. "

I demurred at first, for I had no mind to be publicly embraced by thetatterdemalion patriots I had seen in the crowd that morning. But whenmy visitor incidentally mentioned the fact that Miss Rossano wouldaccompany her father, I gave him my promise at once. 

The ragged nobleman promised to call and conduct me to the place ofmeeting, and so went his way with a torrent of thanks and a rage ofgesticulation. 

CHAPTER VIII

I found Miss Rossano and her father in the vestry of a WesleyanMethodist chapel. The room was crammed almost to suffocation, and therewas such a crowd outside that it took us ten minutes' hard fighting toreach the neighboring school-room in which the public meeting was to beheld. The way was cleared at last, and a score or so of us filed onto the platform, which was erected at one end of the crowded hall. Myvisitor of that afternoon immediately preceded Miss Rossano and thecount, and I followed on their heels. 

As we reached the platform the gaunt phantom swung round upon us, and ina voice like the call of a trumpet announced "The Exile. "

I had already had a taste of the patriotic enthusiasm of the crowd thatmorning, but I had never seen anything which did more than approach thedelirious excitement which set in at this announcement. 

There was not a seat in the body of the room, and the men who occupiedthe floor were packed like herrings in a barrel. One could see nothingbut a great wave of swarthy, eager faces, and could hear nothing but atumult like the roaring of the sea. There was hardly a man in the wholeassemblage who was not weeping with excitement; and though I have rathera knack of keeping a cool head under such circumstances, I have to ownthat I was deeply moved. 

It seemed impossible to stop the cheering. Ruffiano, who had constitutedhimself chairman, gesticulated like a windmill, and roared till he washoarse in the vain effort to secure silence. It took a full quarter ofan hour to wear out this prodigious welcome, and even then it broke outanew in scattered bursts and spurts, as if the people could never haveenough of it. 

All this while Miss Rossano stood at her father's side, holding oneof his hands in both her own. The tears were streaming down her facewithout cessation, but I had never seen her look so radiant--not even onthe night when I first saw her, and the happy brightness of her beautymade me her life-long servant. 

The count, poor man, was shaken altogether out of self-control. He hidhis eyes with his frail hand, and his tears ran like rain through hiswasted fingers. I have tried many and many a time to realize in my ownmind what he must have felt, but I have always known the futility of theeffort. 

Twenty years of solitary imprisonment, a martyrdom of physicaldegradation quite unspeakable, and sickening even to think of for amoment, darkness, torture, utter despair, and then freedom and humantears, and this astounding roar of triumph, sympathy, and welcome! Itwas no wonder the scene unmanned him. The wonder was that he hadnot sunk into an unquestioning animalism--a mere brute state ofidiocy--years ago. 

There was speech-making enough and to spare when the cheering at lastwas over. The count himself spoke a few broken words of thanks, whichelicited another roar of sympathy and welcome scarcely inferior involume to the first and only less prolonged. To tell the truth, I feltthe whole business rather trying, and I got heartily sick of the nameof the courageous, illustrious, magnanimous, and altogether noble andmagnificent Signor Fyfa. I knew perfectly well, though I could notunderstand a tenth part of what was said, that Brunow's shamelessexaggerations were accepted here as solid truth, and that I was beinglauded for a number of splendid qualities which, to say the least, I hadhad no chance of displaying. The illustrious, courageous, magnanimous, and altogether noble Brunow came in for his share of the praise, andbowed solemnly, with his hand upon his heart, whenever the crowd cheeredhim. He made a speech in Italian, and achieved an overwhelming success. 

Finally, the whole business was over. We had got back to the vestry, andall but a few of the chieftains had gone away, when I first became awareof the presence of the Baroness Bonnar. A light hand touched my sleeve, and a foreign voice spoke to me in English. 

"This is a noble occasion. I have never been so moved in my life. I havecried until I am not fit to be seen. "

Turning and looking at the speaker, I failed for a mere instant torecognize her. I had seen her but twice before, and then only for amoment at a time, and under circumstances of no especial interest. Shesaw the doubt in my face, and reintroduced herself. She looked extremelypretty, and even fascinating, in a coquettish little bonnet of thefashion of that time. 

When her face was in repose one could judge of her age, but when shesmiled all her wrinkles--and there were a good many of them--melted intothe smile, and her face looked almost girlishly young and innocent. Sheowned that look of youth and freshness in spite of the fact that she wasrouged and powdered and painted as if she had been ready for the stage. It was pretty easy to see that she had not been quite as much affectedby the "noble occasion" as she pretended to have been, for the slightestshower of tears would have ruined that admirable and artistic make-up. 

"I pass for Austrian, " said the baroness; "but I am Hungarian all over, and I hate, I hate, I hate the Austrians! If I had my way I would killthem every one. "

She spoke with a pretty enough pretence of vindictiveness, but hermanner was not very convincing. 

Supposing I had been aware of this little person's purpose, what shouldI have done, I wonder? What should I have been justified in doing? I hadrather not answer that question, even to myself. But if I had known fora certainty what was in her heart, and what lay in the future, there arenot many things at which I should have hesitated to spoil her plans. 

She did not find me very sympathetic or very ardent. I was tired, forone thing, and for another I can never take very kindly to humbug, evenwhen a pretty woman offers it. The baroness turned from me to Brunow, beseeching him to introduce her to the acquaintance of that dear andcharming Miss Rossano, who had so much her sympathy, and the spectacleof whose natural emotion had so much affected her. I am not veryobservant in such matters, but though Brunow disguised it pretty well, I am sure that I noticed some reluctance in his manner. He made thepresentation, however, and the baroness flowed out in sympathy andcongratulation. 

"I am myself Hungarian, " I heard her say, "but I have lived in Austriahalf my life. There is no need to tell _you_ anything about thatterrible government, but--mon Dieu! the things I have seen and known!I am a stranger, Mees Rossano, and the hour is sacred; but you willforgive this intrusion, will you not? because I could not help it. "

She spoke with so much vivacity and feeling that I felt a little sorryfor my contemptuous thoughts of her. She had said her say, and shebehaved with more reticence and more apparent delicacy than I shouldhave been disposed to give her credit for. She said something to thecount in a low and rapid voice, and he answered by the offer of hishand, and a mere broken murmur of response. I made out that she hadasked to be honored by taking the hand of one ennobled by so muchsuffering, and the quiet and unobtrusive fashion in which she slippedfrom the room after offering this tribute raised her anew in my opinion. It would have been a just thing, had one known all, to have crushed thatdangerous and wicked little viper exactly as if she had really been asnake, instead of a woman with a snake's nature. 

She went her way, however, having begun her work of mischief under myeyes. 

Another night or two of such emotion would have been fatal to ourrescued prisoner; and, indeed, he gave us all a fright before we gothim home that evening. All the enthusiasts had cleared away, and I wasleading the poor gentleman towards a cab which had been already summonedand was now waiting in the street, when, without warning, he swoonedaway. I felt his arm slipping rapidly from mine, and caught him just intime to save him from a heavy fall. I carried him back to the vestry, and there we loosened his collar and laid him on the couch, and dashedwater in his face, while Brunow ran for brandy. He recovered in a while, but was even then too weak to walk, so that I carried him in my arms tothe street, and set him down in the cab. My wife has often told me, intalking over those old times, that she looked on me at that moment as aman possessed of Herculean strength; but, in truth, the poor fellow wasso attenuated that his weight was scarcely greater than a child's. 

I could hardly do less than call at Lady Rollinson's house next dayto inquire after the sufferer's condition; and yet I went with greatreluctance. I was so eager to be there, I was so willing to spend everyhour in Miss Rossano's company, that I was afraid of being intrusive, and my very anxiety to be near her kept me away from her in this foolishfashion many a time. 

The Baroness Bonnar was before me when I called, and I found her therein the daintiest and most becoming of visiting costumes, chatting awaywith excellent tact and unfailing vivacity. 

She gave Miss Rossano time to welcome me, and then assailed me at oncewith laudation's of my devotion and courage, which I received, I know, with an extremely evil grace. I resemble my neighbors in liking tohave credit for what I have done, but I know nothing more hateful thanunmerited praise. I silenced her at last, and she turned upon MissRossano with a stage-whisper intended for my hearing: "I adore thesebrave men who are too modest to endure praise. "

"You are too oily for my personal taste, madame, " I said to myself, andmy earlier dislike for her came back again. 

The count, I learned, was better. Immediately on his arrival at LadyRollinson's the family doctor had been sent for. Like a wise man, he hadprescribed rest and complete freedom from all excitement. There wereto be no more public meetings, and the sufferer was seriously warnedagainst all stress of emotion. 

"We have had great difficulty, " said Miss Rossano, "in bringing him toreason. The enthusiasm of last night's meeting has convinced him that agreat uprising is near at hand, and that in a year or two at the outsideItaly will have her freedom back again. He would die for that, " shesaid, with a flash of her beautiful eyes, and her face suddenly palewith feeling. "The house was overrun with Italians yesterday, " sheadded. "My father saw some of them, and they are all full of the newsthat Charles Albert is ready to march into Piedmont, and that the Popeis favorable to devolution. One never knows how much truth there is inthese stories, but I have lived in an atmosphere of them all my life. "Then she laughed on a sudden, and, clapping her hands together, turnedon me with a swift gesture like that of a pleased child. "You sawthe Count Ruffiano yesterday?" she asked; and I, answering in theaffirmative, she laughed again. "The poor dear old gentleman, " she said, "is my father's one surviving comrade, and ever since I have been ableto understand he has talked to me about Italy and The Cause. He is infiery earnest, and such a dreamer that he has been looking forward toevery month of his life as the date of Italy's liberty. I have had agreat deal of influence with the count"--she was serious again by thistime--"and through him over the Italian revolutionists in London, and Ihave always counselled them not to strike until they were sure of theiraim. An unsuccessful revolution is a crime. You think it strange that agirl should be thinking of these things. "

"Indeed, no, " I answered. "I should think it strange in your case if youhad no such thoughts. And let me tell you, Miss Rossano, that I thinkyour friend Count Rumano's dream is coming near at last. He may wake anyfine morning to find it very near indeed. "

"You think so?" she cried, with a restrained vehemence. "You have heardnews while you were abroad?"

"No news, " I answered; "but I can see the general trend of things. Thereis an awakening spirit of liberty on the Continent, and unless I am muchmistaken, a map of Europe of this date will be a surprising thing tolook at in half a dozen years. "

I should be a fool to pretend that I foresaw all the political changeswhich have taken place since then, but I should have been blind if Ihad not foreseen some of them. Liberty was in the air; there was anunderlying strife and turmoil in the world's affairs which was notevident to everybody, though a soldier of fortune like myself, who madethe cause of liberty his trade, was bound to be aware of it. The greatpoliticians knew it all, no doubt; but they kept their knowledge tothemselves, and waited, as we know now, with a bitter anxiety and fearfor what events might bring. For the great politicians were, for themost part, then, as now, afraid of liberty, and looked on it as beingvery much of a curse rather than a blessing. 

"You would fight for Italy, " she said, "if there were a real chance?"

"If there were anything approaching a chance, " I responded, "I wouldfight for Italy. "

If I had dared I would have told her what was really at the bottom of mythought: I would have fought gladly for Italy; but the fact that it washer cause, that she espoused it and hoped for it, that her father hadbeen buried alive for it, made it dearer to me than any other in theworld. I had almost forgotten that we were not alone when the BaronessBonnar proclaimed her presence. 

"Italy!" she cried; and as I turned at the sound of her voice I saw herbring the palms of her gloved hands together and turn her fine eyes tothe ceiling as if the word inspired her--"Italy! oh, if I were a man Iwould fight for Italy! Ah, those hateful Austrians! And what a man isCavour! and what a man Garibaldi! Oh, they will fight! They will win!"

"There is plenty of time yet. Liberty, my dear Miss Rossano, willrestore your father to health, and he will not lose his share of theglory. " We English always excuse a foreigner who shows a tendency tobombast in conversation; and allowing for her partial knowledge of thelanguage, and for the oratorical turn her people have, I saw nothingoverstrained in the little woman's raptures. I had even a modifiedbelief in their reality; and even to this day I cannot blame myself forhaving been deceived by her. She had an astonishing capacity in her ownline, and though she had achieved no great success on the stage, she wasthe most perfect actress off it I have ever known. 

She showed no disposition to prolong her visit, but withdrew after astay of a quarter of an hour or so, with many expressions of good-willand ardent hope for the count's early recovery. If she might have thehonor, she would call again upon Miss Rossano. 

"Pardon me, " she said; "beside you I am an old woman, and I can takea liberty. I like you for your interest in poor Italy and for yourfather's sake, who has been a martyr in such a cause. You will let mesee you sometimes. People who know me better than you do will tell youthat I am a butterfly, and without a heart. But that is not true. I donot show my heart often, and never unless I mean it. "

She was gone without waiting for a response, and Miss Rossano, turningto me with a blush and a smile, asked me if I did not consider hervisitor quite a charming little person. It would have been ungraciouson no evidence at all to have stated my real mind, and I compromised bysaying nothing. My silence on that topic went unobserved; and until Itook my leave we talked about the count and the prospects of The Cause. It makes me smile now to remember how savagely in earnest I grew to beabout that matter of Italian independence when once I had discoveredthat Miss Rossano was seriously interested in it. That, if I had onlythought about it, was the way to her heart; but anxious as I was tosecure her good opinion, I was guilty of no pretences. The mere factthat she desired it would have been enough to make me desire it also, even if I had had no wishes that way to begin with. 

"Captain Fyffe, " said Miss Rossano, suddenly, in the midst of ourenthusiastic talk upon this theme, "I am going to ask you a favor. Iknow very little of my father as yet. I have not spent twelve hours inhis society, but it is easy to find out two things about it: he will bemad to join in any effort that The Cause may make, and--"

She paused there, with a look of semi-embarrassment. 

"And?" I interrogated. 

"I think, " she continued, "that he is likely to be very much influencedby your opinion. "

"We have scarcely exchanged a word together on that topic, " I responded. 

"Ah, " she returned, quickly, "you have influenced his judgment withoutthat. He has formed opinions about you, and he has expressed them morethan once. He thinks you are a man of unusually solid character, and Iam sure you will be able to influence him greatly. You must remember, too, what a debt of gratitude he owes you. The more warmly you aredisposed to The Cause yourself, the more necessary it seems to begyou not to allow him to rush into any new danger. Give us, at least, alittle time in which to know each other before he leaves me again. "

I promised earnestly that I would never say a word to induce him toleave her side. I promised that if any undertaking should seem tolead him into useless danger, I would do my best to warn him from theenterprise. I promised further (but this was to myself, and I said noword about it) that in the event of any effort being made the countshould be my comrade, and that I would do my loyal best for him. 

That brought our conversation to an end, and I took leave of her, butnot before she had assured me that I should always be a welcome visitor. I went away mighty proud and happy, and when I got home to my chamberswho should I find awaiting me but the Count Ruffiano, buttoned to thethroat to disguise the absence of the linen which had been so shabbilyconspicuous yesterday. He was in a state of intense excitement, andwhen I entered was pacing up and down the room like one scarcely able tocontrol himself. 

"Pardon this second intrusion, my dear sir, " he began; "I will explainits purport in a moment. "

I induced him to be seated; but before he had got out half his statementhe was on his feet again, striding about my little room in such a heatof excitement that, lean as he was, the perspiration fell in big dropsfrom his thatched eyebrows and the tip of his Quixote nose. 

"To begin with, sir, " he said, when I had persuaded him to be seated, "you are one of us? That you are a friend to humanity, I know, but afriend to Italy--yes?"

I was still hot from my talk with Miss Rossano, and I assured the countthat I was very much a friend to Italy indeed. 

"Then, sir, " he cried, "we have need of you! We have need of everycounsel--of every hand. "

He was on his feet again, and had intrenched himself behind thearm-chair. He declaimed from that position as if it had been a rostrum, employing a wealth and variety of gesture which no English mimic couldsucceed in copying in a year. 

News, it appeared, had arrived that morning from Paris which led to thebelief that an uprising against Louis Philippe might shortly be lookedfor. The messenger who brought that news had within twenty-four hoursencountered a messenger from Turin, who prophesied insurrection there;this messenger in turn had news from Vienna from another comrade, whowas assured that Metternich was trembling in his shoes at the thought ofCharles Albert's threatened advance on Piedmont. 

"The wine, " cried my Italian Quixote, "is in ferment! We drink of it, and our hearts are turned to madness! We need more of your Englishsang-froid"--he called it "sanga-froida, " and puzzled me for a passinginstant. "The hour is here, " he declared, "and the men are here! But, until now, we have ruined everything by too much precipitation, andagainst that we must now be on our guard!"

Of the volubility and energy with which he delivered himself of allthis, and much more, I cannot convey even the slightest idea. I can giveno notion of his fertility in unnecessary vowels, and I should be afraidto say how many syllables he made of the word precipitation, or how hewould have spelled it in English if he had tried. 

"It is for you, sir, " he thundered, stopping in his headlong walk toshake a long forefinger in my face--"it is for you to teach us to becalm!"

I asked him to take his first lesson there and then, and to begin it bybeing seated. 

"Ah, " said he, "that is to be practical--that is to be English. Tobe practical and to be English is to be successful. You shall adviseus--you shall lead us to victory!"

In his discovery of the excellence of my practical method he hadforgotten all about it, and was pounding up and down the room at asgreat a rate as ever, when I took him by the shoulders and forced himinto a chair. 

"Let us talk business, " I said, severely; "if this means anything atall, it means action. "

"Action, " he responded, "decisive and immediate!"

"Action, " I retorted, "well matured and sane!"

"Ah! yes, yes, " cried Ruffiano; "again, dear sir, you correct me. Thatis why I am here. But do not think because I have no patience--donot think because I am an old--an old--" He searched in his mind fora simile, and burst out with "gas-balloon" with a laugh of childishamusement at his own impetuosity. "Do not you think because I am an oldgas-balloon that there are not among us no wiser and cooler heads thanmine! We are at a white-heat now, but there are men among us who cankeep their wits even in a furnace like this. I, dear sir"--he wouldhave been on his feet again but that I checked him--"I am of the innercouncil. We meet to-night, and, hot as I am, I fear my own heat and thatof others. If you wish well to Italy, be one of us. And be sure, sir, that the rescuer of our one most dearest and most prized shall bereceived with honor. "

I promised; and he undertook to call upon me at nine o'clock thatevening. And thus, within a day of my return to London, I foundmyself pledged to Italy; and a few hours later made one of a caucus ofconspirators, poor and needy and inconsiderable enough to look at, butholding in their hands, after all, one or two of the strings which, being pulled at the ripe hour of time, changed the scene for more thanone land in Europe. 

CHAPTER IX

And now it seems to me as if I might go on writing to the end of whatremains of my lifetime, and never come to a finish. But I have totake hold of myself, as it were, with resolution, and to refrain fromspeaking of a hundred thousand things which interest me in memory. 

The story I am bidden to tell is of how and why I came to rob MissRossano of forty thousand pounds, and yet not to suffer one whit in heresteem or in my own. It is an easy thing to say to a man, "You took partin such and such an adventure; you know all about it; take your pen inyour hand and write a history of it. " The trouble is in the selection;and I have found myself so gravely puzzled as to what I shall leave outthat I see nothing for it but to set down formally before myself, formy own guidance, the names of the people who are most closely andintimately concerned in what I have to tell; and having done that, Imust resolve to restrict my narrative to the history of their sayingsand doings. Such a countless crowd of people surge up into memory thatthis is more difficult than any one would fancy. All my old comrades indeliberation, my friends in council, my companions in the war of lateron are with me at times as I sit and think over the incidents of thisstory. The odd part of it is that a thousand things I had forgotten comeback as clearly as if they had happened yesterday, and I should feel agreater pleasure in dwelling upon them than upon the main incidents towhich I am bound to confine myself. Roaring nights by the camp-fire, when a chance-found skin of wine made the time glorious; jolly littletouches of mirth and _camaraderie_ here and there; heats of battle, splendors of victory, miseries of retreat--all come back upon me, andthe faces of many dead comrades people the air. 

But to come to my resolution. There is Brunow, who was the fatal causeof it all; and the Baroness Bonnar, who made her cat's-paw of him; andRuffiano, whom the two betrayed between them; and then there are leftthe count, and Miss Rossano, and the faithful Hinge. Then there is theghost of poor Constance Pleyel, who came like a wraith out of the pastand vanished again into the darkness; then there is myself for thecentre of the story, whether I like it or not. Here are now my _dramatispersono_ before me. The stage of my mind is crowded with auxiliaries, but I dare scarcely glance at them. 

And who was Constance Pleyel? In a sense she was the motive andmain-spring of my life, for it was she who embarked me on that career ofadventure which has made me what I am. 

When I was a very young man indeed I fell in love with Constance Pleyel. I am not the first man whose life has been set awry by his love for anunworthy woman, nor shall I be the last. I would very willingly keepsilent about that episode in my life, but the story has to be told. Itshall be told with due reticence; for if I cannot respect poor Constanceany more, I can at least respect the feelings which made her sacred inmy eyes for a year and more in the days of my boyhood. 

Months had gone by, and the spring of the year was near at hand. Thecount had come back to a condition of health and of mental strengthwhich was no less than astonishing. I have never ceased to think itwonderful that a man who had been so long buried from the world, fromall its interests, and from all knowledge of its affairs, should havebeen able so readily to take up the lost threads of life. The mostremarkable thing about him, even if on the whole it were the leastsurprising, was the survival of the patriotic impulse in his mind. Itseemed as if nothing could quench that, and as if all his suffering hadserved only to lend new fuel to that sacred flame. By this time he wasdeep in all our councils, the most active, and at once the wariest andmost ardent of our leaders. I was pledged to the cause of Italy heartand soul, and was, I think, as thoroughly and % passionately devotedto her service as if the call of blood had sounded in me. I identifiedmyself with the hopes of Miss Rossano and her father, and I was in allthings their loyal servant and coadjutor. 

I suppose I have made it clear by this time that I had never any verygreat esteem or affection for Bru-now. He was in the thick of affairs, and knew as much of our intentions and of our actual movements as anyman among us. It is no credit to me that I was willing to suspect him, and that I distrusted him from the beginning. I never thought him likelyto be guilty of deliberate treason, but I always feared 'his rash andboastful tongue, and I confess that I did something here and there toinspire my comrades with the sense of my own mistrust. I have not theslightest doubt that he knew of this. I certainly never took any painsto disguise it from him, and I dare say that in what followed he partlyjustified his own action in his own mind by my dislike of him and hisown dislike of me. 

Brunow was a queerish sort of study, and I honestly believe that halfthe harm he did sprang out of the only little bit of good I was everable to discover in him. He would do almost anything to secure anybody'sfavorable opinion, and neither his judgment nor his conscience--if hehad either one or the other--stood in the way of this amiable weakness. He was more amenable to flattery than a child, and was moved by it aseasily to good as to evil. The misfortune was that those who would havecared to influence him in the right direction disdained to tickle hisfoible, while those who fooled him to his own ruin flattered him to thetop of his bent. 

I can't help thinking that for a long time the poor feather-headattached a considerable value to my opinion, and that he was anxious inhis own way to conciliate my friendship. He knew what I thought abouthim, and yet he sought my acquaintance, and did what he could topropitiate me and to secure my good-will; but at last an open breachdeclared itself between us. It came about in this wise:

I was sitting in my chambers one afternoon when the count called uponme. We had had a rather stormy discussion at our last meeting, and I hadhad to take sides against him. He was on fire for immediate action, andI had felt it my duty to plead for delay. We had parted rather hotly, and he made it his first business to apologize to me for something intowhich his enthusiasm had hurried him. This being over, we sat in silencefor some time, and I saw at last that something was weighing on hismind. 

"I was ungenerous and wrong last night, " he said at last, "and I feel itall the more because I am here to ask you now for a special favor. "

"My dear count, " I said, "we have the same hopes, and we disagreesometimes about the proper means of reaching them. I think there is nopossibility of a quarrel between us. However much we disagree, we feelno rancor. "

"Rancor!" cried the count. "Good God! my dear Fyffe, how should there berancor in my mind to you. "

He held out his hand, and I shook it heartily. The truest and easiestway of getting to like a man is to do him a service; that makes youwish him well forever afterwards. I should have honored and esteemed theCount Rossano if he had not been his daughter's father. As it was, I hadan affection for him which it would not be easy for me to overstate. 

"I have so few friends, " said the count, when our reconciliation wascomplete, "and I am so much in need of advice, that I venture to troubleyou, my dear Fyffe, in a matter of great delicacy. "

I told him, I forget precisely in what terms, that I was entirely at hisservice; and after another hesitating pause he blurted out the truth. 

"I have received an offer for my daughter's hand. The proposal comes tome from the Honorable Mr. Brunow. I owe him the same debt I owe to you, and I own that I should be reluctant to hurt his feelings by a refusal. His offer came to me last night, and took me by surprise. I should havebeen less troubled in dealing with it if he had not assured me that, with my consent, he is fairly certain of my daughter's. I shouldbe wrong, " he added--"I should be altogether wrong if I claimed anyauthority over her. I have not the right to such a voice in her affairsas I should have if she had been bred under my own care. But Brunow, in spite of the debt I owe him, is not the man I should have chosen forher. You have known him for many years. I am gravely troubled, my dearFyffe. Tell me what I should do. "

I am not exaggerating when I say that if the count had stabbed-me hewould hardly have hurt or amazed me more. I had heard Brunow's butterflyprotestations about his affection for Miss Rossano, and my eyes hadcertainly not been less open to his defects of character because hewas a rival to my own hopes; but I had never regarded him as beingaltogether serious. I knew that he was irretrievably in debt, and I hadnever really feared until that moment that his opposition would takereal form. A lover is always jealous, and I had envied my rival hisfaculty of small talk, his cheery, easy temper, and those touches ofgallant attention of which practice and nature had made him master. Ihad been very angry sometimes at his success in pleasing. But a certaincontempt had always mingled with my anger, and I had never really beenafraid of him. Yet in the count's declaration of Brunow's belief thatMiss Rossano was not indifferent to him I could see more than a touch ofreason. She was always gay in his presence, always ready to laugh at hisgenial and charming nonsense--would come out of her gravest humor at anymoment to meet his badinage half way. 

I was thinking of all these things, and suffering sorely, when thecount's voice recalled me to myself. 

"I admit, I know, I feel the delicacy of the situation. "

"I am the last man in the world, " I said, "to be consulted on thisquestion. "

"Surely not that!" cried the count. 

"The last man in the world, " I repeated. "I can have no voice in thematter one way or the other. "

I felt, even as I spoke, that my words and tones alike were too brusqueand imperative, but I was wounded to the heart, and alarmed alike forMiss Rossano and myself. Brunow was certainly not the man to make herhappy, whatever fancy he might have inspired in her mind, and yet it wasno business of mine to say so. I was his rival, and my opinion ofhim was naturally biassed. For the moment I hated him, but I hadself-control enough left to feel that that fact bound me all the more tosilence. 

"You cannot advise me?" said the count. 

"I have no right to advise you, " I responded. 

He rose with a strange look at me, and began to walk up and down theroom with his fingers at his lips. I have wounded myself in reading whatI have already written about his prison look. I had learned to know himas so high-minded, so brave and so honorable a gentleman that it painsme even to think of the jail-bird aspect which came upon him at times. His walk up and down my room became something very like a prowl, andhe fell to casting furtive glances at me, biting his finger ends, andmurmuring inarticulately below his breath. 

"You have some reason for this, " he said, suddenly. "You do not refuseto help me in such a matter for nothing. "

"I have the best of all reasons, " I answered. "I cannot advise, becauseI have no right to advise. "

"I give you the right by asking for advice, " he said, turning round uponme. "Is it kind to refuse me in this? I am a stranger to the world--achild, and less than a child. I owe to this man and to you everything Iam and all I have. But--may I tell you?--I mistrust him. I do not careto leave my daughter's happiness in his charge. "

I made a successful struggle to control myself, and I answered himquietly:

"You must know, sir, that in England young people arrange these mattersvery much for themselves. I have no doubt that Miss Rossano will attachfull weight to your judgment and counsel. I am very sorry, but I have noright to advise you even at your own request. "

"I had hoped for another answer, " he responded. "I had even ventured tothink--Ah, well, my dear Fyffe, I cannot help myself, and if you willnot help me--"

"I would, sir, if I could, " I answered. 

And at this he sat down, gnawing at his finger-nails, and more brokenand furtive in manner than I had seen him since the first week of hisescape from prison. 

"I owe Brunow a great deal, " he said at length, as if he addressedhimself rather than me; "but what I owe to one I owe to the other, and Ihad hoped things would have gone differently. It was natural, perhaps--Isuppose it was natural--that she should think of one of you. "

It was impossible to escape his meaning, and I saw clearly that if I hadspoken first I should have found an ally in him. I do not remember everto have felt so miserable and so hopeless; but I sat down and filled mypipe and smoked in silence, thinking that perhaps I had thrown a chanceaway, and that perhaps I had never had one. 

While I sat thus, looking out of the window and watching with acuriously awakened interest the traffic in the street below, I felt thecount's hand on my shoulder. 

"Tell me, my dear Fyffe, " he said, shaking me gently, "am I utterlymistaken? I had thought--I had hoped--"

"What had you thought, sir?" I asked, without turning my face towardshim. 

"I had thought, " he began with hesitation, and then paused--"I hadthought that you would have put that question to me, rather than Brunow. Was I wrong?"

"Brunow has put the question, sir, " I answered, "and he has a right tobe answered. You can guess now, I fancy, why I can give you no advice. "

"That is enough, " said the count. "Pray understand me, my dearFyffe. This is a matter of delicacy in which I am perhaps acting verystrangely, but I have thought that you cared for my child. I had hopedthat it was so, and I had hoped that she might care for you. I hadnot thought of Mr. Brunow in this way; and if I intrust my daughter'shappiness to his charge, I am afraid. "

"I did not know, " I told him, "that I had betrayed myself. If you havefound out the truth about me, I can't be blamed for having told you. Ishould have spoken to you weeks ago, but you see how I live. " He casthis eyes about the room and nodded. "I am as poor as a church-mouse, andI see no way to better my position. "

"I had some hopes, " said the count, "that you might tell me this. It wasthat which led me to come here and ask you to advise me. "

A wild and improbable hope sprang into my mind, but it died as soon asit was born. Perhaps I was absurd enough to fancy the count had seensomething in his daughter's manner which led him to believe that shecared for me, and perhaps he had taken advantage of Brunow's proposal toawake me to a sense of my own wasted opportunities. I put that fancyby, for intimate as I had grown to be with Miss Rossano. I had neverdiscerned the faintest hint in her manner of anything but friendship. If my fancy had not been already dead, the count's next words would havekilled it outright. 

"I have nothing, " he said, "to guide me to my daughter's feelings, but Iam certain of my own. Mr. Brunow's declaration took me by surprise, butI had been expecting yours, and should have received it with pleasure. "

"I did my best to form an honest judgment and to act like an honorableman. Mr. Brunow, " I said, "has known Miss Rossano much longer than Ihave. I must not disguise the fact that he has more than once spoken tome of his attachment to her. He mentioned that months ago, but in sucha way that I hardly supposed him to be in earnest. He has spoken first, and he has a right to an answer. If when he has received his answer Istill have a right to speak, I may do so. "

"That, " said the count, "is not the conclusion at which I hoped youwould arrive. I think I can offer an alternative. If I ask you to lookat this matter like a man of the world, you will have a right to laughat my presumption. I was a man of the world once, but that was longago. I have lost so much that what is left to me is hidden in a cloud ofself-distrust; yet I think I am right in this, and you yourself shall bethe judge. "

He paused there for some time, and I could tell by his inward look, and by the occasional motion of his lips, that he was choosing words inwhich to make his meaning clear to me. He looked up at last, with hisgray face illuminated by the mere ghost of a smile, and reaching bothhands across the table towards me, leaned upon them firmly. 

"My penetration, blunted as it is, has not been altogether at fault, "he said; "I have hit the truth in your case. That is so?" I nodded, gloomily enough, I dare say, to signify assent. "What I propose, my dearFyffe, is this: I cannot read my daughter's mind at all, and so far as Ican tell she may have no such preference as leads to marriage for eitherof you. She is half English by birth, and wholly English by education. If she would marry at all she will follow her own inclination, after thefashion of young ladies in this country. Even if I had had the authoritywhich a life-long watch over her would have given me, I should neverhave dreamed of using it. But this is the plain English of the matter. Iwould gladly trust my child with you, and I should be sorry to trusther with Mr. Brunow. That sounds ungrateful to him, for I owe him anenormous service; but there are duties which transcend gratitude, andthis is one of them. I have surprised your sentiments, and have extorteda confession from you. I ask you now to authorize me to lay before mydaughter your case and Mr. Brunow's side by side. I will tell her, ifyou prefer it, precisely what passed between us. If she should acceptneither of you, my own hope and yours will have had at least a chance offulfilment. You have no objection to making that proposal?"

I answered truly that I was profoundly grateful for it, and that I hadnever had so much honor done me. 

The count departed well pleased, and I was left to await his news insuch anxiety as any man who has not awaited a similar verdict mightpicture for himself. I did not stir from my rooms for several days, andat almost every minute of that time I was either at the very height ofhope or the very bottom of despair. 

The news came in a startling and unexpected way at last. About fouro'clock on the afternoon of the third day a rapid step came up thestair, and somebody knocked with an angry and passionate insistence atthe outer door of my chambers. Hinge, startled by the unusual exigenceof the summons, ran to answer it. I learned from him who my visitor was, for as he opened the door he sang out:

"Good Lord, Mr. Brunow, what on earth's the matter?"

"Stand on one side!" cried Brunow, in a loud and angry voice; andscarcely a second later he entered the room I sat in, and, banging thedoor noisily behind him, faced me, still grasping in his right hand thewalking-cane with which he had offered such a startling announcement ofhis presence. 

"You damned traitor!" said Brunow; "you infernal traitor!"

He had hardly spoken, indeed he had hardly turned his white and wrathfulface towards me, when I understood precisely what had happened. Ofcourse an absolute certainty was out of the question, but I feltthe next thing to it; and what with the exulting thought that it waspossible and the fear that it might not be true, I was so taken abackthat I had no answer for this unusual greeting. 

"You blackguard!" Brunow stammered, his stick quivering in his hand. 

"Come, come, " I answered, rising, and keeping a careful eye on him, forhe looked as if he were fit for any sort of mischief, "this is curiouslanguage. Will you be good enough to tell me how you justify it?"

"You know well enough how I justify it!" cried Brunow. "Your dirtyunder-plot has succeeded. You have that for your comfort, but you maytake this to flavor it. I took you for an honest man until a quarter ofan hour ago, and now I know that you are as dirty and as despicable ahypocrite and backbiter as any in the world!"

"That is a lie, my dear Brunow, whoever says it!" I responded. "Youwill be good enough to tell me at once on what grounds you bring such acharge against me. "

"Oh, " cried Brunow, "I'm not going to debase myself with quarrellingwith a man like you! You have my opinion of you, and you know how youhave earned it. That's enough for me. Good-afternoon. "

He turned, but I was at the door before him. 

"That may be enough for you, my dear Brunow, but it isn't enough for me. You don't leave this room with my good-will until you have given me somejustification for your conduct. "

"I'll give you none!" he cried. "You're a liar and a hypocrite, and I'vedone with you forever! That ought to be enough for you! Stand by and letme go, or--" he raised his stick with a threatening gesture, but at thatI could afford to smile. I knew Brunow a great deal too well to thinkhim likely to assault me after having put me on my guard by a threat. 

"I wonder, " he said, with his lips quivering and his teeth tightclinched behind them--"I wonder that I don't thrash you within an inchof your life. "

"I wouldn't waste much wonder on that question if I were you, Brunow, " Ianswered. "You will be able to find an easy explanation. Tell me on whatgrounds you come to me with these angry accusations. "

"You pretend you don't know?" he sneered. "You can't guess, you soul ofhonor!"

"I pretend nothing, " I told him; "but no man uses such language to mewithout justifying it. A gentleman having under any fancied sense ofwrong used such language will hasten to find reasons for it. "

"You may keep me here, " said Brunow, throwing himself savagely intoan arm-chair. "I won't bluster with you, but I decline to explain orjustify a word I've said, and you can take what course you please. "

"Very well, " I answered, turning the key in the lock and then putting itin my pocket, "we shall both have an opportunity of exercising the greatgift of patience. "

"Look here, " he cried, suddenly leaping from his chair and shaking hisforefinger in ray face, "do you pretend to deny that months and monthsago I told you what my feelings were with respect to Miss Rossano?"

"You told me, " I answered, "that you admired her, and that she hada very pretty little income of her own. You coupled those two factstogether in such a way as to make me think you were ready to contract amercenary marriage. "

"That's how you choose to put it, " he retorted. "I could have supposed, without your help, that you'd find some such means of justifyingyourself. Your affection has nothing mercenary in it, of course. In thatrespect you're above suspicion. A mountebank soldier with a wooden swordto sell that nobody chooses to buy. A strolling pauper without a pennyto his name. "

I don't quite like to think of what might have happened if this strainof invective had not been interrupted at that moment. I know now, and Ialmost knew then, what ground Brunow had for his anger and resentment. But the words he used were almost too much for my endurance, and I wasglad that a ring sounded at the hall bell, and that Hinge, who, I haveno doubt at all, was listening outside, answered immediately. I hearda muffled voice outside, and then Hinge knocked at the inner door; andhaving in vain tried the handle, said:

"The Conte di Rossano, if you please. "

CHAPTER X

I drew the key from my pocket, unlocked the door, and admitted thecount, who stood for an instant on the threshold, looking from meto Brunow and from Brunow to me with an aspect of some considerableamazement. Hinge was gaping in the passage, and it was evident that hewas more interested in the proceedings than he knew himself to have theright to be; for, encountering my eye, he withdrew his own instantly, and plunged with great precipitation out of sight. 

"Come in, sir, " I said to the count; and he entered, closing the doorbehind him, and still looking from Brunow to myself and back again withan aspect of complete surprise strongly mingled with displeasure. 

"I had not expected to find Mr. Brunow here. " This told me, or seemedto tell me at once, that Brunow had but recently left the count, and myconjecture turned out in a moment to be true. 

"I have repeated to Captain Fyffe, sir, " said Brunow, "what I told youless than half an hour ago. "

"Then, " said the count, "you have repeated to Captain Fyffe what Iemphatically denied to you. That, sir, is a refusal of my plightedword. "

His meagre figure was drawn to its full height, he threw his head back, and his deep-sunken eyes flashed with indignation. 

"I have told this fellow, " cried Brunow, "that he has betrayed myconfidence--the most sacred confidence one man can repose in another--aconfidence I extended to him, believing him to be a man of honor and myfriend. "

"And I, sir, have instructed you, " returned the count, "that youraccusation is altogether baseless. There, if you cede so much to theauthority of my years, the matter may be allowed to rest. If you havefurther business with Captain Fyffe, I will find another opportunity ofcalling upon him. "

"I have no further business with Captain Fyffe, " said Bruno, "now nor atany time. "

So saying, he looked about him for his hat, caught it up, bowed angrilyto the count, and without a word or a glance for me walked out of theroom, slamming the outer door so noisily that the whole house shook withthe concussion. 

"Mr. Brunow, " said the count, when we were thus left alone, "is anill-conditioned person. I owe it to you to explain precisely what hashappened. But first, my dear Fyffe, give me your hand, and let me offeryou my felicitations. "

I took the hand he offered and held it a moment, hardly realizing whereI stood. 

"Your suit is accepted; and if you will do us the honor to dine withus this evening, I am charged by Lady Rollinson to say that she will becharmed to meet you at her table. There, my dear fellow, " he concluded, hastily withdrawing his hand, "you are stronger than you fancy yourselfto be. "

He stood, half laughing, as he straightened the fingers of his righthand with his left, and then shook them in memory of my grip. 

I had not a word to say for myself, and I felt as foolish and awkward asa school-boy. 

"And now, " said the count, laying a hand on each of my shoulders andpressing me gently towards an arm-chair, "I will tell you what hashappened between Mr. Brunow and myself. "

"Never mind about Brunow just at present, sir, " I cried, recovering mywits a little; "I have other things to think of which are of greatermoment. "

"Well, yes, " he answered, with a very sweet yet mournful smile, "I canbelieve so. Brunow will keep. "

"I am to understand, sir, " I asked, "that Miss Rossano accepts theoffer of my hand?"

"Precisely, " said the count, nodding with his affectionate andmelancholy smile. 

"She knows my circumstances?"

"I will not say she knows them absolutely, " he replied, "but I think shehas a fairly accurate knowledge of them. "

"I have an income of three hundred pounds a year. "

"So much as that?" he asked, with a dry, quaint look. It was so wise, sofriendly, so childlike, so gay, so unlike the dull and dreadfulaspect his face had worn when I had first known it that it affectedme strongly, "My dear Fyffe, " he said, reaching his friendly hand outtowards me once more, "why should we talk about money? If you can putBrunow out of your mind I can put money out of mine. My daughter lovesme, and the man who saved me loves my daughter; and Violet--well, sheshall speak for herself. "

I was so entirely happy that I could afford to take pity on myunsuccessful rival. When I thought how I should have felt if our caseshad been reversed--if he had won and I had been rejected--I was willingto forgive him anything. I hoped that in course of time he would cometo see how baseless his suspicions were, but in my joy I could nurse noanger against him. But I was eager to meet my promised wife, and he didnot fill my thoughts for more than a passing moment. 

The count volunteered to accompany me to Lady Rollinson's house. 

"You are bidden to dinner, " he said, "but I dare say they will excuse anafternoon visit as well. The circumstances are unusual. "

His face was full of a quiet and happy humor, which even in the midstof my own whirling emotions struck me as being remarkable. What a nativecourage must have existed within this man that all the miseries he hadundergone had left so much of his manhood to him! What a tranquil andheroic soul he must have borne to have survived that hideous time atall. I know of myself that I should have beaten my brains out againstthe wall of that loathsome jail many years ago had his lot fallen to me, or I should have sunk to the stupor of an idiot. 

We walked together arm in arm, as our manner was, and we talked ofscores of things as we went along, though there was always one thoughtuppermost in the minds of both of us. The count seemed almost as happyas I was, and the knowledge that he welcomed me so warmly was like honeyto my heart. For all this I was in an absurd flutter all the way; andwhen we reached the house I had come to such a condition of mind thatwhether I were in a delirium of joy or a delirium of misery I was in nowise sure. The delirium was certain; but I found that afternoon how truea thing it is that extremes meet. Great joy and great sorrow are notvery wide apart in the havoc they work on the nerves. 

I have been trying to recall everything that happened that day; but Ifind that I have no memory of anything at all between our talking verybrightly and affectionately in the street, and my finding myself alonein Lady Rollinson's drawing-room. There was a bright fire burning there, for the spring days were chilly. There was a clock ticking delicately onthe mantel-piece, and my mind fastened on to the sound as if there werepossibility of checking and steadying my whirling thoughts by thinkingof it--pretty much as a man would clutch a straw in a whirlpool. Therustle of a dress sounded in the corridor outside, and a step paused atthe door. My heart beat furiously, and then as the door opened it seemedas if it stopped for a second. Miss Rossano entered (it is the last timeI shall call her by that name), and for a moment we stood face to facein silence, like a pair of foolish statues. She was more self-possessedthan I, for she advanced and offered me her hand, and I took itclumsily, as if I had no idea what to do with it. 

I had loved her from the very first moment I had seen her sweet andnoble face, and every hour had seemed to make me love her more. And yetI had never breathed a word to her, and here we were plighted to eachother in this strange and sudden fashion, with no preliminaries ofcourtship, with no question asked by me or answered by her, and hardlyat the moment an understanding of how a thing so curious had come topass. 

I have not forgotten anything that was said or done that happy hour, butit is still all too sacred to be written down for any eye but hers ormine to read. It is enough to say that I learned she loved me. Her lovehas ceased to be to me the puzzle it once was, for one grows used toeverything, and I have been both her husband and her lover now for somany years that it would be strange indeed if any sense of strangenesswere left in it. But when I first found out that she had fallen in lovewith me just as quickly as I with her, I could not get over the wonderof it, or the feeling of added unworthiness with which the knowledgeburdened me. But, in truth, the very things which make a man feel soclumsy and coarse in the presence of the woman he loves are the thingsthat take a woman's fancy, just as her sweetness and delicacy are thethings that take his. I never was a bit of a handsome fellow, but I wasa big man, flowing over with health and vigor, with a big voice anda broad chest and shoulders, and, until I fell in love, I never set agreat deal of value on good looks in a man. But there was I, a greathulking fellow who had passed all the best part of his life in thegiving and receiving of hard knocks, a fellow who could not for the lifeof him help feeling that he carried the flavor of the camp about withhim. What was there, in the name of Heaven, I used to ask myself inthose first days of courtship, for a delicate and high-minded girl ofrefined breeding to fall in love with? But that, my lads and lasses all, is the provision of great nature which makes delicacy love strength andstrength love gentleness, which makes fear look pretty to a soldier'seyes, and makes courage look noble and admirable to a charming creaturewho is afraid of a mouse. So now that I am older and more experienced, I have no wonder that my wife did not choose to fall in love with somenamby-pamby fellow of the drawing-rooms rather than with me, though Ihave now, as I have had always, the sense to know that she is worth tenthousand of me. 

I came back to something like sanity in the first ten minutes, and wesat there with no lack of things to talk about, a trouble from which Ibelieve lovers do occasionally suffer. I am not going to pretend thatthe count and Italy occupied all our minds, but they had their fullshare of our thoughts, and we both knew that there was no question ofmarriage just at present. With the history of her broken-hearted motherbefore me I was in no mood to ask her to be my widow, and there was agrowing certainty that there was fighting in front of us, and that itwas likely to begin pretty soon. 

If Lady Rollinson, Violet, the count, and myself had been diningalone that evening, I should probably have been allowed, under thecircumstances, to dispense with evening-dress, and so there would havebeen no necessity for my going home again before dinner. The count, however, had already advised me of expected guests, and howeverfascinating the society in which I found myself, I had to break awayfrom it for an hour. 

The spring dusk was already thick as I passed along Bond Street, andthere was a slight fog abroad; but at the time of which I am writing theWest End shops kept open hours later than they do now, and there was nosign of cessation of business. There were a good many foot-passengersabroad, and in front of a brilliantly lighted jeweller's-shop I foundmyself brought to a stand-still by a little block in the traffic. Acarriage stood immediately in front of the shop, and I was about to stepround it into the horse road when I saw that a lady was bowing to mefrom it, and discovered that the lady was no other than the BaronessBonnar. I raised my hat in answer to her salutation, and as I did soBrunow emerged from the crowd and handed a small packet to her. She tookit from him with a smile, and gave the word to the coachman. I had seenthat she had a companion with her, a lady whose back was turned to me;but I had taken no notice of the fact, and, indeed, had not given it athought. But as the coachman wheeled round his horses the lady's facecame for a moment into the full light of the brilliantly illuminatedwindow, and I, standing wedged there in the momentary block ofpedestrians, met her glance point-blank. She gave not the faintest signof recognition, though she must have seen that I stared and stared asthough I had beheld a ghost; but leaning back in the luxurious cushionsof the carriage, drew down her veil and arranged a fur rug about herknees. I stood stock-still, and was rather roughly hustled before Iso much as remembered where I was. When I looked round Brunow haddisappeared. He had probably seen me, and having found time to cool, hadwisely decided against a renewal in the public street of our quarrel ofthat afternoon. I walked on like a man in a dream, for Constance Pleyelwas the last woman in the world I had thought to see, and the very lastwoman to be found in the society of Brunow and the Baroness Bonnar. Sofar as I knew, Brunow had certainly little enough to do with her, andtheir meeting might have been one of the purest chance; but that shewas associated in some way with the baroness was evident enough fromher presence in that lady's carriage. It is a bitter thing to have to goback on the past in this way, but I cannot tell my story without it. If there are worthless women in the world, there are some who are verynearly angels, and I feel as if I were almost dishonoring the sex intelling the truth about poor Constance, for I had been very honestly inlove with her when I was a lad, and it seems even now, after the lapseof all these years, as if I were defiling the place which had once beena sanctuary. But when I had recovered from the shock of my surpriseand began to understand what I had seen, it crossed me in a very vividfashion that the mistrusting dislike with which I had always regardedthe baroness had received strong confirmation in an unexpected way; forConstance Pleyel was not and had not been for years one with whom anyself-respecting woman would wish to be intimate. The thought of theBaroness Bonnar, fresh from contact with her, coming into Violet'spresence was anything but agreeable. I am not much of a prude, and wasnever disposed to hound a woman down for an error in love; but the plainEnglish of the matter was that no woman who would care to know ConstancePleyel had a right to exchange a word with Violet. My mind was a gooddeal exercised about this matter as I walked swiftly homeward. I thoughtabout it while I was dressing, and as I drove back to Lady Rollinson'sthat strange _rencontre_ filled my thoughts to the exclusion ofeverything else. You may judge of my surprise when the baroness appearedas the very last of the invited guests. Considering the elaborate toiletshe had made she had shown wonderful despatch, and though I have nopretensions to be versed in these mysteries, I should have been inclinedto think that such a display as she made could only have been achievedwith an hour or two's labor. In spite of haste, if she had been reallypressed for time, her make-up was as perfect as ever, and what withher flashing white shoulders and flashing white teeth, her sparklingdiamonds and sparkling eyes, and the artistic flush of artificial coloron lier cheeks, she looked quite dazzling. 

Dinner was announced at the very instant of her arrival, and the counthimself took her in to dinner. That, in the light of my latest knowledgeof the lady, was the cruellest thing to remember, but the littletraitress was all smiles and pompousness, and smiled and chatted as ifno thought of mischief had ever entered her heart. Lady Rollinson hadconfided Violet to my care, and I sat at table between her and thebaroness. She talked across me to my companion until my nerves grewrigid with the strain of the repression I was compelled to lay uponmyself, and the dinner, which ought to have been a little foretaste ofheaven to a newly-accepted lover, was a long-drawn discomfort. Therewere two gentlemen at the table besides the count and myself, but theywere both Italians, and had no notion of the English custom of sittingover their wine after dinner. The count was a total abstainer, for hislong-enforced abstention had taught him a curious delicacy of palate, so that all wines were actually distasteful to him. When the ladies hadretired we smoked a cigarette, drank a cup of black coffee, and made ourway to the drawing-room, where Lady Rollinson had promised us somethingunusual in the way of music. It was my right to have monopolizedViolet's society, or if not actually to have monopolized it, to havetaken a full share of it. I found opportunity to whisper to her that Ihad an especial reason for speaking to the baroness, and while the musicwas going on I planted myself at that lady's side. She received me withmore than her usual foreign affability, and chattered so rapidly thatone or two of the guests, who I suppose really cared for the performancethen going on, cast glances of open disapproval in her direction. Thelittle woman was quite at home, however, and continued to talk withgreat animation. I made two or three attempts to interject what I had tosay, but she stopped me each time, and started off on a new theme beforeI could get more than a word in edgewise. I know that she must haveseen from my looks that I was not in the least degree disposed to theflippant mood to which she herself pretended, and at last she eitherwas, or feigned to be, tired of my failure to respond to her. 

"You are _bête_ to-night, _mon beau capitaine_, " she said at last, andwith a humorously disdainful gesture of her fan she made a motion torise. 

"Not yet, baroness, " I said, taking the fan in my hand. "I havesomething serious to say to you. "

"I am not in the mind for anything serious tonight, " she answered, "andthis is not the place for anything serious. "

"I am in the mood, " I said, "and the place will do well enough. "

She flashed her eyes at me with a sudden anger. 

"Is that an impertinence or a gaucherie?" she asked. A second later hercharming girlish smile lit up her face again, and rising from her seatshe dropped a little mock rustic courtesy. "If M. Le Capitaine Fyffewill honor me at my own humble residence, I am never abroad till one. "With that she shot me a curiously veiled glance and turned away, holdingup her hand as if to ask me to listen to the last strains of the musicwhich her own vehement chatter had already spoiled for everybody whocared to listen to it. She had evidently a purpose in holding me off, and I of course could form a reasonable guess as to what the natureof that purpose was. I devoted myself to Violet for the rest of theevening, and contrived so well to forget the baroness that by the timeat which I was compelled to take my leave I was restored to the state ofmind natural to an ardent lover who had only that day been lifted fromsomething very like despair to the fulfilment of his hope. 

When the baroness took leave I helped her to adjust her costly furmantle. Violet was standing by, and the baroness was talking to her witha pretence of animation which I know was intended to prevent me fromgiving her a reminder of what had already passed between us. As sheturned to go she gave me a moment's chance. I had been waiting for it, and I seized it instantly. 

"To-morrow, then, at twelve, " I said. 

She turned, with her eyes wide open and angered, as if I had presumed inspeaking to her and had offered her an insult. But she changed her mindin the merest fraction of time, and answered, smilingly:

"To-morrow, then, at twelve. "

Then she looked at me with the odd veiled glance I had seen before--aglance which expressed both dislike and fear, and held at the same timea keener and more piercing observation than anybody at first sight wouldhave been likely to charge the butterfly-like woman with. 

I have spoken quite openly, and as if what I have had to say had beenthe most commonplace matter in the world. Violet had heard me, but whenwe went back to the drawing-room together she asked no questions. Shehas told me since that she wondered a little what appointment I couldhave with the Baroness Bonnar, but she gave me here the first of ahundred thousand proofs of that noble freedom from the pinch of smallcuriosity which helps to make her different from and superior to hersex. 

I kept my appointment next day, and found the baroness at home. She hada dainty little house of her own, and I suppose that at this timeshe kept better style, was furnished with completer credentials, wasadmitted to know better people, and was more liberally supplied withfunds than at any other period of her curiously vagabond existence. Shewas to me at this time the Baroness Bonnar pure and simple, a foreignlady of wealth and position who moved in good society, had agreeableand influential friends, and obvious command of money. She was to me, in short, what she was to the rest of the world, and I had no earthlyreason to doubt any of her pretences. But I had come with a definiteobject, and I approached it at once. She was not at all disposed tobanter to-day, but met me with perfect candor. 

"My time is a little limited, Captain Fyffe, " she began. "Will you dome the honor to let me know at once to what I owe your visit?"

"I passed you last night in Bond Street, " I returned. She noddedbriefly, with her lips tight set and her eyes glittering a littledangerously, I thought. "Would you oblige me by telling me the name ofyour companion?"

"Would you oblige me, " she retorted, "by telling me the reasons forwhich you ask it?"

She was so very quick and resolute that I saw at once she had beenprepared for the occasion. 

"I had rather not give my reason just at present, baroness, " I said. "Ihave, as a matter of fact, no reason for asking the lady's name for myown satisfaction, because I know it with much more certainty than youdo. "

"Oh!" she said, very quietly. "Then why do you ask?"

"Let me change my question, " I responded. "Let me ask you if you haveknown Miss Constance Pleyel long?"

"Do you know, my good Captain Fyffe, " said the little woman, toying idlywith the _vinaigrette_ and sniffing at its contents now and then, "youhave a manner which is abominably resolute. You are speaking to me as ifyou were a rustic _juge d'instruction_, and I a prisoner in the dock. "

"I beg your pardon, baroness; I was conscious of no such manner. Willyou oblige me by telling me if you have known this lady long?"

"I do not recognize your right to question me, " said the baroness; "butsince you are audacious enough to come here and to question me aboutthat lady after what I heard last night--" she paused there of setpurpose, and repeating the words "after what I heard last night" withemphasis, paused again. 

"After what you heard last night, " I repeated, unable to attach anymeaning whatever to her words. 

"You decline to understand me?" she said, with a threatening nod of herpretty little head. "Very well. But if, " still with marked emphasis, "after what I heard last night you are sufficiently audacious to comehere and ask me questions about Constance Pleyel, I can tell you that Ihave known that lady long enough to know the history of her life and howfar you are responsible for the sorrows she has known. "

"I responsible?" I cried. 

"Do you deny it?" she retorted. 

I had risen to my feet unconsciously, and she arose to face me. 

"I deny it absolutely!" I answered. "The suggestion is an outrage!"

For sole answer she touched a little silver gong which stood upon thetable. A servant appeared in answer to the sound, and the baroness, without turning her head towards him, said, "Send my compliments to MissPleyel, and let her know Captain Fyffe has called. "

I stood rooted in astonishment. 

CHAPTER XI

The baroness walked to the window as the servant retired, throwing uponme as she went by a look of mingled triumph and disdain. I had no wordto say for myself, and I awaited the progress of events with wonder. Thebaroness looked out upon the street, with her tiny foot tapping at thecarpet, until the servant returned. 

"Well?" said she, imperatively turning on him. 

The man looked confused and stammered. 

"Well?" she repeated, with an angry impatience. 

"I beg your pardon, Madame la Baronne, but I am to say--"

"You are to say?" she echoed, scornfully, seeing that he paused andstammered anew. "Say what you are to say. "

"Perhaps it would be better, " the man said, "if I spoke to madamealone. "

"Say what you have to say, " his mistress commanded. "I presume you havean answer from Miss Pleyel?"

The man who was a young and by no means ill-looking fellow, wasevidently in considerable distress. "It is not my fault, Madame laBaronne, " he said, with an appealing glance at me, "but MissPleyel's message is that she declines to meet Captain Fyffe under anycircumstances. "

"That will do, " said his mistress. "You can go. "

The man retired once more. I could see that the baroness wasdisappointed, but she made the best of the circumstances. 

"I am not surprised, " she said, with as fine an expression of scorn asshe could command. 

"Nor am I, " I responded. "It is natural that Miss Pleyel should not wishto meet one who knew her fifteen years ago. "

"It is like a man and a soldier, " she said, "to presume upon the naturaldelicacy of a lady under such circumstances. She shrinks from you andfears you. She dare not encounter you even in the presence of so deara friend as I am. But I do not shrink from you, Captain Fyffe, and I amnot afraid of you. I tell you once more that I think your coming hereis, all things considered, as pretty a piece of audacity as I canremember. "

"Madame, " I answered, "I came here with a purpose. When I have fulfilledthat purpose I will relieve you of my presence. "

"Go on, " she interjected, contemptuously. 

"The position is both difficult and delicate, but my duty is plain, andI see no way of escape from it. "

"Your duty to yourself, " said the baroness, "is plain enough. Sucha man as I see you now to be will make it his duty, at any cost, todefend himself. "

"To defend himself from what, madame?" I asked, surprised at herboldness. 

"From the plain truth, " she answered, with an expression of anger anddisdain which, if not real, was an excellent bit of acting in its way. "The brave Captain Fyffe is ambitious, and has made up his mind to marrymoney; but Miss Rossano, whom I have the honor to know, might shrinkfrom Captain Fyffe if she knew him to be not merely a pennilessadventurer, but a perjured and heartless villain. '

"Madame, " I replied, "I will not be so poor a diplomatist as to lose mytemper over these charges. There are hundreds of people still alive inmy native place to whom Miss Pleyel's miserable history is known, andsuch a charge as you are making could only excite derision if it wereopenly brought against me. "

"You came here with a purpose, " she said, coldly. "I shall be obliged ifyou will fulfil your purpose, and--"

"When I have fulfilled my purpose I will go. I will be as brief as Ican. When I was a lad of twenty I was desperately in love with MissConstance Pleyel, or thought I was, which at that time of life is prettymuch the same thing. "

"It will serve at any time of life, " said the baroness. She listenedwith an air of aversion and impatience, which made a painful task morepainful to perform. 

"My father was a half-pay officer, " I went on, "very poor and veryproud. Miss Pleyel's father was a tradesman, an Austrian Jew, rich, vulgar, and ostentatious. "

"Rich, certainly, " the baroness responded. "I can congratulate youon one point, Captain Fyffe; you have not yet, so far as I can learn, suffered sentiment to blind you to the charms of wealth. "

I passed the sneer. When a man is resolutely bent upon a journey he doesnot stop to fight the flies that tease him. 

"We moved in different circles. I spoke to Miss Pleyel perhaps a dozentimes, but in the hot enthusiasm of youthful love I wrote to her often. "

"I have seen your letters, " said the baroness, with a short, contemptuous laugh. "They might have deceived any woman. "

I allowed myself to be diverted for a moment. 

"She keeps them? It is a sign of grace in her that she cares, after somany years, to remember an honest, boyish passion. "

"A sign of grace?" cried the baroness, passionately. "Oh, I losepatience with this cool infamy!"

Now all this time has gone by I can recall this scene as if it were abit of stage play; and now that I can read every motive and understandevery movement, I am inclined to think the baroness's part in it thefinest piece of stage work I have ever seen. 

"If you will permit me, madame, I will try to put the case in such away that there shall be no mistake as to what I mean to say. I saw MissPleyel rarely, and never once in private. I wrote to her often; I wrotereams of boyish nonsense, which was all meant in fiery earnest then. Then news came. Miss Pleyel ran away from her father's house withColonel Hill-yard, a man of wealth, a married man with a large family, and, in spite of that fact, a notorious _roue_. They lived abroadfor six months, and Miss Pleyel ran away from Colonel Hillyard with aRussian officer, with whom she went to St. Petersburg, where she caughta grand duke, who was so far fascinated as to contract a morganaticmarriage with her. Since that time Miss Pleyel's adventures have beenbefore the world. Her name has been lost under a score of aliases, but there is no pretence between you and me, and no dispute as to heridentity. "

"Captain Fyffe, " said the baroness, "I do not yet think so poorly of youas to believe that you have invented this abominable story, but I cantell you that it is, from beginning to end, a tissue of falsehoods. "

"Pardon me, madame, " I responded, "there is no man living who knows thatwretched history half so well as I do. "

"Oh, you men, you men!" cried the baroness, sweeping her little whitehands towards the ceiling, and wringing them above her head with atragic gesture. She turned upon me suddenly, with an admirable burstof passion and feeling. "Captain Fyffe, I am a woman of the world; I am_expérimentée_--unhappily for me, too, too bitterly experienced. Believeme, I already have the very poorest opinion of your sex. I beseech younot to lower it further. "

"The most casual inquiry, " I answered, "if you should care to make it, will confirm every word I have so far spoken. And now I need detain youlittle longer. It is a terrible thing to say to a lady, but it must besaid. It is all the more terrible to say, because I had at one time asentimental worship for that poor creature who has proved herself sooften to be unworthy of any honest man's regard. No lady who knowsthe reputation of Miss Constance Pleyel, or who, being warned of herreputation, declines to test the truth of the warning and remains herfriend, can be permitted to associate, to my knowledge, with anybody forwhom I entertain the slightest regard or esteem. "

"Do I understand you to threaten me, Captain Fyffe?" asked the baroness. "You must permit me for a moment to instruct you. My position in societyis secure enough to enable me to defend any _protégée_ of mine againstany insinuation which Captain Fyffe may make. "

"I make no insinuation, " I returned. "I lay plain facts before you. Iwill send you by messenger, within an hour, the names and addresses ofa score of people who know the facts of the case. You shall, if youchoose, employ an agent, whose charges I will defray, and whose report Iwill never ask to see. "

"Thank you, sir, " she answered. "I do not spy upon the people to whom Iprofess to give my friendship. "

That was perhaps as heroic a lie as even a lady of the baroness'sprofession ever uttered; but at that time I was not master of the factsof the case, and the little woman spoke with so much dignity and naturethat she imposed upon me. I was really half ashamed of having suggestedto her a course which only a minute before seemed quite natural. 

"Madame, " I said, "the position is a peculiar one, and it cannot beencountered by ordinary means. I accept without reserve the declarationyou offer of your belief in Miss Pleyel's innocence. But then, you see, unhappily, I know the whole story, and I am forced, however unwillingly, to offer you an ultimatum. "

"Pray let me hear it, " she answered, in a tone of sarcasm. 

"It is briefly this, " I said. "It is impossible that the Baroness Bonnarshould retain her association with Miss Pleyel and with Lady Rollinsonat the same time. "

"You guarantee that?" asked the baroness. "May I ask what means youpropose to adopt?"

"If I am compelled, " I answered, "but only in case I am compelled, Ishall take the one possible, straightforward course, and shall tell toLady Rollinson the story I have told to you. "

The baroness tried another tack. 

"I have often heard it said, " she began, bitterly, "that it is onlywomen who have no mercy upon women. Do you tell me, Captain Fyffe, thatyou can have the heart to hound this poor creature down, even if allyou charge against her were true, if all her life until now had been onehuge mistake? Is she to have no chance of amendment? Do not suppose, "she cried, "that your story convinces me for a moment! I am looking atyour side alone, that is all. "

"Pardon me, " I felt constrained to answer, "I see no sign of anywish for amendment. The only defence yet offered lies in a gross andgroundless accusation against myself. When I came here I had no ideathat Miss Pleyel meant to be dangerous to me. I learn from you thecourse on which she has decided. "

"She!" cried the baroness. "She has decided upon nothing. Perhaps I havebeen led too readily to leap at a conclusion. She has made no accusationagainst you, poor thing; but I confess that I thought she was strivingto defend you. She was terribly agitated by the chance sight she caughtof you in the street last night. She has been weeping ever since. Shegave me your letters with some broken words, which perhaps I may havemisconstrued. If I have done you wrong, I beg your pardon. If I havedone you wrong, I beg your forgiveness with all my heart. But surely, Captain Fyffe, you do not in cold blood propose to one woman that sheshall throw another on the world, that she should cast her, howeverfrail she may have been, into new temptations. You must let me tellyou, " she hurried on, raising her hand against me to arrest anyinterruption I might have been disposed to make--"you must let me tellyou that I exercise some little forbearance in taking this tone at all. No slander has ever touched my reputation, and I do not intend that itshall smirch it now. I have but to say I have been deceived to establishmyself in the sight of all who know me. Tell me, sir, if you have everheard a whisper against my honor. Did ever man or woman breathe a wordin your hearing with respect to me which might not have been spoken of asister of your own?"

The plain truth was that I knew nobody but Bru-now who had anyacquaintance with the little lady's antecedents. He had certainly spokenof her often in terms which I should have been very sorry to have heardapplied to a sister of mine if I had been so fortunate as to own one. But, then, Brunow was a man about town, and a braggart at the sametime, and I had attached no more importance to his talk than to theirresponsible babble of a baby. It was not my business to repeatBrunow's stupid follies, and I kept silent. She, however, was notdisposed to let me off that way, but pressed me for an answer. 

"Madame, " I was forced to say, "I am not so impertinent as to call yourreputation into question for an instant. I will not be so insolent asto sit in judgment upon so delicate a question for a moment. I have saidall I had to say, and can see no reason for recalling any part of it. " Ibowed, and made a movement to retire, but she flashed between me and thedoor, and faced me with supplicating hands. 

"Think again, Captain Fyffe, " she besought me; "think again. PoorConstance is not the heartless wretch you fancy her. She is alone inthe world; she is friendless, penniless. There is nobody to lend her ahelping hand, nobody to believe in her wish to lead a better life butonly poor little me. And of what avail is my belief in her, of whatavail is my wish to lift her from the mire if you should go from me andtrumpet her past abroad. I knew her, Captain Fyffe, when she was richerand happier than she is now, when she was received by society in St. Petersburg, when she was courted, admired, adored. I am sorry for herin my soul. It would wring my heart to let her go. And notice, CaptainFyffe, I am not trying to thrust her on the world, I am not tryingto introduce her to any friend of mine. When you saw us in the streetyesterday she drove out for the first time in my company in London. Ah, Captain Fyffe, we cannot do much good in this miserable world if we tryever so hard. I have never tried very hard. I have been a frivolous, butterfly, useless creature; but at my time of life, you see, one beginsto have serious fancies. And it was mine to find this poor creature anasylum, where she might hide her head from shame, and be free of alltemptation. You are a stern man, Captain Fyffe, you have shown me that, but do not be all justice and no mercy. " She actually cried and clung tome as she spoke, and even now it seems difficult to believe that therewas no genuine feeling at the bottom of it all, though I know perfectlywell that there was no ground for the merest scrap of it. 

The situation was horribly embarrassing, and yet if I had been the mostyielding fool alive there was no escape. It was simply impossible thatI, with my eyes open, should permit any woman who openly associated withConstance Pleyel to associate with Violet. 

"I have no wish, " I answered, "to speak one word to Miss Pleyel'sdisadvantage, and I have no right, to dictate terms to you; but if youshould insist on continuing your acquaintance with Miss Pleyel and withLady Rollinson, it will be my bounden duty to tell her ladyship what Iknow, and leave her to act for herself. "

"Ah, well, " she cried, in a voice of despair, "I do not even know that Ican blame you; but am I to be sure that I can buy your silence?"

"That you can buy my silence?" I repeated. 

"Yes, " she answered, despondently, looking up at me with tear-stainedeyes. "I mean--will you say nothing if I promise to visit Lady Rollinsonno more and to meet Miss Rossano no more? I am asking nothing formyself, Captain Fyffe, remember, and I would not stoop to make terms atall if it were not for this unhappy woman's sake. Will you promise methis?"

I thought the matter over for a minute, and I promised. As it turnedout, I never did an unwiser thing; but I had no means of knowing howunwise it was, and I was affected by her tears and protestations. IfBaroness Bonnar had not had the skill to bedevil cleverer men thanmyself, and men twenty times as experienced, she would never have risento the position of eminence she occupied. 

We parted on the understanding that she was to pay no more visits toLady Rollinson's house, but was to do her loyal best to avoid Violetand her chaperon. I went away half inclined to think myself a brute forhaving exacted that undertaking from her. Of course, if I had been theman of the world I thought myself, I should never have gone to see her, never have shown my hand, but should have awaited the development ofevents after having told Lady Rollinson what I knew, and having left herto safeguard her own interests and mine. 

The whole business had been cruelly unpleasant, and I left thebaroness's house thinking that on the whole I was very well out of it. Iwas sorry for the little lady herself, and did really and seriouslygive her credit for good intentions, which proves either that she was anexceptionally fine actress, or that I was an exceptional greenhorn. 

I had scarcely left the house when I heard my name called in a loudwhisper, and, turning, saw the gaunt figure of Ruffiano within half adozen yards of me. He was astonishingly shabby still, but he rejoicedin clean linen, and had been recently shaven, so that he looked far morepresentable than usual. 

His eyes were blazing, and the whole of his long bony frame was hitchingand jolting with suppressed excitement. 

"I have news!" he said; "such news! Which way go you? The man is here. "

I turned in the direction indicated, and saw a foreign-looking fellow ina huge beard, a slouched hat, and a melodramatic cloak, looking forall the world like a conspirator in an Adelphi or Olympic drama at thatdate. It was raining slightly, but the man stood with folded arms in themiddle of the pavement at the street corner, like a statue of patience, with the keen February wind buffeting his long cloak picturesquely abouthim, and blowing his wild hair and beard in all directions. At a signalfrom Ruffiano he crossed over to us, and the droll old Quixote, withsuperabundant gesture, began to question him in Italian, the mananswering, of course, in the same tongue. When they had talked togetherfor four or five minutes Ruffiano turned upon me with his hands spreadwide, and his face beaming with triumph. 

"You see, " he said. 

"You forget, my dear count, " I told him, "that I don't understand a wordof what you have been saying. "

The count reviled himself, and plunged into apologies so fluent as to beonly half intelligible. 

"This gentleman, " he said, indicating the shaggy melodramatist, "has butnow arrived by the morning train from Paris. The hour is here at last. Louis Philippe has run away, and by this hour we suspect he is inEngland. You know what that means for us?"

I knew what it meant very well, but I was not disposed to believe thestory without examination. I found that the messenger spoke no word ofany language but his own, and resolved on carrying him at once to CountRossano. To that end I called a hackney-coach, not greatly caring, Iconfess it, to be seen in broad daylight in London streets with such anastonishing pair of guys as poor old Ruffiano and his friend. 

The count was at home, and, receiving us at once, heard the story withan excitement equal to that of the narrator. When it was ended he turnedon me with the very phrase Ruffiano had used: "The hour is here!"

"You can trust this man?" I asked. 

"Absolutely, " he responded. 

I confessed that I should prefer to await a confirmation of his story bythe newspapers, but the count interrupted me with a wave of the hand. 

"You will see, " he said, "that the newspapers will confirm the storyto-morrow, and in the meantime we shall have saved a day. France isawake, and the awaking of France is the dawn of liberty for Italy. Wemust hold a meeting to-night. You will wait?" he asked me. "I have ahundred things to talk of, but I must first despatch Count Ruffiano toour friends. "

"Yes, " cried Ruffiano, with a more than common emphasis on thesuperfluous vowels he used, "we must meet to-night. The hour is here. Ina week from now we shall have the usurper by the throat. Wait but aday, and you shall hear such news from Milano! They are ready there, andthere will be no holding them back this time. "

The count silenced him, and gave him rapid instructions in Italian. Icould follow most of what he said in this case, for I was familiarwith every name he mentioned. He was calling out the astutest and mostinfluential of the Italian refugees then in London. The revolutionaryItalian party, like all the revolutionary parties known to history, wassplit up into sections. There were moderates and immoderates among them, men to whom the name of Carlo Alberto was an oriflamme, and others towhom it was the very signal of scorn and loathing. The count was callingthe extremists of both schools together, and Ruffiano expostulated. 

"This is a time, " said the count, addressing me, "at which we must sinkall divisions. We shall find ample time to quarrel when the work isdone. In the meantime the work lies before us, and no good Italian canhang back from it. "

"We shall do nothing but quarrel, " Ruffiano protested. "We shall be atdaggers drawn among ourselves. "

"Leave that to me, " said the count, "and do you do my bidding. "

After this there was no more question, and Quixote set off, taking hisbrigand of a companion with him. The count paced the room in a sort ofsilent fury for a while, but he was easily tired, and after two or threeminutes of this violent exercise he dropped, pale and panting, into anarm-chair, and wiped the thick beads of perspiration from his forehead. 

"There is no doubt about the news, " he said then; "and even if it werenot true to-day, it would be true to-morrow or the day after. "

I pointed out to him that its very likelihood should make us resolvethat our evidence was perfect before we acted on it. 

"Yes, yes, " he cried, with an angry impatience; "but we must be readyfor action, and I propose no more. There is just one thing in respectto which I have not yet taken you into confidence. I have had anopportunity offered me of the purchase of a stock of arms. They weremade in Birmingham, at the order of one of the South American republicswhich fell into bankruptcy just as the order was fulfilled. They are tobe had at a very low price, and I am inclined to buy them. I ask yourjudgment on this matter on two grounds, Captain Fyffe. To begin with, itis twenty years since I knew the world, and the fashion of arms has sochanged during that time that I am a judge no longer. I shall want youto decide on the quality of the weapons. " I nodded assent to this, andhe went on. "The second reason is much more personal to yourself. Thecause is poor, but my daughter, in the course of a few days, will havein her own hands a large sum of money inherited from her mother, andincreased by interest through her long minority. In round figures shewill receive something like forty thousand pounds. She proposes to offerthat sum to her father's country. You ought to know of that. "

I did not see what concern this was of mine, and I said so. Violet'sfortune, so far as I was concerned, was entirely at her own disposal. I felt this so strongly that I did not dare to express myself quiteunreservedly, lest I might seem guilty of a pretence of too greatdisinterestedness. But I added that if the money were my own, I couldthink of no better way of spending it, and the count was satisfied. 

He was in the very act of describing to me the weapons he proposed tobuy when a servant entered with a card. 

"This is my man, " said the count, and bade the servant show the visitorin. 

CHAPTER XII

"Mr. Alpheas P. Quorn" was the name printed on the card of the visitorjust announced, and I had scarcely cast my eye upon it when the man camein. He was a prodigiously fat man, with a pigeon breast, and a neck soshort that his tufted chin was set low down between his high shoulders. He was dressed in actual burlesque of the fashion then prevailing; but, spruce as he was, he nursed undisguisedly a huge quid of tobacco in oneclean-shaven cheek, and his hands, which were covered with rings of nogreat apparent value, were very dirty, and the nails uncared for. Hebowed with a great flourish of politeness, spat copiously in the fire, and bade the count good-day in a thin and shrill-pitched voice, so outof keeping with his monstrous size that I had to cough and turn away todisguise a laugh. 

"My respects, count, " said Mr. Quorn, "my respects and compliments. Ipresoom, sir, you have heard the noos from the European Continent. "

"I am in pretty constant receipt of news, " the count responded, with aswift glance in my direction; "but I do not know that it is yet commonproperty. "

"Wal, " said Mr. Quorn, "I'm inclined to think it is. But my folks arepretty considerably damn smart, and so, I guess, are yours. " He paused, looked hard at me, and turned his quid reflectively. "This gentleman--?"he said, interrogatively. 

"This gentleman, " the count responded, "is in full possession of myconfidence. This is Mr. Quorn, Captain Fyffe. I was telling CaptainFyffe at the moment of your arrival, " he continued, "the nature ofour business. I shall rely upon his judgment of the goods you have forsale. "

"That's all right, " said Mr. Quorn. "I've got the real thing to sell, and I want a man as knows the real thing to see it before it's bought. Then you're satisfied and I'm satisfied. If I ain't mistaken now, Captain Fyffe's the man that hooked you out of that blasted Austriandungeon. "

"It is to Captain Fyffe, " the count answered, "that I owe my liberty. "

"Then you owe him a lot, " retorted Mr. Quorn. "There's nothing sweeteron the face of the earth, and I presoom, sir, that you know it. I am afoe to slavery, gentlemen, everywhere and always. In the sacred causeof freedom I have been tarred and feathered and rode upon a rail. Incomparison with twenty years in Austrian hands that ain't a lot, but itwas more than I bargained for, and as much as I wanted. In the sacredcause of freedom, gentlemen, I'm willing to sacrifice even a pecuniaryconsideration. I could do a trade with Austria that would increase myprofits by fifty per cent. But I'm all for freedom, and you get firstoffer. "

"What is your news from the Continent, Mr. Quorn?" inquired the count. 

Mr. Quorn looked about him for a convenient spot, selected thefireplace, spat again, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, andwinked with a slow deliberation. 

"What's yourn?" he asked. The count smiled and shook his head. "Wal, "said Mr. Quorn, "I'll tell you what I'll do with you. I'll letter itwith you. L. "

"O, " said the count, still smiling. 

"U, " said Mr. Quorn. 

"I, " said the count. 

"It appears to me, " said Mr. Quorn, "we're on the same trail. Theexalted individual we've got in mind, count, has done something. What'she done now?" He rolled his big head between his fat shoulders as he putthe question, and chewed away at the great plug of tobacco in his cheekas if he were paid to do it, and as if he were paid by piecework. 

"Yes, " said the count, "he has done something, but that is a littlevague. "

"Wal, yes, " Mr. Quorn allowed, seating himself and setting both elbowson the table, "I allow it's vague, but it won't be vague to-morrowmorning. "

"You allude, " said the count, "to the rumor that Louis Philippe has--"

"Yes, sir, " retorted Mr. Quorn, with a very bright twinkle of both eyes, "that is the rumor I allood to. That ain't vague, captain, is it? Weboth know all about it, " he went on, "and I reckon it ought to greasethis contract just a little and make it run smooth. Your time's here, ifever it will be, and I propose we strike a bargain. "

"When can you supply the goods?" asked the count. 

"Where?" asked Mr. Quorn, as if he were chopping something with ahatchet. 

"Ah, " said the count, "that has to be considered. "

"Yes, " the visitor assented, "that has to be considered. I'm for havingeverything above-board. It ain't easy to handle the contrabands of warat a time like this, when every heraldic bird and beast in Europe is onhis hind-legs and looking nine ways for Sundays. If Captain Fyffe likesto come down with me to Blackwall I can show him something. On my sideI'm all ready, and when I know where the goods are to be landed I'llundertake to fulfil my part of the contract. I'll leave you to yours. Money down on delivery is the only terms. I want to know the money'sthere, and you want to know the goods are there. The name of the CountRo-Say-No would be a sufficient guarantee for anybody in the world but acuss like me. I'm business. In matters of business, gentlemen, delicacy and consideration for high-flown feelings don't enter intomy composition, not for a cent's worth. If I was trading with QueenVictoria I should want to know where the money was coming from. Fortythousand sterling is a lot of money, and I expect you, as a man of theworld, to excuse my curiosity. "

The count rose from his seat and rang the bell by the fireplace. Aservant answered it, and he said, simply:

"Ask Miss Rossano to be kind enough to see me here. "

The servant retired, and Mr. Quorn filled in the time of waiting bywalking about the room with his hands under his coat-tails, making acursory inspection of the furniture and the engravings on the walls, andwalking from time to time to the fireplace to expectorate. When Violetentered, the count placed a seat for her, but she remained standing, with an interrogative look from Mr. Quorn to me which seemed to ask anexplanation of that gentleman's presence. 

"My dear, " said the count, "we have often spoken together of thenecessity for the purchase of arms for The Cause. "

"Yes, " she said. 

"This gentleman, " the count indicated our visitor, "has arms to sell. Wehave had news this morning which makes it necessary that we should moveat once. "

Her face turned pale for a moment and her lips trembled, but she spokean affirmatory word only, and waited. 

"Mr. Quorn, " said the count, "has fifty thousand stand of arms todispose of. "

"I suppose this is all right, " interrupted Mr. Quorn, "but I may beallowed to say that I have been in a business of this sort more thanonce in my time, and I never knew any good come out of the introductionof a petticoat. "

Violet looked at him, and I saw her lips twitch with an impulse towardslaughter; but Mr. Quorn obviously misunderstood the emotions he hadinspired. 

"Do not suppose from that, madame, " he said, with great solemnity, "thatI have not the reverence for your sex which rules every well-regulatedmasculine boozom, but this, if it means anything at all, means secrecy, and that is not your sex's strong point. "

"That is a matter, Mr. Quorn, " returned the count, "with which, as Ithink, you need not concern yourself. "

"That's all right, " returned Mr. Quorn. "I merely mentioned it. It's noaffair of mine. "

"Mr. Quorn, " said the count, "has fifty thousand stand of arms tosell. With them he has three million percussion-caps and three millioncartridges. His price for the whole is--" he paused there and waited, looking towards the visitor. 

"Forty thousand pounds sterling, " said Mr. Quorn. 

I interrupted the conversation at this point, asking when the cartridgesin question had been made. That was more than Mr. Quorn could say; butI insisted upon an examination of their quality before any bargain withrespect to their purchase could be begun. No sportsman shoots with lastyear's cartridges, and a man whose life depends upon his ammunitionshould be at least as careful as a sportsman. 

"Now, " said Mr. Quorn, "I like this--this is business. This comes oftalking to an expert. "

But all the same I could see that he was not over-pleased by myinterference at this point. 

"We will leave that to your judgment, my dear Fyffe, " said the count. "But in the meantime Mr. Quorn desires to be satisfied of our abilityto purchase. You have consulted your lawyer, dear, and you know at whattime you will have control of your money--"

"On the twelfth of next month, " said Violet. "I have a letter to thateffect. If this gentleman desires to see it I shall have great pleasurein showing it to him. "

"Thank you, miss, " said Mr. Quorn. "I should feel satisfied if I couldsee the document. "

Violet left the room with a furtive smile on her lips, and in a minuteor so returned with the letter, which she handed to Mr. Quorn. Hedrew from his coat-pocket a spectacle-case, and took from it a pair ofgold-rimmed spectacles. He breathed on these, and polished them with hishandkerchief, and then read the letter. 

"Richardson & Bowdler, " he said, tapping the paper with one bejewelled, dirty finger, "Acre Building, Cheapside. No objection, I presoom, tomy calling on these gentlemen and ascertaining if this document isgenuine?"

"Sir, " said the count, stiffly, "the whole matter is open to yourinvestigation. You will take any course which seems to you to bejustified by your own interests. "

"That's above-board, " said Mr. Quorn, calmly pocketing the letter andreturning his glasses to their case. "I'll take a run down to thesefolks at once, and things being satisfactory there, I'll be at CaptainFyffe's service any minute. If you've nothing better to do thisafternoon, captain, I'll run you down to Blackwall and show you what isto be seen. "

It was arranged that he should call for me between three and fouro'clock, and on that understanding he took his leave, retiring with manyflourishes and an assurance, specially addressed to Violet, that he wasflush on the cause of freedom anywhere and everywhere, the hull globeover, and dead against them blasted Austrians anyhow. 

"You must remember, my child, " said the count, when we three were leftalone, "that you are spending a great sum of money in this enterprise, that it may all be wasted, and that even if by your help The Causeshould win you can never hope to see one pound of your money backagain. "

Violet had seated herself beside him at Mr. Quorn's departure, and now, when he began to speak, she slid one arm about his neck and nestledclosely to him, with her ripe young cheek touching his grizzled andlined old face. 

"I have thought of all that, father, " she answered. "I shouldn't caremuch in any case what became of the money, for I shall have plenty left. But if it were the last penny, you and Italy would be welcome to it. "

"I know that, my dearest, " the count answered; "but all the same I couldwish it were my own. You have not yet heard to-day's news?"

"No, " she said, drawing a little away from him, in order that she mightlook into his face. "What is it?"

"France is up!" he responded. "Louis Philippe has flown away, and iseither on the road here or here already. "

"And that means?" she said. 

"'Instant action, " returned the count. "Action without one hour'sunnecessary delay. "

"Tell me, " she said, "exactly what it means. "

"We have called a meeting for to-night, " said the count, "and until thatis held I can tell you nothing final. But you have a right to know myown design. We can really do nothing practical until we are armed. But Ishall propose to quit England to-morrow. I shall leave Captain Fyffe tothe negotiations with Quorn, and shall arrange for communications acrossthe frontier, which will enable me to judge of the best place and thewisest hour for an attack. I shall go alone, because I wish to excite aslittle notice as possible. "

"You must not go alone, " she said, and made a movement towards him withher hands half extended. It was just such a movement as you will see amother make towards a child that has not quite learned to walk and isin danger of falling. I could see the maternal instinct beaming in herface. The beautiful girl beside this grizzled and prematurely aged manwas motherly all over, and it was a lovely and a touching thing to see. The count saw her meaning in a second, and drew back from her with amelancholy and affectionate smile, holding out both hands against her. 

"I must go alone, " he said. 

"No, no!" cried Violet, taking both his outstretched hands in hers, andbending over him with a look of infinite protection. "My poor dear, haveyou not suffered enough, and run dangers enough already? I could notbear to be away from you. " He was about to speak, but she closed hislips gently with the palm of her hand. "I have not been your daughterlong, " she said, with a little catch in her voice which took me at thethroat and made my heart ache with tenderness and pity for her. "I cangive you up, dear, when the time comes, but not an hour before. "

"Should I not be happy, Fyffe?" asked the count, turning to me withtears in his eyes. "No, no, dearest, you will wait in England. I shallleave you in safety, for I will take nothing with me--no, not a thought, if I can help it, which would make me a coward for Italy. "

"I can give you up when the time comes, " she repeated, simply, "but notnow. I will not ask you to take me into any danger. I don't think, " shewent on, striving to make something of a jest of it, and to hide thedeeper feeling which controlled her so strongly--"I don't think that Iam fond of danger or that I should like it at all; but there is no realreason why I should not be with you just at first. "

"Aye, yes, " cried the count, "there is every reason. I do not know whereI may have to go. I do not know how I am to live--to travel--with whatassociates I must combine. My dear child, you must know the truth; mylove must venture to speak it. You would be a drag upon every step, andwith you I should not dare to face a single peril. I must go alone; Iknow the hardship, but that is the task of women. They wait at home andsuffer, while the man goes out to enjoy adventure and excitement. Itwas your mother's fortune, my child, and you inherit it. She was allEnglish, and yet she endured it for my sake. You are at least half ofItaly, and Italy has need of both of us. If Italy needs my life, she iswelcome to it. If she had need of yours, I would say not a word to holdyou back. But your place is at home. Is it not so, Fyffe?"

I was a selfish advocate enough, but he had reason on his side, and Ishould have been blind indeed not to have seen it. 

"It will be wiser--wiser far, " I urged, "to stay at home. To speakplainly, you could not fail, in any sudden emergency, to hamper yourfather's steps. He would be nervous about you, and anxious for yoursafety. "

"But there is no need for that, " she cried, with a tender impatience. "Iam not afraid. If I were a man you should not talk to me so. "

"No, " said the count, rising and folding his arms about her. "If youwere a man, my dearest, you should have your way. "

"Oh, " she said, with a downward gesture of her clinched hands, "Ihate these thoughts about women. Why should we not have courage? Whyshouldn't we share danger with those we care about? I am not afraid ofdanger. But I could keep you away from it when there was no reason forit. "

"Violet, " said her father, gently, "I am not inclined to be rash; notnow. I have had twenty years of warning, remember. "

"Remember, poor dear!" she cried, with both arms round his neck and herface hidden on his shoulder, "I have never forgotten for a moment sinceI knew that you were alive. But don't let me be so useless. Let me dosomething. Let me be near you. Don't leave me behind. "

"You do much already, " said the count, soothing her as he spoke with oneloving hand upon her flushed and tear-stained cheek. "You surrender yourfather and your plighted husband, and a great slice of your fortune. Ah, dearest, you do enough!"

"I do nothing, " she declared. "Oh, I wish I were a man!"

"So do not I, " said the count. "I should quarrel with any wish thefulfilment of which robbed me of my daughter. "

She moved away from him gently, and dried her eyes. Her father watchedher solicitously, and by-and-by she walked to the window of the room andsaid, in a tone of commonplace: "You cannot prevent me from followingyou. "

"I can forbid it, " he said, in a tone of pain. 

"And I can follow all the same, " she answered. He looked at her witha glance in which I read both surprise and grief, and for a minute hefound no answer. When she moved to look at him he had turned away, and did not see how timid and beseeching her eyes were, for all therebellion in her words. 

"My child, " he said, "I am at a grave disadvantage. It pleased God topart us, and to deny us even the knowledge of each other's existence. Iam still a stranger. "

"No, no, no!" she cried. She turned and ran to him, and it was plainthat an appeal couched in such terms was more than she could bear. "Youare my father, " she sobbed, "my dear, dear father! All the dearer, " shewent on, in words made half inarticulate by her tears, and all the moreexpressive and affecting--"all the dearer because we never knew eachother through all those dreadful years! I love you, dear, and I am notundutiful, and I will do whatever you ask me; but I want to be with you, I want to be with you. I have had you for such a little time. I wantyou--I want you always!"

"You must spare me to Italy, " said her father, kissing her hands andstroking them within his own. 

"Italy! What would Italy be to me if you were not a part of it?" TheSouthern blood broke out there plain to see, and in her flashing eyesand vivid face and the free gesture with which she spoke she was Italianall over. "Do you think a girl can love a country or a name as she lovesher father? Do you think she cares about your houses and intrigues, your Piedmonts and Savoys, your Cavours and Metterniches? I would giveeverything I have to Italy, but I would give it all to Austria just assoon if you were on her side!"

The count stood as if stricken dumb. I do not believe that this humannatural aspect of the case had ever occurred to him as being within thebroadest limits of possibility. Italy had come to mean everything inthe world to him. The word meant love, revenge, ambition, the very dailybread and water of his heart and soul. The fate of Italy overrode, in his mind, every personal consideration--not only for himself, but, unconsciously, for every living creature. It was natural that it shouldbe so. It would have been strange, perhaps, had it been otherwise. Icould see that his daughter's outburst sounded in his ears almost like ablasphemy. He stood wonder-struck and silent. 

"If you, " he said at last, with a face as white as a ghost's, andraising a shaking hand towards her--"if you, my daughter, the livingremembrance of my wife--if she herself were back here from her reposein heaven--if all that ever were or could be dear to me stood on theone side, and my country's freedom on the other, I would lose you all--Iwould sacrifice you with my own hand for that great cause as willinglyas I would sacrifice myself. "

"Of course you would, " she answered, with an amazement almost equalto his own. "What was the use of proclaiming a truth so self-evidentas that? You are a man and a patriot, and you love your country"--hervoice rang and her bosom heaved--"and you have given all the best yearsof your life in suffering for her; and that is why I love and honor you. But that is what a man could never understand. You love your cause, andwe women love you for loving it; and love it because you love it, andwe would die for it just as soon as you would. Oh, you heroic, noble, beautiful--goose!" She rushed at him, and kissed him with a passionateimpetuosity. "And you think it's all Italy. It isn't Italy; it's you!You're my father, and you're a hero, and a--and a--martyr, and thenoblest man that ever lived; and I love you, and I'm proud of you, and--Italy! You're my Italy, dear!"

I know that I have not even recorded the words she spoke, well as Ifancied I remembered them. But there is no recording the manner, allfire and passion and melting tenderness; and such a sudden sense of funand affection in the very middle of it all that I was within an ace ofcrying at it. The count did cry, without disguise, and so did she, andI did what I could to look as if I were not in the least moved. But whenher outburst was over, and we had all settled down again, there was nofurther hint of disobedience. Violet sat down submissively on a littlefootstool at the count's side, holding his hand and resting her headagainst his knee while he detailed his plans, so far as they were ripe, or speculated beyond them, looking into the possibilities of the future. 

In a while, according to arrangement, Mr. Quorn returned, and this brokeup our conclave. I knew already the hour and place appointed for thatnight, and the count and I agreed to meet there. 12

CHAPTER XIII

We met in a room in Soho, over an Italian restaurateur's. The place wasdimly lit with lamps and a brace of tall candles, and down the centre ofthe room ran a long, unclothed table, with chairs ranged at either sideof it. The men who formed our council were of every social grade, and inthe crowd which hung about the room at the moment of my entrance therewere two or three who would have passed social muster anywhere, and twoor three who were shaggy, unkempt, and ragged enough to have beentaken for beggars. One or two wore the short round jacket which isthe trade-mark of the Italian waiter, and one, a diamond merchantfrom Hatton Garden, carried so much of his own stock in trade in openevidence about him that he would have been a fortune to a dozen of thepoorer brethren. But whether they were prince or peasant, lean tutor, fat padrone, coarse stockbroker, or polished noble, they were all at onein patriotism, and there was not a man there who had not proved himselfup to the hilt, and who was not given, body and soul, to The Cause. 

In the darkest corner of the room stood an old grand pianoforte, the toppropped open, and the keyboard exposed as if it had been but recentlyemployed. A chair with a ragged cushion on top of it was pushed a littleback, and a sheet of music drooped from the stand towards the keys. Myentrance had excited no regard, and I took my place in this dim cornerto look about me. The count had not yet arrived, and, indeed, I was somefive minutes before the appointed hour; but as I stood watching, Brunowcame in and shook hands with at least a score of the men assembled. Thelight was anything but clear, and I could not be quite certain of hisaspect; but to me he wore a troubled and harassed look, and I thought Ihad never seen him so pale and wan. He talked loudly and excitedly; andlittle as I understood the language with which he was so familiar, Imade out enough to tell me that he was exulting in the news that dayhad brought us, and was prophesying success for the Italian cause. Forpeople who did not know him, he had an extraordinary power of excitingenthusiasm, and before he had been three minutes in the place everybodywas listening to him; and once or twice as he spoke there was a murmurof applause, now and then a laugh, and once a burst of cheering. Justas this broke out he caught sight of me standing in the dimness ofthe corner by the old piano, and peered at me as if uncertain of myidentity. When he recognized me he turned away and spoke no more, and Ithought it was anger at me which flushed his face at first and then madeit paler than ever. I was sorry for Brunow, and, little as I valued him, I was grieved that he should nurse his groundless grudge against me; butthere was nothing to be done at present. 

Almost as the cheers which had greeted Brunow's last sentence died awaythe count came in. He walked straight to the head of the table, and tookhis seat there. There was more cheering, and then the men assembledtook their places anyhow, with no distinction of persons. The count'sofficial statement of the news was received with a murmur in which anote of stern interest was audible. I had been assured, from my firstknowledge of them, that the men of this particular conclave meantbusiness. It had been the main affair of my life to judge of theintentions of societies similar to this, and I have no reason to believethat my experiences had been altogether wasted. Their purpose wasevident enough now, and in the flush of anticipated victory whichbrightened every mind with the thought that the one ally of theoppressor was down, I read the reflection of my own certainty. "You aremy Italy, " said Violet to her father, and in my own mind I repeated herwords as if they had been the end of an old song, and added, "_You_ aremine. "

It was not long before I found myself summoned to an active part in thedeliberations of the night. I heard my own name from the count's lips, and, looking up, saw his hand beckoning to me. 

"My dear and valued friend, " said the count, as I stood by him, "knowsnothing of Italian. All of us speak or understand his language moreor less, for our exile in England has taught us at least the tongue offreedom. To-day Captain Fyffe has accepted a mission in our behalf. Wehave had an offer of fifty thousand rifles. A wealthy Italian lady, whocommands me to conceal her name at this moment, has provided the moneyfor their purchase. " There was a tremendous cheer at this, and every manthere sprang to his feet. "Captain Fyffe, " the count resumed, whenquiet was restored, "has charged himself with the negotiations. He isan experienced soldier, and has undertaken to see that we are not buyinganything that is not likely to be of solid worth to us. I will ask younow to listen to Captain Fyffe's report. "

I never pretended to be anything of an orator, but I could make a plainstatement of that sort, though I was a little embarrassed by the feelingthat a good many of my listeners could not understand me. I reportedthat I had overhauled a number of cases of the arms it was proposed topurchase, and that I was reasonably satisfied of their efficiency. Therifle was of the latest make, and though we have made great stridesin gunnery since then, we have made no such stride as was made atthat time. I was able to say that the weapons were more effective thananything with which our enemies were armed, and to announce that we werein a position to effect an astonishing bargain. 

"More than that, " I said, in conclusion, "I am not disposed to say evenhere. The arms are contraband of war, and if it were known that theywere in England it would be the duty of the authorities to seize them. That fact makes silence safest. "

Those who understood, or who thought they understood, translated thisbrief statement of mine to those who did not, and this made a deep humall about the table. In the midst of it a man entered at the door, and, advancing to the count, began to talk to him animatedly in some localdialect, of which I could not understand so much as a syllable. Thecount nodded twice or thrice to signify attention, and though at firsthe looked doubtful, he ended by smiling, and dismissed the messengerwith an applauding pat upon the shoulder. He rose to his feet before theman had reached the door, and made a brief statement, which was receivedwith a mingling of dissent and applause. Ruffiano leaped to his feet, crying out in English:

"Brothers, I claim a word!" and there was instant silence, every faceturning attentively to his. He began to speak rapidly, with all hisusual vehemence, and with even more than his usual plenitude of gesture. Almost at the beginning of his argument he bent his lean figure forwardand beat rapidly upon the table with the palm of his hand, and then, suddenly recovering his full height, sent both arms backward. Brunow satimmediately on his right, and the back of the orator's hand caughthim resoundingly upon the cheek; and at this unexpected incident theaudience broke into a sudden shout of laughter, in which Brunow triedto join--with a curiously ill success, I thought. I could not understandthe subject of discussion, for Ruffiano had immediately gone back to hisnative language, and there was something about Brunow's look which couldhardly be accounted for by so trifling a misadventure as that which hadjust occurred. The instinct of the eye told him that I was looking athim, and he glanced at me and then suddenly averted his face. He madean effort to appear at ease, but his color came and went strangely, andboth his hands trembled, though I saw that he was pressing them heavilyupon the table with the intent to steady them. I thought he mightpossibly have been raging inwardly at me, and that in his unreasoninganger at me he might find my mere presence hateful to him; but I couldnot help thinking that his looks expressed fear or suspense rather thananger. When the laughter excited by the accident had died away, Ruffianoturned to him with a voice and gesture of apology; and having oncelaid his hand on Brunow's shoulder, continued to address him as if theargument he was offering, whatever it might be, concerned Brunow moreintimately than any one else there present. He seemed, so far as I couldjudge, to carry the suffrages of the meeting with him, but I had quiteresigned any feeble attempt I had made to follow the thread of hisdiscourse, when I caught distinctly the words, "Beware of the women!I say it again and again and again: beware of the women! It is mylast word, beware of the women!" Every word of this I understood quiteclearly; and while I was wondering why the advice was given, Ruffianodropped back with a grotesque suddenness into his seat, and shouted thewords of warning a fourth time, striking both hands, palms downward, onthe table. 

Brunow followed him, and beginning somewhat shakily at first, recoveredconfidence as he went on, and, warming to his work, delivered a speechwhich sounded eloquent and persuasive. It pleased his audience, beyonda doubt, for almost every sentence was punctuated with murmurs ofapproval; and when he sat down there was warm applause, in whichalmost everybody but Ruffiano joined, but he remained unconvinced anddissatisfied; it was evident from the way in which he rolled his gauntfigure in his chair, and his frequent cries of "No, no! wrong, wrong!absolutely wrong!" The count persuaded him to silence, and then spokeagain to the man who had charge of the door. He bowed and disappeared, and there was a moment or two of waiting, during which everybody lookedeagerly towards the entrance. I seized the opportunity to whisper aninquiry to the count. 

"A deputation of Italian and Hungarian legates, " he responded. "Theydesire to congratulate us on the news of to-day, and to express theirsympathy for The Cause. "

"That can do but little harm, " I answered. "But I agree with Ruffianoall the same: the less they know of our actual intentions the better. "

The count nodded smilingly. "You are quite right; ours is not work forwomen. "

As he spoke the door-keeper reappeared, bowing, and the whole assemblyrose to its feet. Half a dozen ladies entered, and some eight or ten ofour own number, among whom the count and Brunow were most conspicuous, moved to welcome them. After a little bustle of compliments andarrangement, chairs were found for the visitors at the far end of theroom, and the meeting fell back into its former aspect. One of ourunlooked-for visitors sat on the chair near the old grand piano, andI could see her white hand, ungloved and with a jewelled braceletsparkling at the wrist, resting on the key-board. That corner of thelong and narrow chamber was so dim, and the intervening lamps andcandles sent up such a glare between, that I was not quite certain ofher identity; but I felt a shock of surprise in the mere fancy that thiswas the Baroness Bonnar. I made a movement to one side, and, shading myeyes from the light, made her out with certainty. It was the BaronessBonnar, and no other. She had often spoken in my hearing of herHungarian birth, and of her hatred of the Austrians; but I had neverbeen inclined to regard this as being more than a bit of privatetheatricals, and I was astonished to find her withdrawing herself fromthe butterfly, fashionable career she seemed to follow, and takingso much interest in sterner matters as her presence there seemed toindicate. 

There was a little ceremonial, in the course of which the countproffered a formal welcome to the deputation; and one of the ladies, whowas richly attired and wore an air of much distinction, spoke for threeor four minutes in a balanced, musical voice. The count whispered me hertitle--I have forgotten it ages ago, though she was a great personage inher time--and told me that she had lost her husband and her threesons in the struggle for independence. This made her interesting andvenerable, and I watched her closely as I listened to the balancedaccents of her mournful and musical voice. While this lady spoke herfigure hid that of the baroness, but I could still see the white handresting on the key-board, and the jewelled bracelet glittering in somestray ray of light. By-and-by the hand began to hover over the keys asif it were playing a phantom air, and a moment later I saw its fellowhovering in company with it. Just as the speaker sat down I heard thesound of a chord, but this went unnoticed in the burst of cheering whicharose. 

I could see the baroness now. She was sitting with both hands on thekeys, and as the cheering died away they rose and fell again with a loudand brilliant crash. Everybody turned and stared in a dead silence, andshe began to sing. I had heard that song from Violet's lips, and a dayor two later she made me a translation of it, of which I have long sinceforgotten everything but the first verse. It was a song of revolution, almost as popular in Italy and quite as sternly prohibited as was theMarseillaise in France. Here is the one verse that I remember:

 "Oh, is it sleep or death In which Italia lies? Betwixt her pallid lips is any breath? Is any light of life within her eyes? Oh, is it sleep or death?"

It went on to picture Italy prostrate under the armed heel of Austria, and in its concluding verse the trance was broken, the trampled figurehad risen to its feet, had wrested the sword from the oppressor's hand, had hurled him to the earth, and stood triumphant over his lifelessbody. I have heard finer voices by the dozen, but I have not often hearda finer style or one more magnetic and enthralling. The little womansang as if the song possessed her, and it is not often that a singerfinds such an audience. When the first amazement was over I looked aboutme and saw that everybody had risen and turned towards the singer as ifby a common impulse. The song was recognized at the first bar, and itwas listened to with an enthusiasm which had something very like worshipin it. Before the first verse was over I saw tears glittering in manyeyes, and when leaving the mournful strain with which she opened, the singer passed on to the swing and passion of the second and thirdverses, many of the listeners were so carried away that they weptoutright; somebody struck in on the final line with a ringing tenor, andthen the whole crowd joined in. The third verse was sung over and overagain, in a scene of enthusiasm almost as wild as that of the count'swelcome at the railway station, or the later and still more memorialmeeting of that same evening. The hot Italian blood was fairly fired, and it took a long time to cool again. Brunow, who only a few minutesbefore had seemed so unlike his usual self, surrendered himself to theexcitement of the moment with a zest, and seemed as madly enthusiasticas any one of them. He sang with both hands in the air, beating timeextravagantly; and when at last the hubbub was over, he pressed hisway to the baroness, who stood smiling at the pianoforte and drawing onher-gloves. He took both her hands in his, and said something to her atwhich she laughed as if well pleased. He made a way for her through thecrowd gathered about the piano, and escorted her to the door. As theypassed me I heard her say to him: "I told you how it would be, " and Ihad reason to remember the words afterwards. 

This unlooked-for episode being over, and the deputation of ladieshaving been dismissed with roaring "vivas, " we went back to business. Inoticed that Brunow's earlier awkwardness of manner had given way to amood and aspect of great elation. But of course I was without the keyto the understanding of the situation, and his change of temper had nosignificance for me. I can understand it now, however, and I know thathe had frightened himself unnecessarily over the baroness's littleexperiment. It was he who had taken upon himself the onus of introducingthe ladies' deputation, and the baroness's object is, of course, clearenough. All she wanted was to make herself favorably known to thegeneral leaders of the party as a well-wisher to The Cause. WhetherBrunow knew, then, anything of her full purpose I am unable to say withcertainty, but I am inclined to think he did, and I have two or threeproofs which have grown more cogent with time that he already knew thetheme of Austrian money, and had embarked on that wicked and degradingcareer which led him to so swift and just a punishment. 

Of course little real business was done in those big gatherings of partyof which this night's assembly was one. All the men were true and tried, as I have already said, but their numbers alone would have made themunwieldy as an active body, and the real work was performed by a sortof informal committee, of which I had now for some time been a member. Almost from the first hour of his arrival in England the count had takenhis place among his party as the natural and recognized leader. I neverknew a man who made less pretence of being dominant, but I never knew aman either who had in so marked degree that unconscious inner force ofcharacter which gives a man control over his fellows. At any momentof importance it was his habit to single out among us the men of whosecounsel he had need, and only those thus singled out ever ventured tostay behind when the public business was finished and the more intimatediscussions of the inner conclave were about to be held. This night, alittle to my surprise, he beckoned Brunow, who, as I fancied, had beenwaiting in hope and expectation of the summons. His face, which hadgrown once more a little haggard and anxious, brightened when hereceived it, and the count held him in private conversation for amoment, with one hand on his shoulder. He spoke in a subdued tone, themurmur of which alone reached me; but when he had finished what hehad to say, Bru-now answered with a loud alacrity: "Willingly, mydear count, most willingly. " At this the count beckoned me, and as Iapproached Brunow held out his hand. 

"I hope you'll take that, Fyffe, " he said. "I beg your pardon, with allmy heart. I wasn't myself when I spoke, but I know that what I said wasthe merest nonsense. "

I took his proffered hand at once, without a shadow of suspicion orreserve. There had never been very much in common between us, but wewere life-long acquaintances, and, after a fashion, we had been friends. I was glad to patch up the quarrel, and willing to say and think no moreabout it. 

The council we held was a brief one, for the count had already made uphis mind to his own satisfaction; and when he had advised us of that, the business was practically over. 

"I arranged with Mr. Quorn, " he said, "more than a week ago, that if itwere finally decided to purchase the arms he had for sale I would travelwith him to Italy on board of his own ship, and would myself undertakethe responsibility of effecting a landing. I have arranged also thattrustworthy information shall be conveyed to us from the shore, I amnot anxious to fall into Austrian hands again, and I shall take allprecaution to avoid surprise. "

"On what part of the coast do you intend to effect a landing, sir?"Brunow inquired. 

"That will depend, " the count answered, "on circumstances of which Iam at present ignorant. I must wait and see. I shall probably startto-morrow. Mr. Quorn quite naturally and properly declines to part withthe goods until he is paid for them. The money cannot be drawn until the12th of August, but it will then be despatched to me by a safe hand, and I shall have ample time to signify the place to which it must becarried. Quorn, " he added, "is assured of our _bona fides_, and will beready to start at any hour I may indicate. "

One or two of our number, I remember, endeavored to dissuade him fromhis plan, on the ground that we had need of his leadership in England, and that there were many things to be done there which could not beintrusted to hands of less authority. Ruffiano combated this opinion. 

"We shall all be wanted in Italy, " he argued, "and Count Rossano will bemore needed there than any of us. The mere knowledge that he is againon Italian soil, and that he is amply provided with arms, will bring thepeople about him anywhere. "

The discussion did not last long, and it was so plainly to be seen fromthe beginning that the count was bent upon carrying out his own plan, and Brunow, Ruffiano, and I were so strongly of opinion that he hadchosen the most useful course, that opposition vanished very early. Thecount delegated his authority as president of the council to Ruffiano, who, in spite of his outside singularities, was a man of much force ofcharacter, and, next to the count himself, commanded most completely therespect of the party. 

Ruffiano, the count, and I walked to Lady Rollin-son's house together, and Brunow came half-way. As we walked together behind the two elders, who were deep in conversation, we found little to say to each other;but at last Brunow put his arm through mine in quite the old friendlyfashion, and brought me almost to a standstill. 

"I mustn't go any farther, old fellow, " he said. "I shall get used tothings by-and-by, I dare say, but it was a little bit of a facer atfirst, and I haven't quite got over it yet. Look here, Fyffe, we'vealways been friends, don't let what's happened make any differencebetween us. "

I don't think I ever felt so well disposed to him as I did at thatminute. I was victor, for one thing, and it was easy to make allowancefor the man who had lost; and, apart from that, his withdrawal hadbeen so generous and candid that I should have been a brute not to haveaccepted it instantly. I shook hands with him with a warmer cordialitythan I had ever experienced towards him, and with a higher opinion ofhis manhood. It was the last time I ever took him by the hand, poorBrunow! and though it is a hundred chances to one in my mind now that hewas at that very moment plotting to betray me, I can't somehow find itin my heart to feel so bitter against him as I should have felt againsta stronger man. He never seemed to me to be altogether responsible, likeother people, and the payment of his treachery was so swift and dreadfulthat the memory of it breeds a sort of half-forgiveness in my mind. 

There were scores of hard business details to be thought of and talkedabout, and we three conspirators sat together until the night was late. When at last Ruffiano left us, the count detained me. 

"The world is full of changes, " he said, "and no man knows what mayhappen. We may never meet again, Fyffe, and I have a solemn charge toleave you. If I am caught again they will make short work of me. I donot mean to be caught if I can help it, but I know the risk I run. If anything should happen to me, I counsel you, for Violet's sake, toretire from The Cause. She cannot spare us both, and Italy has no claimon you. "

I suppose the surprise I felt at receiving such advice from such aquarter showed itself in my face, for he went on with a smile:

"I see you wonder at me, but I have had time to think since Violet spokeout her mind this afternoon. A man may have a cause and may set it aboveeverything in the world, but a woman sees an individual--her father--herlover--her brother--her husband--a baby--any solitary human trifle--andto her the one individual is more valuable than any ideal. You will doas I wish, Fyffe?"

"No!" I answered. "I am pledged, and I will carry out my promise. Ishould despise myself and Violet would despise me if I went back fromit. "

"Well, well, " he answered, and I could not tell from his manner whetherhe was pleased or displeased at my reply, "we are all in God's hands. Good-night, and good-bye. We shall not meet again for a little while, inany case. "

CHAPTER XIV

The count had been gone a week, and of course no news was as yet tobe looked for. He had sailed with Quorn for some undecided part of theItalian coast, and we had resigned ourselves to hear no more of him forat least another fortnight. We were all busy enough at this time, andnews favorable to our enterprise came on us thick and fast every day. 

This is no place for a history of the last Italian revolution. Thatstory has never yet been fitly told, but it will furnish a splendidepic one of these days for a great historian. It came like a beneficentearthquake, with toil and trouble and turmoil enough, and it stirred upall Europe, and shook down many unjust forms of government. To my mindit is the happiest and most beautiful event in the modern history ofEurope, for the revolution, though it was effected with the sternestpurpose and the most unflinching heroism, was marked by none of theexcesses of revenge and hatred which have disfigured so many popularrisings against tyranny. 

I had been hard at work until three o'clock in the morning, had gone tobed dead tired, and had slept like a log until ten, when Hinge came inwith a cup of steaming coffee, and began with his usual silent dexterityto lay out my clothes. I paid no especial heed to him at first, butby-and-by I caught sight of his face reflected in the mirror whichdecorated my skimpy wardrobe, and I could see at once that he wasbeaming with self-congratulation. He was one of the most faithful andconstant fellows in the world, but as a general thing he was a littlesaturnine in temper. Any outward display of cheerfulness was rarewith him, and such an outward sign of inward exultation as I read thismorning was a downright astonishment. 

"Why, Hinge, " I asked him, "what's the matter with you?"

"Nothing the matter with me, sir, " responded Hinge. 

"You look particularly pleased, " I said. "What has happened? Has anybodyleft you a fortune?"

"No, sir, " Hinge answered, turning his hard-bitten, queer old mugtowards me with a shining smile. "Nobody's left me a fortune, sir, but I'm just as glad as as if they had. You're a-lying a bit late thismorning, sir, and you haven't seen the newspapers. "

"The newspapers!" I cried, springing out of bed at once. "Let me havethem. What's the news?"

"The news is, sir, " Hinge answered, standing in attitude of attention, and smiling like a happy Gargoyle--"the news is, sir, as the Italians isplaying Old Harry at Milan with them Austrians, and old Louis Philippeturned up at Newhaven, England, yesterday. "

I made my toilet with unusual haste, and in the meantime Hinge broughtthe papers and read out the news. 

"I spent some years among them Austrians, sir, " said Hinge, and thenpaused suddenly, scratching his head with a look of irritation. 

"Yes, " I answered; "what of that?" Something was evidently on the goodfellow's mind, and in the midst of his delight he was troubled with it. 

"You're a-going out to Italy, ain't you, sir?" he asked. I was shavingat the moment, and contented myself with a mere affirmative grunt. "Well, it's like this, sir, " said Hinge; "I was in a civil capacity whenI was in Austria, wasn't I, sir?"

"Well, yes, " I told him, "I suppose so. "

"They couldn't have sworn me in without my knowing it, could they, sir?"Hinge demanded. "Of course I picked up a bit of the language in thecourse of a year or two, but when I went there I didn't speak a word. When I was first engaged, sir, there was a lot of things said to me as Ididn't understand no more than the babe unborn. Now, if I was sworein, " Hinge proceeded, with an air of argument, "and if I was swore in inanything but a civil capacity, that can't be counted as being binding onmy heart and conscience. Now, can it, sir?"

"You silly fellow, " I answered, "you couldn't have been sworn in withoutbeing aware of it. A man cannot vow and promise that he will do anythingwithout his own knowledge and desire. "

"Well, then, sir, " said Hinge, apparently relieved a little, "if I wasswore in--and I might have been, you know, sir--I don't know but whatthey might have thought they'd done it--but even if it was so, youwouldn't think it binding?"

"Of course it couldn't be binding, but of course nothing of the sort wasdone. You were engaged, as I understand, as a groom. " Hinge assented. "You happened to be engaged by a gentleman who was an officer in aforeign army. You don't suppose that an officer makes it his business toswear in all his civilian servants, do you?"

"Why, no, sir, " Hinge admitted. "But it was a foreign country, and a lotof things was said to me as I didn't understand no more than the babeunborn. "

"You may make your mind quite easy on that score, Hinge. You are notin any way bound to the Austrian service. But what difference can thatpossibly make to you now?"

"Why, sir, " said Hinge, scratching his head again, "I've lived amongthem Austrians, and I don't like 'em. I'm for Italy, I am. I used tothink, sir, as the Italians was a organ-grinding class of people as abody, and I never had much respect for 'em. But I've seen a lot in sixmonths, sir, and I've learned a bit, if I may make so bold as to say so. There's the count, now, sir; anybody can see as he's a gentleman. Why, if you'll believe me, sir, I've never seen a gentleman as was more agentleman than the count. But, bless your heart, sir, you'd never havethought so if you'd a known him all the years as I did, off and on, a-living worse than a wild beast behind a muck-heap, and in a cellarunderneath the stables. Now you know, sir, " proceeded Hinge, growingwarm and even angry with the theme, "that ain't civilized; it ain'tChristian; it ain't treating a man as if you was a man yourself. Becausea gentleman goes and fights for his country--that's a natural thing todo, ain't it?--they keep him dirtier and darker and 'orribler than anywild beast I ever see, for twenty years, and would have kept him all hismiserable life, sir. I used to get that 'ot about it when I found it outI used to feel as if I was ready to do murder. I did, indeed, sir. Andyet I can appeal to you, sir, and ask you fair and square, between anofficer and his servant, if I am not a civil spoken person, as a rule. Ibelieve I am, sir, and yet I used to feel as if it 'd do me good, everynow and then, to go out and shoot a Austrian. "

"I suppose, " I said, "that the upshot of all this is that when I go toItaly you want to go with me. "

"That's it, sir, " Hinge returned, delightedly. "If I'm only free, sir, if I was engaged in nothing but a civil capacity--"

"You are quite free to go, " I told him; "and I had thoroughly made up mymind to take you with me, supposing always that you were willing to betaken. "

"I'm more than willing, sir, " Hinge responded. "I should like to hear'Boot and saddle' again, sir; so would you, I am sure. "

I had never heard Hinge break out like this before, and the goodfellow's enthusiasm and right-thinking pleased me, and as I went ondressing I kept, him talking. 

"I should think, sir, " he said, and he was about me all the while in hisusual handy and unobtrusive fashion--"I should think, sir, as anybody asknowed the count 'd be glad to fight on his side. It makes you wantto fight for a gentleman like that as has gone through so much. And ifyou'll excuse me telling you, sir, what makes me so pertickler glad togo--"

"Yes, " I said, for he paused and looked a trifle confused. "Go on, whatis it?"

"Well, sir, " he answered, "I know it isn't right in my place to betalking, but there's Miss Rossano, sir--" I turned rather sharply roundon him at the mention of that name, and Hinge, standing at attention, saluted. "No harm meant, sir, " he said, "and I 'ope, sir, there'sno offence. But I took a letter from you to Miss Rossano, sir, lastWednesday week. It was the second time as I was in the house, sir, andwhen Miss Rossano came out to give me the answer, she saw as it wasme, and she asks me in; and there was the count, sir, a-sitting in theparlor. And says Miss Rossano, 'Father, ' she says, 'here's the faithfulman, ' she says, 'as treated you so kind when you was in prison alongwith them blooming Austrians, ' she says; and the count he gets up inhis grand way, and he shakes me by the hand, with his other hand on myshoulder. They'd have made me sit down between them, sir, if I'd a doneit, and the count, sir, with his own hands, he powered me out a glass ofsherry wine. It was the right sort, that was, " said Hinge, passing hishand across his lips with a gleam of remembrance, and instantly resuminghis rigid attitude, as if he had suddenly found himself at fault, as, of course, in his own mind he did. "They was that kind between 'era andthat nice way with it I didn't know whether I was a-standing on my heador my heels. And then the count he says something to Miss Rossano in hisown lingo--language, I should ha' said, sir, begging your pardon--andMiss Rossano she answers him back again, and they get a-talking tillthere was tears in both their eyes, sir. And then Miss Rossano shefetches out her purse, sir, and she takes a ten-pound note, and here itis. " Hinge took it from his waistcoat pocket, and opened it out beforeme. "Of course, sir, I didn't want to take it, for whatever little bitI done I done it for my own amusement, as a man may say. I've had a-manylarks in my time, but I never was paid for none of them like that--twopound a week pension for a lifetime and a easy job into the bargain. Ididn't want to take this, sir, " Hinge continued, folding up the note andrestoring it to his pocket; "but Miss Rossano she comes at me and shutit into my hand with both her own, whether I would or no, and all of asudden, sir--" He stopped with a gulp, and swallowed laboriously twice orthrice. I was tickled, but I was touched at the same time, and touchedpretty deeply; but I could not afford to show that to Hinge, and I daresay I looked pretty hard and stern at him. 

"What did she do?" I asked, rather gruffly. 

"She--she kissed my 'and, sir; that un. " He held out his right handand looked at it as if it were, in some sort, a wonder. "I never seenanything done like it, " said Hinge. "And I was that took aback, and thatdelighted, and that flabbergastered!"

Hinge positively began to blubber, and what with, the mirth of it, andmy own vivid sense of Violet's feeling at the time, and this revelationof the simple fellow's goodness, I was very near doing the same myself. I verily believe that I should have joined Hinge, and a very pretty pairwe should have made (for I have found at the theatre and elsewhere thatthere is no way of disposing a man to tears like the way of makinghim laugh through affection and sympathy beforehand); but luckily formyself, I made shift to ask him, in a blustering way, what he meant byit, and to order him out of the room. He was so very shamefaced whilehe waited upon me at breakfast after this that I would have given a gooddeal to shake hands with him, and to tell him that he was a very finefellow; but though I have known that impulse many times in my life, andhave sometimes felt it very strongly, I have never been able to obey it, and I know that with many people I have passed through life as a hardman--perhaps to my own advantage. 

This was the beginning of a strange day--the day on which I had my firstsuspicion of Brunow, and the day of poor old Ruffiano's betrayal, inwhich I myself had an unconscious hand. It came about in this way: I hadseen at a gun-maker's shop in the Strand some weeks before a braceof revolvers which had greatly taken my fancy. They were not theold-fashioned, clumsy pepper-caster which I can very well remember ashaving been used in actual warfare, and, indeed, esteemed as a deadlyweapon, but were new from America, with all the latest patents. I hadalready examined them thoroughly, and had made up my mind to buy themwhen the time came; but I was afraid of accumulating expenses, and itwas only now when the pinch of war was so near that I could find theheart to part with the money. Hinge went with me, keeping his usualplace at a pace or half a pace behind my right shoulder, so that I couldtalk to him whenever I had a mind, while he still kept the positionwhich he thought consistent with his master's dignity. Just as I cameupon Charing Cross I sighted Ruffiano; and he, seeing me at the samemoment, hurried across the street in his impetuous fashion, and barelyescaped being run over. The escape was so very close, that when hereached me I congratulated him heartily, though if I had known what wasgoing to happen I might much more properly have commiserated him. Butthe future is in no man's knowledge, and I have often been forced tothink that that is a blessed thing, and one to be heartily thankful for. I have been happy at many moments, and so have those nearest and dearestto me, when, if we could have known what an hour would bring forth, weshould have been profoundly mournful in anticipation of an event not yetguessed of. 

Poor old Ruffiano was full of enthusiasm and full of news. He wasbetter dressed than I had ever seen him before, and in consequence lessremarkable to look at. 

"You shall congratulate me on more than that, " said the good old man, smilingly. "Within a few hours I shall have news straight from home, andbut for you--see now how one thing depends upon another--it might neverhave reached me at all. Had I never known you I might never have knownyour excellent and estimable young friend, the Honorable Mr. Brunow, and, " he continued, smiling and bending over me, to lay the tip of abony finger on either of my shoulders before he straightened himself tohis gaunt height, "it is evident that if I had never met the HonorableMr. Brunow it would not have been possible for the Honorable Mr. Brunowto bring me news. "

"You get your news from Brunow?" I responded, little guessing what itmeant, and feeling in my blind ignorance quite friendly towards Brunowfor having done anything to give the sad exile so much pleasure. "And Ineedn't ask you if the news is good news. "

"I am told it is, " he responded; "but I have it yet to hear. " Heexplained to me that he had two sisters resident in Italy, who lived attolerable ease upon what the family confiscations had left them of theirproperty. "They would have maintained me well, " said the old man, withhis cordial, innocent smile, "but I have always pretended to them towant nothing. They have children, and young men will be expensive, andI get on very well without infringing on their little store. They livetogether at Posilippo, and a neighbor of theirs, one Signor Alfieri, thebearer of a great name, you observe--it is like an Englishman having Mr. Shakespeare coming to see him--this Signor Alfieri is a neighbor and afriend of theirs. He would have called upon me, but he failed to findme, and he sails for Italy to-night. I meet him at--I forget the name, but it is on your river, and the Honorable Mr. Brunow is so good as tobe my guide. Come with me, " he said, suddenly. "You will learn the verylatest news of Italy, and you will meet a good patriot who will tell youwhat was actually doing three weeks ago. "

Now it happened, as fate would have it, that I was free that evening andthat Violet was engaged. If I had had any chance of meeting her I shouldhave declined Ruffiano's invitation; but the night seemed likely to bevacant of employment, the old man seemed solicitous, and I saw no reasonfor refusing him. Quite apart from that it would, as he suggested, be agreeable and perhaps useful to know at first-hand what an Italianthought of the chances of the rising which must have been imminent whenhe left his country. So I made arrangements to meet Ruffiano and to dinewith him at the same Italian restaurant in the upper room of which weheld our meeting, and after this I shook hands and went about my ownbusiness. 

It was dark when we met again, for this was only the fifth day of March, and it was about half-past six in the evening. Ruffiano told me that hehad left word at Brunow's lodgings that he might be found here, and weate our simple dinner, drank our half-flask of Chianti together, andhad already reached our coffee and cigars when Brunow came to keephis appointment. He was astonished to find me there, and, I thought, disagreeably astonished. Remembering the terms on which we had partedwhen we had last Been each other, I was a little surprised at this. Ihave said already that at our parting on that occasion we shook handsfor the last time. It was not because I did not offer him my hand onthis occasion, but he seemed not to see it, and I took it back again, resolved in my own mind not to be angry with him, and thinking itprobable that he had some attack of his old infirmity of temper. 

"Ah, you are here!" cried Ruffiano, rising and half embracing him. "Itis a pity you were not here earlier. We have had a jolly little dinnerand a jolly little talk. "

I seem to hear the old fellow's voice now, with its quaint accent, the "jollia leetle dinnera" and the "jol-lia leetle talka, " with hishalf-childish-sounding vowel at the end of almost every word. Poor oldRuffiano! He has seen the end of his trouble this many and many a year. I never knew a more loyal gentleman, or one less capable of digging sucha wicked trap as he fell into. Brunow's manner was altogether a puzzleto me, and even next day, enlightened as I was by events, I was unableto understand it, because it seemed altogether so silly a thing for himto run his neck into the noose as he did. I have sometimes thought itpossible that he counted on his own apparent simplicity for safety, butin that case he could not have counted how far his embarrassment at thebeginning had invited suspicion and misunderstanding. 

First of all, he made some little effort to back out of the undertaking, and then, Ruffiano describing himself as being altogether disappointed, he became resigned, and undertook to pilot us to the place ofrendezvous. He had a cab outside, one of the old-fashioned four-wheeledhackney-coaches, and as he led us to it some stranger, entering therestaurant, jostled him at the door. He turned with his face towards meat this instant by accident, and I saw that he was as pale as death, and had a queer flush of color at the eyes. His manner was alternatelystrangely alert and curiously preoccupied, and altogether I knew notwhat to make of him. The man who drove the cab had evidently had hisorders beforehand, and knew exactly where he was expected to go, forhe started off without a word. We seemed, to my mind, to travelinterminably, for in the course of the journey I fell rather more thanhalf asleep, and at wakeful and observant intervals found myself inportions of the town which, though I have always boasted to know Londonpretty well, were altogether strange to me. First I made out, with akind of half-wakeful start, that we were at Whitechapel, and waking, asit seemed to me, a wink or two later, I found that we were in a regionof docks and public-houses, with here and there a sulky gleam ofdock-water or of river showing under the dark sky--rare passengersand rarer tenements. But, of course, I had not the faintest reason forsuspecting anybody, and we went rumbling on, I pretty sleepy, andpretty full of a satisfactory dinner after a hungry day, and Brunowand Ruffiano silent, as it seemed to me, nearly the whole length of theroad. After, perhaps, an hour and a half's driving, Brunow woke me bycalling impatiently to the cabman, and I came to the full possessionof myself in time to see the vehicle swerve suddenly to the right. Myprolonged drowse half refreshed me, and the cold, wet air which blew upfrom the river through the window Brunow had opened fell freshly onmy cheek. I could see the river gleaming ahead, with spaces of liquidblackness in it, and a red or green light burning here and there. Itwas still raining, and the clouds were heavy in the south and west. Westopped almost at the river-side, before a tumble-down-looking littlepublic-house, and here Brunow alighted hastily. A hulking fellow leanedagainst the door-jamb smoking a short pipe; and Brunow addressing aninquiry to him, he jerked his thumb towards the river, and answered:"Just got steam up. Start in an hour at the outside. "

"Is there no boat?" Brunow asked. 

"Boat?" said the man, spitting lazily into the road; "boats enough, ifyou care to pay for 'em. "

"You hear, " said Brunow, turning, and Ruffiano, dragging his gauntlength out of the cab and stumbling with some difficulty to the rough, dark pavement, called out for a boat by all means. 

"I will see him but for a minute, " he said; "but it will be better thannothing. I should be loath to make such a journey without result. "

"Find us a boat, " said Brunow. He spoke in such a voice as a man mighthave used if he had ordered his own execution, and I remarked that atthe time. I can see now that a hundred thousand things were happening toadvise me of the truth, but I was as ignorant and as unsuspicious of itas if I had been a baby. The man at the door lounged out into the road, and with a turn of the head invited us to follow him. We obeyed thisvoiceless bidding, and in a very little while found ourselves on a roughquay at the river-side. We descended a set of break-neck steps, and inanother minute found ourselves afloat. The man pulled with leisurely, strong strokes to where a boat lay in midstream, with its green lighttowards us; and nearing the vessel, raised a hoarse cry, "Ship ahoythere!" The cry was answered from aboard the boat, and a ladder waslowered to us by which we climbed on deck. Brunow went first, Ruffianofollowed, and I went third. It struck me as a surprising thing that atthe very minute on which my foot struck the ladder the boat shot fromunder me. I sang out aloud to the man to ask where he was going, but hereturned no answer save in a sneering and insolent-sounding growl, whichmight have meant anything or nothing. My conclusion was that he wascoming back in time to take us away again, and I gave the matter nofurther heed, but followed Ruffiano on deck, still unsuspicious. Myfirst surprise came when a man in a dreadnaught jacket and a sou'westerasked in German, "Is that the man?" and, without waiting for an answer, sang below, "Full steam ahead!" Even then I had no idea of a plan tocarry off anybody, but I was astonished to find a man talking German andgiving orders in German on a craft which I had imagined to be Italian. 

"But why full steam ahead?" I asked Brunow; and he turned upon me in thedarkness with a faltering in his voice. 

"I don't know, " he said. "There's something infernally strange about allthis. Have we been trapped? This fellow's a German. "

"Trapped!" I answered. "How should we be trapped?"

"This, " cried Brunow, in a loud and quavering tone, "is not the ship Imeant to board. There's some mistake here! Hi, you there!"

"Halloa!" said the man in the dreadnaught, approaching and speaking inbroken English. "You can hoult your chaw. There is nothing for you tocry out about. Gom dis vays. "

Still in growing wonderment, and feeling on the whole that I should havebeen much better satisfied if I had had with me the brace of revolvers Ihad bought that morning, I followed the man down the companion-ladder. 

CHAPTER XV

The paddles had already begun to churn in the water, and the vesselto move slowly, but with a swift vibration in every plank of her whichpromised speed when once she had gathered way. I was suspicious enoughalready, though in so vague a fashion that I hardly guessed what Isuspected, and I recall the fact that I was not in the least surprisedwhen I heard a cry from Ruffiano's lips, and saw the old man strugglingin the arms of a big sailor who had clipped him by both elbows frombehind and held him in a position of the most serious disadvantage. Without reflection, I sprang to his release. I felt a heavy blow betweenthe shoulders, which would in all probability have taken effect upon myhead but for my sudden movement, and in an instant I was in the middleof as severe a rough-and-tumble fight as I could remember anywhere. There were eight or ten people engaged in it, and the whole thing wasso rapid that I had not the faintest idea as to where my opponents camefrom. I only know that within five seconds of the time at which I hadleft the deck I was somehow back upon it, fighting, as it seemed to meat the moment, for bare life, though I cannot think at this time of daythat any very serious personal violence was intended towards myself. 

I was fighting like mad with half a dozen when we suddenly swervedaltogether against some part of the bulwark which had not beenproperly secured, and was probably made to open to afford a gangway forpassengers, or for the unloading of baggage. The rail swung back, and I, clutching desperately at one of the fellows with whom I was struggling, fell overboard, and soused into the black water, with the bitter chillof a rainy spring in it. I think I may say quite honestly that on land Iwas a tolerably accomplished sportsman, but I was mainly inland bred asa boy, and though I could swim, after a fashion, and could also, aftera fashion, handle a pair of sculls, I was a moderately poor creature inthe water. The man I had clutched went down with me, and we both cameup spouting the loathsome Thames water from our mouths and nostrils, andstill holding to each other. As good luck would have it for me at thatmoment I came up on top, and a single blow disengaged me from my lateadversary. The vessel from which we had fallen was already at a distancewhich seemed astonishing, and as I trod the water and looked aboutme, all the twinkling lights of the river craft and the shore lookedalarmingly distant. I made for the nearest of them all, and swam, dreadfully embarrassed by my boots and soaked clothing. The lighttowards which I directed myself shone green over the black spaces ofthe water, and concentrating all my observation upon it, I thought Iapproached it at quite a royal pace. In a very little while, however, Idiscovered that the light was bearing down on me at a much greater ratethan that at which I was approaching it, and finally I had some ado toget out of the way of the boat which carried it, and was considerablytossed and tumbled about in the long furrowing wake it made. I sangout at my loudest, but I can only suppose that I was not heard, for thecraft, whatever it might have been, swept swiftly down the stream, and in a few seconds was lost to me. I began to feel horribly cold andhopeless. I have been in danger a good many times in my life, but almostalways when I could warm the sense of peril by action; but here I feltfor a moment as if my time had come, and as if nothing I could do couldavert it. The fancy fairly sickened me; and what with the chill ofimmersion, the sickening taste of the nauseous water, and my own senseof feebleness as a swimmer, I was on the edge of giving up; but all ofa sudden, as I have felt more than once in my time, a perfectly calmand bright sensation succeeded to the panic, and I rolled over on to myback, determined to make the best of things and to husband my strengthas far as possible. I had read scores of times, as everybody has, thata man floating in the water has only to throw his head back, to keep hishands down, and to rest quite still to be safe. I tried this promisingexperiment, and whether from the weight of my wet clothes or theirregularity of my breathing, I found that it would not answer, and thatI was compelled to keep in motion. I could feel that the current wascarrying me, and as I paddled along, most carefully husbanding mystrength, I saw that I was bearing gradually nearer to a light on shore, whose position in reference to the various other lights determinedme that it was a fixed and not a moving object. I swam towards it, carefully regulating my respiration and determined to avoid all flurry, but I saw that in spite of my utmost efforts I was being hurried pastit. Then I drifted into a space where there was something of a littlebroken, choppy sea, and got another fill of that beastly water, whichtasted of tar and sewage and all abominations, and sickened me again tothe very heart. Then, before I had fairly recovered from this, and whileI was only automatically keeping myself afloat, I saw the wet, rottingpiles of a wooden pier quite close to me, and swimming like a madman, touched the surface, and tried to get a grip of it. I failed, and wasswept along, gripping and slipping in a most desperate endeavor, untilat last the finger-nails of my right hand stuck somewhere in a crack ofthe water-soaked and slimy wood, and I held on, feeling that I was safe. I had not the faintest sensation of pain at the time, but I clung to theslimy pillar of that pier so urgently with both hands that my nailswere half torn away, and for a fortnight later it was only with greatdifficulty that I could handle a pen, or button or unbutton a collar, or use a knife and fork. I tried to bottom the stream, but found I wasquite out of my depth, and so worked cautiously along with the currentfrom post to post until I came to the end of the structure, and thenfeeling my way round it in grim darkness, found myself at last with myfeet embedded in soft mud. I held on there for a minute or two to takebreath, and then fought on again. In a little while I found myself ondry land, but so used up by the pull and by the unwonted exertion that Ifell all in a heap at the water's edge, and lay there so prostrated thatI could move neither hand nor foot. At first the air was tenfoldcolder than the water had been, but the natural heat reasserted itselfgradually, and my forces so far gathered themselves together that Icould stand upon my feet and walk. I went on blindly just at first, withsuch lights as were visible dancing wildly all about me, and it mustonly have been by sheer good fortune that I did not wander back into theriver from which I had so narrowly escaped. Sometimes I saw hundreds oflights, green and red and dazzling white, which had no existence at all, but in the midst of these I made out one which was stationary and real, and I went towards it. When I reached it I found that it hung above thedoor of that identical public-house at which we had found our boatman, and there at the doorway, glass in hand, was the hackney driver who hadbrought us down. The man looked amazed to see me, and was more surprisedstill when I hailed him. He undertook immediately to drive me back totown; helped me into the cab, wrapped me up from head to foot in a roughoilcloth, got me a stiff glass of hot brandy-and-water, and drove away. 

The journey down had been long, but the return seemed actuallyinterminable, and it seems so now in my recollection of it. I pleadguilty to a confusion of mind which for a while left me powerless tothink about anything. Notwithstanding the wraps with which the driverhad supplied me, the cold of the March night pierced me to the bone, andthe brandy I had taken seemed rather to stupify than to revive me; butwhen at last I did get home, and Hinge had helped me to a scorchingrub-down with rough towels, and had assisted me to dress in dry raiment, I felt more myself again, and sent downstairs for the cabman, who wasstill waiting there for his fare. The man could tell me absolutelynothing of any value, and I soon found out that the fellow was as muchsurprised at the turn events had taken as I was myself. A servant girl, it seemed, had come upon the street and had told him that he was wanteda few doors off. He gave me correctly and with no unwillingness Brunow'saddress, and told me that the gentleman who chartered him had biddenhim to drive first to the Italian restaurant, and then to our ultimatedestination. I took the man's number and dismissed him with a handsomegratuity. Hinge at first wanted to insist on my immediate retirement tobed, but with every moment that went by I felt better, and when I haddrunk a cup of his excellent coffee I was quite myself again, except inso far as all the events of the night seemed to have a curiously unrealand dreamlike feeling about them. The more I turned the thing over in mymind the more I felt inclined to doubt Brunow's _bonafides_, and yet ourlong acquaintance and the downright horrible character of the betrayalwhich had really been committed made the doubt seem so criminal thatI tried to drive it away. The more I refused to harbor it the moreemphatically it came back again. I recalled Brunow at every instant atwhich I had consciously or unconsciously observed him, and I _knew_ thatthere had somehow been a burden on his mind. I could recall his cry whenhe had said that we were aboard the wrong ship; and let me do what Imight, I could not rid myself of the belief that his voice and look atthat moment were artificial and theatrical. Once, in the middle of thatrough-and-tumble which ended in my involuntary plunge into the water, I had caught sight of him in the gleam of a sickly oil-lamp which swungabove the deck. He was held, yet not restrained, by a burly seaman, andthe picture was burned into my mind as if by fire. The man was peeringover his shoulder, ten thousand times more interested in watchingthe progress of the struggle than in guarding Brunow, and Brunowwas watching the struggle too, but not in the least with any look ofamazement, but only with one which I could not for the life of me helpconstruing into fear and shame and self-reproach. It was like a scenebeheld by lightning, divided and apart from everything else, and I foundit ineffaceable. 

It seemed to me obvious that the first thing to be done was tocommunicate with Ruffiano's friends, for whether he had been spiritedaway by design or not, it was undeniable that he was in a strangepredicament. I set out at once for our ordinary meeting-place, takingHinge with me, and a brisk walk of a quarter of an hour brought me tothe spot. The room in which we held our meetings was approached by anentrance which ran beside the lower room of the restaurant. I left Hingein this narrow passage, and mounted the stairs rapidly. Before I reachedthe room I heard the hum of excited voices, and when I tried the door Ifound that it was locked; I gave the signal known to every member of ourfraternity, and the door was opened. The man who opened it, a swarthyNeapolitan whom I barely knew by name, started with amazement as he sawme, and gave vent to an ejaculation. There were perhaps a score of menin the room, and as I stepped forward they all started to their feetand began to press about me with questionings, of which I could barelyunderstand a phrase. One man only hung aloof, and that man was Brunow. Iwas so amazed to see him there, and so bewildered by the din of welcomeand inquiry, that I had no opportunity for a real observation ofanything; but I am a mistaken man indeed if Brunow were not to the fullas much amazed at seeing me as I at seeing him. 

"My good friends, " I called out at last, "let me have silence for aminute. Where is Count Ruffiano?"

Every one pointed at once to Brunow. He advanced, and I read treason inhis face. 

"My dear Fyffe, " he cried, holding out his hand to me, "I had neverhoped to see you alive again. "

This time it was I who refused to see Brunow's hand, as he, only a fewhours ago, had declined to see mine. If I had laid bare his villainythere and then, I have no shadow of doubt that there would have beenmurder done. If I had even hinted at suspicion, his life would havebeen barely worth a minute's purchase. If my associates had a fault withwhich both foes and friends alike would have credited them, it was thatthey were dangerously prone to act first and to argue afterwards. There had been treason in the camp already; when was ever a revolutionconducted without it? But I could not make it my business to denouncea fellow-countryman, and a man who had once called himself my friend, unless I could proceed on actual certainty. It took an hour of excitedtalk to do it, and I had to describe my own share in the adventure twiceor thrice; but I got Brunow away at last, and as we went down the stairstogether I slipped my arm through his and held him with a grip which Idare say he found significant. 

"You will come to my rooms, " I said. He made no answer, and I walkedalong with him, Hinge following at a distance of a yard or two, and sofar, of course, suspecting nothing. Not a word was spoken by the way, and Brunow walked like a man who was going to the scaffold. When we cameto iny own rooms I locked the door and faced him. 

"What have you done with Ruffiano?" I asked him, sternly. 

"God only knows what has become of him, " cried Brunow, casting his handsabroad with a gesture which was meant to convey at once irritationand wonder. "I made my way straight back to tell the story of theextraordinary incident of to-night, and I have told it. The men we havejust left can confirm me in the statement that I did not lose a minute. "He was defending himself already, though no accusation had been broughtagainst him. 

"You escaped from the ship?" I asked him, curtly. 

"Yes, " he answered, with a gasp; "I escaped from the ship. "

"How?" I asked. 

"I followed your example, " he returned, "and leaped overboard. "

"To arrive here, " I said, "in dry clothes, having made no change?"

He gave a sudden start at this, and cast a hurried glance at his ownfigure. Then he looked at me with an expression I shall not readilyforget. It was that of a hunted creature trapped, and recognizing thefact that he was caught. 

"I swam ashore, " he said, "and I have changed my clothes at home. "

I moved without a word to the door, and, opening it, called out toHinge, who stood waiting for me in the darkening passage, bidding him tomount. He came and stood at attention. 

"Mr. Brunow, " I said, "will give you the key of his rooms, and you willgo from here to there, and by his orders will bring back to me a soakedsuit of clothes which you will find there. Oblige me by handing my manyour key, " I added, turning again on Brunow. 

He shot a whisper at me. 

"Do you wish to have me murdered?"

"I wish to know, " I answered, "and I mean to know, the truth. What haveyou done with Ruffiano?"

"I tell you, " he cried, desperately, "I have done nothing! I knownothing! You were there yourself, and you can tell as well as I thatthe whole thing was a surprise. How was I to know we were being carriedaboard an Austrian craft? How could I suspect the man who came to me oftreachery?"

"You swam ashore?" I asked. "I am not to be charged with hunting you todeath because I ask for a sight of the clothes you swam in. Give Hingeyour key!"

"He's quite welcome to it, " he answered, turning his white, defiant faceon me, and fumbling in his pocket with a hand so unnerved that he couldgrasp nothing with it for a minute. "There you are, " he said at last, drawing out his latch-key and handing it to Hinge. "Do as you are told. "

Hinge accepted the key, and, saluting, left the room without a word, though with a curious look both at Brunow and myself. When he had goneBrunow threw himself into a chair and drew out a cigar-case. He openedit, and selected and lit a cigar, though he shook so that he onlysucceeded with an expenditure of some half a dozen matches. When hehad got a light at last he threw himself back and puffed away withas complete an expression of _insouciance_ as he could command. I, ofcourse, had nothing to say until Hinge returned, though I knew perfectlywell beforehand what the result of his errand would be. He came backat last, and when his step was heard upon the stair Brunow looked moreghastly than ever as he turned his face towards me. When Hinge came inempty-handed the poor detected wretch rose with a pretence of blusterwhich was miserable to see. 

"Why the devil, " he cried, "haven't you done what you were told to do?This is a pretty servant of yours. Why hasn't he brought the things backas he was told to do?"

Hinge said nothing, but looked from me to my visitor in somebewilderment. 

"You hear!" cried Brunow, rising and throwing the stump of his cigarinto the grate with a sickly pretence of anger. 

"Beg your pardon, sir, " said Hinge; "there's Mr. Brunow's key, sir. Seems to me I've been sent on a fool's errand. Mr. Brunow's man wants toknow what I mean by coming with a message like that. He says Mr. Brunowhasn't been at home since half-past six this evening. Mr. Brunow's man, sir, " Hinge pursued, "seemed to think I was trying to make a fool ofhim. "

"That will do, " I answered. "You have obeyed your orders, and that isall you have to think about. Go and wait outside. "

He went, but I could see that he nursed a little sense of injury. Iturned to Brunow and asked him: "Is the game played out yet, or have youany other shift to show me?"

He made no answer at the minute, but fumbled in his pocket again forhis cigar-case, with the same shaky and uncertain motion as before. Heavoided my eyes, though every now and then he looked towards me as if inspite of himself. For my own part, I could not look away from him, andI do not know now whether I felt more rage or more contempt or more pityfor him. I had not thought him so cowardly as he showed himself to be. 

"It is for you, " I told him at last, "to explain your actions ofto-night. You know what the situation means. I charge you here withhaving betrayed a comrade whom you had sworn, in common with the rest ofus, to stand by to the last. If I had brought the charge I am making nowagainst you a little more than half an hour ago it would have gone hardwith you. You are as well aware of that fact as I am, and you know thatnothing could have saved you from my just renunciation but the memory ofan old friendship, of which you have proved yourself utterly unworthy. "

"I know you're talking nonsense, " he responded, trying to brave it outstill. "What should I want to betray old Ruffiano for?"

A sudden gust of wrath swept through me, and blew away before it thelast sense of compunction in my mind. 

"Understand, " I said, "that I am in earnest in this matter, and that Imean to carry out my threat at once. Unless I receive from you a fullconfession of this night's infamy, I shall detain you here, and shallsend Hinge to summon a meeting here; and at that meeting I shalldenounce you as a traitor to the cause you have sworn to forward. Ishall bring my proofs, and I shall leave you to justify yourself as bestyou may. What the consequence of that step may be it is for you and notfor me to calculate. I will give you five minutes in which to make upyour mind. "

"You can do what the devil you please, " he said; and I rang the bell. Hinge came in, and I bade him go out and call a cab. He obeyed, andtaking a seat at the table I began to write out a series of addresses. I read them aloud to Brunow when I had finished, and he recognized thenames of half a dozen of the most resolute of our leaders. 

"You are playing with your own life!" I cried. "You have only to tellthe truth to have a chance for it. You have only to go on lying in thisfutile way to throw your last chance into the gutter. I will palter withyou no longer, and unless by the time at which Hinge returns you havemade a clean breast of it, I shall send for the men whose namesare here, I shall bring my charge, and you will have to stand theconsequences. "

"You can commit any folly you please, " he answered. "I've nothing to sayto you; and if you choose to excite the suspicions of a lot of foreignscum like that, you can do it, and take the responsibility. "

"Very well, " I said, and the room was dead still for a space of, Ishould say, four or five minutes; then the rumble of a cab was heard inthe street and a step upon the stairs. It was a dreadful minute alikefor Brunow and myself, and, looking at him, I felt a resurrection ofpity in me. 

"Is this bravado worth while any longer, Brunow?" I asked him. "I haveno resource but to keep my word. If my man enters the room before youhave spoken, he shall go on his errand, and then may Heaven have mercyon the soul of a traitor!"

Hinge's footstep came nearer, and his key touched the lock with a smartclick. Brunow rose to his feet as if without any volition of his own, and made a sign with his hand against the door. 

"You wish him to remain outside?" I asked. 

"Yes, " he said, and, falling back into the chair from which he hadarisen, covered his white face with both hands. He had allowed hisburning cigar to fall upon the carpet, and, a faint odor of acrid smokereaching my nostrils, I looked for it, found it, and threw it into theempty grate. This trivial action seemed as important at the moment asanything else. 

Hinge knocked at the door, but I told him to go down-stairs, and todetain the cab until I should call him. I heard the closing of the outerdoor, and heard every step of Hinge's feet until he reached the bottomof the stairs. Then the silence was so intense that I could hearBrunow's watch quite distinctly as it ticked in his pocket, and my ownkept time to it. 

"You have decided wisely, " I said at last; "and when you have told methe truth you shall have your chance. " He was silent for so long a timethat I had to urge him. "I shall not wait forever. "

"Well, " he said, desperately, looking up at me for a mere instant, andthen, burying his face in his hands again, "tell me what you want toknow. "

"I want, " I told him, "to know the truth about the whole of thismiserable business. Who employed you here?"

"Employed me!" he responded. 

"Who paid you for this act of treachery?"

"You know all you want to know, it seems, already, " he answered, sullenly, and at that I lost patience with him wholly. 

"If I am not answered at once and without reserve, " I said, "I will keepmy part of the bargain, and leave you to your chance. Who paid you?"

"You can do what you like, " he answered, rising. "I'm not going tobetray a lady, anyhow. "

"Thank you, " I answered, with a more bitter disdain than I can easilyexpress in words. "If you choose to make your confession in that form, it is as useful to me as it would be in any other. You were paid forthis by a lady. Who was she? You will find it agreeable to have a littleforce exerted for the satisfaction of your own conscience, if that isthe name you give it. Who was the lady?"

"I don't know that I'm bound to risk my life for her, " he answered. "It's in her way of business, and she's paid for it. "

"And who is she?" I demanded once again. 

"The Baroness Bonnar, " said Brunow. 

CHAPTER XVI

To say that I was not astonished would be absurd; but the words hadscarcely been spoken a moment when I began to be aware that I waswondering at my own amazement. On the whole, there was nobody whom Iknew and nobody at whose existence I could have guessed who was quite solikely to be engaged in an affair of that nature as the Baroness Bonnar. 

He fell back into his arm-chair with a certain air of defiance andlit another cigar, as if by this time he were thoroughly determined tobrazen the whole thing out, and to justify himself to himself, evenif it were impossible to find a justification for any other. His cigarslipped from his nerveless fingers; as he reseated himself he stoopedto pick it up, and, looking at it with a critical eye, began to smokeagain. I verily believe that if any stranger had been present, I mighthave been supposed to be the more disturbed and self-conscious of thetwo. Perhaps I was, for throughout the whole of this singular interviewI was haunted by a wondering inquiry as to what I should do with the manwhen I had completely exposed his infamy. I dare say I was a fool fromthe first to feel so, though I could not help it; but to surrender himto the vengeance he had invited seemed altogether an impossibility. Inthat respect at least he had me at a disadvantage, and I cannot helpthinking that he knew it. 

"The Baroness Bonnar!" I echoed. He made no answer, but leaned backin my arm-chair, smoking with an outside tranquillity, as if the wholeaffair were no business of his. "The Baroness Bonnar!" I repeated, and he gave a brief nod in affirmation. "And what, " I asked, "does shepropose to pay you for this unspeakable rascality?"

A decanter and a water-jug stood upon the table, and he helped himself, holding up his tumbler against the light to judge of the amount ofspirit he had taken before adding the water he needed. When hisshaking hand jerked the jug and he had taken more water than he thoughtnecessary, he sipped critically at the contents of the tumbler and addeda little more spirit. Then he sipped again, and settled himself backinto his chair, as if resigned to boredom. I knew I had only to speak aword to put all these airs to flight, but I hesitated to speak it. 

"What does she pay you?" I asked again, and he turned upon me with awretched attempt at a smile and a wave of the hand in which he held hiscigar. 

"It isn't usual to discuss these things, " he answered. 

"You wish me to understand, " I said, "that for the sake of an amourwith a woman of her age you have broken the most sacred oath a man couldtake, and have betrayed to life-long misery an old man who trusted you, and who never did you any harm. You have confessed yourself contemptiblealready, but surely you have a better excuse for your own villainy thanthis?" He was still silent, and smoked on with the same effort after anoutward seeming of tranquillity, though his white face and shaking handbelied him. "What did you get in money?"

"Look here, Fyffe, " he answered, inspecting the ash of his cigar withthe aspect of a connoisseur, and evading my glance, "your position givesyou an advantage, but you are trying to make too much use of it. I hadthe most perfect assurances that the old man would be treated kindly, and I know that nobody has any intention to do anything but keep him outof mischief. "

I am very much ashamed of it now, and I think I was even a littleconscious of shame about it then, but I felt inclined to comprehend theman, to fathom his depths of self-excuse, and I bore with his evasionsand his explanations in a spirit of savage banter. 

"Come, " I said, "we shall get to understand each other before we part. What were you paid?"

"In money?" he asked, flicking the ash from his cigar and settlinghimself with ostentatious pretence of ease. "In money--nothing. "

At that very minute a knock sounded at the door, and mechanicallyconsulting my watch, I saw that it was already nearly midnight. I hadno reason to expect a visitor at that hour, and I stood listening insilence, while Hinge answered the summons at the door. There was amurmur of voices outside, and when I looked at Brunow I saw him startsuddenly forward as if in the act to rise. For a second or two he set inan attitude of enforced attention, leaning forward with a hand on eitherarm of the chair, as if prepared to spring to his feet; but observingthat my eye was upon him, he sank back again and began to smoke oncemore. This time nothing but the rapidity with which he puffed at hiscigar was left to indicate his discomposure. 

Hinge rapped at the door, and when I bade him enter, came in followed bya stranger, whose aspect was simply and purely business-like. This manbowed to me and then to Brunow, and receiving no response from either ofus, stood for a moment as if embarrassed. 

"Captain Fyffe, I believe?" he said, rather awkwardly. 

"That is my name, " I answered. "What is your business?"

"I beg pardon for coming here, sir, " he responded, "but I have beenwaiting all night to find the Honorable Mr. Brunow, and I have only justheard that he was here. Can I have a word with you, sir?" He turned toBrunow as he spoke. "Sorry to trouble you, sir, but you remember whatyou promised me. I took your word of honor, sir, and I've made myselfpersonally responsible. "

"Damn it all!" cried Brunow, rising, with a whiter face than ever; "doyou suppose that a gentleman is to be badgered about a thing of thiskind at this hour of the night in another gentleman's rooms? Waitoutside. Go down-stairs and wait for me, and I will arrange with youwhen we go home together. "

"Very well, sir, " the man replied. He was perfectly respectful, thoughthere was an underlying threat in his manner. "I'll do as you wish. ButI hope you understand--"

"I understand everything!" cried Brunow, with an imperious wave of thearm. "Do as you are told!"

"Hinge, " I said, seeing a sudden light upon the complication of affairswhich lay before me, "Mr. Brunow and I have business with each otherwhich may detain us for some little time. This person can wait in yourroom until Mr. Brunow is at liberty. "

"I beg your pardon, sir, " the man responded, "I've spent a good deal oftime about this business already, and it's getting late. I shall be gladto know when I may expect to be able to talk to Mr. Brunow. "

"You will wait outside, " I answered; "and I think I may guarantee thatyou will not be kept waiting long. "

The man retired, and I turned on Brunow, as certain of the position ofaffairs at that moment as I was half an hour later. 

"This man, " I said, "has a business claim upon you, and you havepromised to satisfy him to-night. Now, I know something of your affairs, and I can guess pretty well that without to-night's action you might nothave been in a position to meet him. You had better make a clean breastof it, and it will pay you to remember once for all that I hold yourlife in my hands, and that I am not altogether indisposed to use mypower. What were you paid, or what are you to be paid?"

"I have told you everything I had to tell, " said Brunow, falling backinto his former sullen attitude. "You can do just as you please, Fyffe, but I shall say no more. "

I took between my thumb and finger the sheet which lay upon the table, inscribed, as he knew perfectly well, with the names and addresses ofthe people mainly concerned in our enterprise, and held it up beforehim. 

"Very well, " he said, after looking at it and me, and reading no sign ofwavering in my face, "I was to get five hundred pounds. "

"Provided always, " I suggested, "that your plot came to a successfulissue. "

"Of course, " he answered, biting his cigar and speaking in a tone offurtive flippancy, which I suppose was the only thing left to the poorwretch to hide the nakedness of his discomfiture. 

"And you reckon, " I asked him, "on being paid to-morrow?" Except fora sullen motion of his chair he gave no sign of answer. "Now listen tome, " I said. "I have made up my mind as to what I will do. You shallnot touch one penny of this blood-money. You shall have a run for yourworthless life, and I promise not to denounce you to the men whom youhave betrayed for twelve hours. To-morrow at midday I shall tell all Iknow, and you are the best judge of what it will be safest to do in themeanwhile. "

"All right, " he answered, desperately, rising to his feet and buttoninghis coat about him; "you've found your chance and you've used it. It's auseful thing for you to get me out of the way, no doubt, but I may finda chance of being even with you yet, and if I do, I'll take it. "

"You seem resolute, " I told him, "to force me to do my worst. At thisvery instant, when I hold your life in my hands, when it is in my powerto hand you over to justice by a word, and when I propose--partlyfor old friendship's sake and partly because I am ashamed that afellow-countryman of mine should have been such a blackguard--to let yougo, you are fool enough to tell me that my mercy has no effect upon you, and that you will do your best to be revenged upon me. Think that over, Brunow. "

He turned his face away, and sat in silence for a minute; but all of asudden I saw his shoulders begin to heave, his hands worked together, and he broke into convulsive tears. He sobbed so noisily that though thedoor was already closed, I darted towards it with an instinctive wish toshut out the sound from the ears of the people in the next room. 

"For God's sake, Fyffe, " he broke out, "let me go! I'll promiseanything, do anything. I've--I've always been an honorable man till now, and I--I can't stand it any longer. If you've got any pity in you, letme go!"

I was as much ashamed as he was, though, I hope, in another way, andI was eager to cut short the conference. For all that, I had a duty todischarge. 

"You shall go, " I said, "and I shall be glad to be rid of you. But firstof all you shall make a clean breast of it. "

He told the story in a furtive, broken way, as well he might; and howmuch more and how much less than the actual truth he told me I neverknew with certainty, but it came to this. He had had heavy gamblinglosses, and had got into financial difficulties. The Baroness Bonnar hadfound this out, and had told him of a way by which he might recuperatehimself. She had only hinted at first, and he had indignantly refusedher proposal, but he had played about the bait, as I could readilyfancy him doing, and had finally gorged it. He was to have received fivehundred pounds next day on consideration of the arrival of intelligencefrom the people to whom he had betrayed Ruffiano, and he confessed thathe had been promised other work of the same kind. 

"I swear to you, Fyffe, " he declared, "that I'd never have done it atall if I hadn't had the most solemn assurances that nothing would happento the old man. "

"Do you think, " I asked him, "that the solemn assurances of a spy areworth much in any case?"

"They won't hurt him, " said Brunow; "I made sure of that beforehand. Igive you my word of honor. I was careful about it, because I have rathera liking for him. "

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if, having rather a liking forhim, he had betrayed him to the Austrians, what he would have done if hehad rather a dislike for him. But it could serve no purpose to argue atall in such a case, and it was hopeless to imagine that any exposure ofhimself would have made the man realize the perfidy of his own nature. 

"The world is before you, " I said, "and, so far as I am concerned, youmay go where you will. I do not pretend to offer you any security fromthe vengeance of the men whose oath you have betrayed. I should bepowerless to do that, however much I wished it. You must shift foryourself. "

"Very well, " he answered, sullenly; and, rising to his feet, he beganto button his coat and to gather together his hat and gloves andwalking-cane. Then he made a movement to go, but half-way to the doorstopped irresolutely. I thought he was about to speak again, but aftera pause of a second or two he went on, opened the door with an unsteadyhand, and went out without closing it behind him. The man I had told towait outside must have been upon the watch, for I heard his voice at thevery instant at which Brunow set foot in the narrow passage. 

"Well, sir?" he said. 

"Well?" said Brunow. 

"I am sorry to press this claim, sir, " said the man, "but I have myinstructions, and I can't help it. If you'll give me your word thatyou will settle in the morning, I will wait till then. But it's no usemaking any bogus promise. "

"I suppose you don't mean to lose sight of me?" Brunow asked. 

"That's the state of the case, sir, " the man answered. 

"H'm!" said Brunow, in a casual tone; "got anybody with you now?"

"Sheriff's officer in a hackney-coach down-stairs, " the man responded. He had caught Brunow's tone to a hair, and spoke as if the whole thingwere the merest casual trifle. 

"He's prepared to do his duty now?" asked Brunow. I heard no response, but I presume that the man gave some sign of affirmation, for Brunowwent on: "Very well; I'm ready. It could hardly have happened at abetter time. "

"I thought you were going to square up to-morrow, sir, " the man said. 

"So did I, " responded Brunow; "but I've as much chance of that now asyou have of being Emperor of China. Go on; I'm quite ready. "

There was a trifling difficulty with the catch of the outer door, withwhich both Hinge and myself had long been familiar, and which we nowsurmounted with perfect ease. It bothered Brunow and the stranger, however, for I heard them both fumbling at the lock, and at last Hinge, hearing also, left his little bedroom on the landing and came to theirassistance. 

Then the door was opened, and with a cry of "Goodbye, Fyffe!" to which Ireturned no answer, Brunow went away in charge of his business friend. 

At the first opening of the outer door the cold wind of the spring nightcame into the room with a burst, and scattered a handful of papers aboutthe floor. I busied myself in picking these up again, but finding thatthe hall-door was still open, I called out to Hinge to close it. Hedelayed until I had repeated my order in an angry tone, and then, havingclosed the door, he came into my room with a hurried and excited look. 

"Beg pardon for keeping the door open, sir, " said Hinge, "but I've justseen something rather curious. "

"Never mind that now, " I answered. "Go to bed. I shall not want you anymore to-night. "

"No, sir, " said Hinge. "If you'll excuse me, sir, this is something veryimportant. "

He was not wont to be troublesome, but after all the events of thatstrange night I was fairly unsettled and pretty well out of temper. I snapped at Hinge, telling him to go and not to bother me with anynonsense just then. 

"Got to tell you this, sir, " said Hinge, standing at attention, and looking straight before him. Even then it was with no sense ofimportance in the matter he had to communicate that I listened to him. 

"Go on, " I said, "and get it over. What is it?"

"Well, sir, " said Hinge, "when I was in the general's service in ViennaI used to see a lot of the Austrian police. I got to know some of themby sight--a good many, I might say. Secret chaps, they was, sir--spies. "

"That's all very interesting, " I returned, "but you can see I'm botheredjust at present, and I want to be alone. You can tell me all that atanother time. "

"There's one of them a-living in this house, sir, " said Hinge, as littlemoved by my interruption as if I had not spoken. 

This was news, and my impatience and ill-temper vanished. 

"How do you know?" I asked. "Tell me all about it. "

"I never set eyes on him but just this minute, sir, " said Hinge, "sinceI left Vienna. But he walked upstairs just now with a latch-key in hishand, and he went into the rooms overhead of yours, sir. That's hima-walking about now, I'll lay a fiver. " As a matter of fact, I couldbear a heavy footstep pacing the room above. "The odd part of it is, sir, " Hinge pursued, "this cove knows Mr. Brunow, and Mr. Brunow knowshim, sir. "

"Oh, " I asked, fully interested by this time, "how do you know that?"

"They spoke together on the stairs, sir. This fellow Sacovitch, that'shis name, he says to Mr. Brunow, 'Alloa, ' he says, 'you 'ere?' And Mr. Brunow says, 'Don't speak to me; I'll write to you. ' Now I don't likethe look o' that, sir, and I thought you ought to know about it. "

"You are quite right, Hinge, " I said. "It was your business to tellme; and if I had known it yesterday, or if I had only known of it eighthours ago, it might have been of use to me. "

"This Sacovitch chap didn't see me, sir, " said Hinge, with a certainmodest exultation; "I took care of that. But I nips half-way upstairsafter him, and sees him open the door with his latch-key, and then Inips down again. "

"Do you think he would know you if he saw you?" I asked. 

"There's no saying about that, sir, " Hinge responded; "he might and hemightn't. You see, sir, he's a swell in his own way, this chap is. Heused to dine with the general, and they used to salute him like as if hewas an officer. There was every reason, don't you see, sir, why I shouldnotice him, and there was no mortal reason in the world why he shouldnotice me. But there's no mistaking him, sir, and I should have spottedhis ugly mug among a million. "

"Thank you very much, Hinge. That will do. " Hinge went away, and I satdown to think this new matter over. Of course I had never been foolishenough to suppose that Brunow had given me any information of valueagainst his party, outside the one admission that he had been hired bythe Baroness Bonnar; but here was sudden proof of the incompletenessof his confession. Shall I confess that my first impulse was to do anextremely silly and inconsiderate thing? I felt inclined, foolish asit will sound, to walk upstairs and to introduce myself sardonicallyto Herr Sacovitch, since that was the gentleman's name, with theproclamation of my newly-acquired knowledge of his business, and requestthat he would waste no further time in prosecuting it so far as I wasconcerned. But this foolish desire had scarcely occurred to me before Ithrew it out of the window. If the man believed himself to be unknown, I had the whip-hand of him in knowing him, and to have exposed myknowledge would only have been to release him for the prosecution ofuseful business on his own side, while some other person, whom I mightnever have the luck to recognize at all, would take his place. I wasrather flattered, on the whole, to think that a great European powerlike Austria found it worth while to put a watch upon my actions; butthere was only a passing satisfaction in that fancy. I could not getpoor old Ruffiano out of ray head that night. I undressed and went tobed, but I courted sleep in vain. All night long I heard the quartersstrike, and then the hours, and all night long the picture of the good, genial, patient, suffering old man fairly haunted me. There were timeswhen I blamed myself severely for having allowed his betrayer to gofree at all, and there were moments when, if Brunow had been once againbefore me, I should have had no control over myself. But, after all, mercy is just as much a duty as justice, and on looking back I am notdisposed to censure myself very heavily for the course I took. I canthink of nothing more hateful than Brunow's crime, and of nothing morejust than the punishment which finally befell him; but I am glad thatthe act of vengeance was not mine. 

It was bright morning when at last I fell asleep, and before thathappened I had formed one clear resolution. This was to seek out Violetin the course of the day, to let-her know what had happened, and consulther judgment as to what my own course should be. In the meantime Brunow, in a debtor's prison, could do no further mischief, and was, at the sametime, safe from immediate vengeance. There was time for a pause beforefurther action was needed, and it was this reflection more than anythingelse which calmed me down at last into a state of mind in which sleepwas possible. 

I breakfasted at the usual time, for Hinge in household matters was aperfect martinet, and all my home affairs were as punctual as a clock. Then, at as early an hour as I dared to venture on, I walked to LadyRollinson's house. The servant who answered my summons at the door hadbeen in the habit of skipping on one side at once, and throwing the dooropen in something of an excess of hospitality. I had sometimes even felta touch of humorous anger at the man; for his fashion of receiving mehad seemed to indicate that he was in possession of the secret of theposition, and it was as if his flourish of welcome showed an approval ofmy suit. But to-day he held the door half open, and, before I could getout a word of inquiry, said, "Not at hom?"

"Neither Lady Rollinson nor Miss Rossano?" I asked him. 

"Not at home, sir, " the man repeated. He looked conscious beneath myeye, and his manner was distinctly embarrassed. 

"Are you quite sure of that?" I asked him. "Kindly go and see. " The manlooked more discomposed than ever, but he said for the third time: "Notat home, sir. " And in the face of this repeated declaration it seemeduseless to inquire again. I walked away, a little puzzled by the man'smanner. I had heard of no intended visit, and so far as I could guess Iknew of every plan which Violet and Lady Rollinson had formed. It is notusual for an accepted suitor to be met at the door of his _fiancee's_house with that curt formula, and I went away dissatisfied andwondering, turning my steps homeward. I had made up my mind to dismissthe whole circumstance and to write to Violet, and I was walking up thestairs which led to my chambers, in haste to put that little projectinto execution, when I ran full against a stranger on the landing. Heraised his hat with an apology, and I was in the act of doing the samewhen his foreign accent induced me to look more closely at him. He was atall, dark man, very gentlemanly to look at and irreproachably dressed. In a dark, saturnine way he was handsome, and recalling Hinge'sstatement that he would have known the ugly mug of our fellow-lodgeramong a million, I settled within my own mind that this could not be theman; but I still observed him with a little interest in the certaintythat if not the man himself, he was at least a visitor. Hinge was at thedoor when I reached it. 

"Did you spot him, sir?" he asked, eagerly. "That's him as you ran intoon the stairs--Sacovitch. "

I answered that I should know the man again, and with that should haveforgotten to think about him, but that for days afterwards Hinge wasfull of excited intelligence about him, relating how he had receivedsuch a visitor at such a time, and had gone out in a cab at such anhour, returning after such and such a length of absence. In a verylittle time the mention of him became a bore, and I forbade Hinge tospeak of him unless he had something of importance to tell me. 

In the meantime I wrote my note and sent it to the post. I waited allday, and received no answer. When the next morning's post came in Iturned my letters over hastily, and was a little surprised, as well asdisappointed, to find that I had no line from Violet. Again that morningI made my way to Lady Rollinson's house, and again the accustomedservant met me, and this time fairly staggered me with a repetition ofhis "Not at home. "

"Am I to understand, " I asked, "that Lady Rollinson and Miss Rossanohave left town?"

"Can't say, sir, " said the man, staring straight above my head withunmoving eyes, but fidgeting nervously with his hands and feet. "Myorders is: 'Not at home to Captain Fyffe. '"

"That will do, " I returned, and walked away, more puzzled than I hadever been in my life before. I went back to my rooms, and there I wrotethis note:

"Dear Lady Rollinson, --When I called at your house yesterday I was toldthat you and Violet were not at home. When I called again this morning, I was told that you were 'not at home to Captain Fyffe. ' This troublesand worries me so much that I hope you will not think me impertinent ifI ask the reason for it. "

I despatched that letter by Hinge, with instructions to await an answer. In half an hour the answer came, and for the time being left me morepuzzled and troubled than ever:

"Lady Rollinson acknowledges the receipt of Captain Fyffe's letter, andbegs to say that on the two occasions referred to by Captain Fyffe herinstructions were accurately obeyed by her servant. "

That was all. There was not one word in explanation of this astonishingannouncement. Violet and I were engaged to be married, with her father'swarmest approval, and Lady Rollinson had, until that moment, shownnothing but the most enthusiastic favor for the match. And here, on asudden, I was forbidden the house, without rhyme or reason. 

For an hour I was like a man on whom a thunderbolt had fallen. 

CHAPTER XVII

Of course I had a right to an explanation, and equally, of course, I wasdetermined to have it. But the question was how to get it, and I confessthat for a long time I did not see my way. If one had been dealing witha man it would have been very different. But when a lady with whomyou have been on terms of intimacy and friendship turns round upon youwithout any cause you can assign, and tells you she desires to have nomore to do with you, it is not easy to see by what means you can forceher to a recognition of your side of the business. What made the thingthe more astonishing and bewildering was that Lady Rollinson had alwaysbeen so warm in her friendship for me. Over and over again she hadalluded to my services to her son, and she had introduced me to scoresof people as the savior of his life, magnifying a very simple incidentto such heroic proportions that she often put me to the blush about it, and almost tempted me to wish that I had let poor Jack take his chancewithout any interference of mine. To have seen a lady the day beforeyesterday, to have been hailed by her for the hundredth time as herson's preserver, to get a solemn "Not at home" thrown at you whennext you called--it was an experience entirely new, and anything butagreeable. 

If I may say so without bragging, I have been judged a fairly goodofficer in my time. I can give an order, I can obey an order, I can seethat an order is obeyed; but outside the realms of discipline, and inthe common complications of life, I have never felt myself to be verymuch at ease! The whole of this present business was so bewildering thatif only Lady Rollinson herself had been concerned I should have retiredfrom the consideration of the problem instantly. But then she stoppedmy access to. Violet, and that, for a young fellow who was ardently inlove, put altogether another complexion on the affair. When I had gotover my first amazement, I sat down and wrote a note, which, in thefervor of my feeling, bade fair to develop into a document which wouldhave filled, say, a column of the _Times_. But when I had written, perhaps, a hundredth part of what I felt it in me to say, I tore upthe paper and threw its fragments into the fire. Then I started afresh, determined to be extremely brief and business-like. Once more myfeelings got the upper hand of me, and again I covered half a dozenclosely-written pages before I discovered my mistake anew. Finally Isat down to a pipe and thought the matter over, until I decided on adefinite line of action. The upshot of it all was that I wrote thisnote, and with my own hands bore it to her ladyship's house:

"Dear Lady Rollinson, --I am utterly at a loss to understand theoccurrences of yesterday and to-day. A moment's reflection will show youthat an explanation is absolutely due to me. It is my right to demandit, and it is at once your duty and your right to give it. "

Armed with this document I set out. The same perturbed domestic greetedme with the formula to which I was by this time growing accustomed, andwhen I instructed him to carry the note within doors and deliver itto his mistress, he closed the door in my face and left me to await ananswer on the steps. The position was anything but comfortable. It wasa bright day, and a good many people were abroad, considering howquiet the street generally was. I felt as if everybody who passed wascompletely aware of my discomfiture. Not a nurse-maid went by with hercharge who did not, to my distempered fancy, know my business, andlook meaningly at me in appreciation of my position. By-and-by the dooropened, and the servant asked me to step inside. I had been cooling myheels on the steps for full five minutes, and was by this time aslittle self-possessed as I have ever been in my life. I followed theman blindly into the familiar morning-room, and was there left alone foranother ten minutes. Anger was taking the place of bewilderment, and Iwas striding rapidly up and down the room when Lady Rollinson entered. The weather was still cold, but she carried a fan in her hand, and movedit rapidly as she walked into the room and sank into a chair. I bowedwith a stiff inclination of the head, but she made no return to mysalute. 

"I hope, Captain Fyffe, " she said, "that you will make this interviewas brief as possible. It is likely to be painful to both of us, but youhave insisted on it. I do not see what purpose it can serve, but it isjust as well that you should understand that I am finally determined. "

It was plainly to be seen that she was painfully agitated; and thoughshe had done her best to abolish the traces of the fact, I could seethat she had been crying. 

"You are finally determined!" I echoed, and I dare say my manner wasfoolish enough. "But what are you finally determined about?"

"I am finally determined, " she responded, "that everything is overbetween us; and until the count returns and learns the dreadful truth, everything, so far as my influence can go, is over between you andViolet. "

"What is the dreadful truth?" I asked. "I give you my word that I amutterly in the dark. "

Now Lady Rollinson was a dear old woman, and I had had a warm affectionfor her. On her side she had treated me from the beginning of ouracquaintance almost as if I had been her son; and hitherto there hadbeen nothing but the most friendly and affectionate sentiment betweenus. But I began to get angry, and I dare say I spoke in a tone to whichshe had been little accustomed. She cast an indignant glance at me, andfanned herself at a great rate for a full minute before she answered. 

"Come, " I repeated more than once; "what is this dreadful truth? SurelyI have a right to know it. "

"You _shall_ know it, Captain Fyffe, " she answered, in a voice ofweeping menace such as women use when they are both wounded and angry;"you shall have it in a word. " She dropped her fan upon her knees, andasked me, with a lugubrious air of triumph and reproach, "Did you everhear of Constance Pleyel?"

I was standing before her, and as she leaned forward suddenly to offerthis surprising question I stepped back a little. A chair caught me atthe back of the knees, and I dropped into it as if I had been shot. Ihave laughed in memory many a time over that ludicrous accident, but itwas no laughing matter at the moment, for it sent a conviction to theold lady's mind which I do not think was altogether banished from it toher dying day. Of course the question in such a connection came uponme as a surprise. In all my searchings for the cause of her ladyship'sdistemper I had not lighted on the thought of Constance Pleyel. I wasnot so much amazed at it that the name alone could have bowled meover in that way; but Lady Rollinson's idea was that it had gone homeinstantly to a guilty conscience. 

"That is enough, " she said, "and more than enough. " With these words shearose and walked towards the door, but I intercepted her. 

"I beg your pardon, it is not enough, or nearly enough. "

"You know the name, " she answered. "You have shown me enough to tell methat. "

"I know the name, certainly, " I replied. "I have known the name and theperson that owns the name for many years. But that fact affords a verypartial explanation of your conduct. I must trouble you to sit down, Lady Rollinson, and listen to what I have to say. "

The stupid, good old woman had taken her side already, and if anythinghad been needed to confirm her own mistaken judgment of the case thatludicrous accident would have supplied it. She fanned herself in anemotion made up of wrath and grief and dignity, glancing at me from timeto time, and looking away again with an expression of disdain, which washard for an innocent man to bear. 

"I suppose, " I said, as coolly as I could, "that whatever informationyou have upon this matter comes from the Baroness Bonnar?" I waited foran answer, but she gave no sign. "I must trouble you to tell me if thatis so. "

"You know that well enough, " she answered. "The Baroness Bonnar is theonly friend the poor creature has in London. "

"Do you know much of the Baroness Bonnar?" I asked. "Would it ever haveoccurred to you to guess that the Baroness Bonnar is neither more norless than a paid Austrian spy, and that Miss Constance Pleyel is, in allprobability, her confederate?"

She looked at me with an incredulity so open that I felt it to be aninsult, and she preserved the same disdainful silence. 

"I came here yesterday, " I continued, "to consult Violet--"

She interrupted me almost with a shriek. 

"Don't mention that poor girl's name!" she cried. "I won't have itmentioned! I won't listen to it in this connection!"

"Pardon me, " I said, "it has to be mentioned, and unless you are in thehumor to permit yourself to be made the dupe and tool of as wicked alittle adventuress as ever lived, you must listen to what I have to tellyou. I came here yesterday to consult Violet as to what I should do withrespect to a plot in which I have found the baroness to be engaged. Youhave often heard the count and myself speak of poor old Ruffiano. Youknow him as one of Violet's pensioners, and, indeed, I remember thattwice or thrice I have met him in your house. He has been betrayed tothe Austrians, and is at this minute in their hands. The prime moverin that matter is the Baroness Bonnar, and her tool was the HonorableGeorge Brunow. "

Now surely one would have thought that a charge so plain and dreadfulwas at least worth investigation, and it had not entered my mind toconceive that even an angry woman could fail to take some sort ofaccount of it. Lady Rollinson took it merely as a tissue of absurdities. 

"It only shows, " she said, "how desperate your own case must be when youneed to bolster it by a story like that--a story which could be provedto be false in half a minute. "

"Why should you suppose me, " I retorted, "to be so foolish as to bringyou such a story if it could not be proved to be true? I ask nothingmore or less than that you should inquire into the matter. "

"I shall do nothing of the sort, " she answered. "I know too muchalready. "

"I am sorry, " I answered, "to be so seriously at issue with you on sucha theme, but I am compelled to insist upon my right. "

"I shall have nothing to say on the matter, " she answered, "until thecount returns. He will be the final judge of what is to be done; butuntil he comes I shall do my duty, and it is no part of my duty to allowmy niece to listen to the persuasions of a man who has only too clearlyproved his powers in that way already. "

"Only a few weeks ago, " I said, desperately, "I had an interview withthe Baroness Bonnar, in which I warned her not to intrude upon yoursociety again. "

"I know all about it!" cried Lady Rollinson, with an indignant movementof her fan. "You tried to bully the poor thing into silence. You maysave yourself any further trouble, Captain Fyffe. My mind is madeup, and I shall do what I have decided to do. In my days, " she added, beginning to cry, which made the situation more intolerable thanever--"in my days, when a gentleman was told by a lady that his presencewas unwelcome in her house he would never have intruded. "

"My dear Lady Rollinson, " I responded, controlling myself with a veryconsiderable effort, "you must listen to reason. You have been made thedupe of a thoroughly heartless and unprincipled woman. "

"That appears to be your method!" She flashed back at me. "You can saywhat you please about my character, now that I know yours. Thank God Iam too well known to fear your rancorous tongue!"

The position was actually maddening, and I had never dreamed until thenthat even a woman who was bent on revenging what she conceived to be agross injury to one of her own sex could be so utterly unreasonable anddeaf to argument. 

"I repeat, madame, " I declared, "that the Count Ruffiano has beenbetrayed to the enemy by this woman whose lies you accept as if theywere gospel. Brunow confessed to me barely six-and-thirty hours ago thathe acted as her agent in that villainous transaction. Is that a womanwhose bare word is to be taken against the overwhelming proof an honestman can bring?"

I know I was excited, and it is very likely that I was speaking in alouder voice than I was altogether aware of, but her answer gave me anew surprise. 

"I am not in the least afraid of you, Captain Fyffe; my servants are inthe house, and I can ring for them at any minute. "

This cooled me, even in the middle of my exasperation and the gallingsense of impotence I felt. 

"I beg your pardon, Lady Rollinson. I am bewildered by your manner. I amlaboring under an accusation of a very dreadful sort, and you refuse tolisten to me, though I can prove my innocence quite easily. "

"Why, " she exclaimed, "I haven't even told the man what the accusationis! But in spite of his innocence he knows all about it. "

"I know all about it, " I retorted, "because it has been brought againstme before, and withdrawn by the very woman who brings it now. Will youlisten to me, Lady Rollinson?"

"I will not willingly listen to another word. "

"Where is Violet?" I asked. 

"That I shall not tell you, " she answered. "I have made up my mind Ishall do nothing until the arrival of the count. When he comes back, if ever he does, poor man, the responsibility will be off my shoulders. Until then, I shall take very good care that you have nothing to do withViolet. "

This seemed to me to be carrying things with far too high a hand, andthere, at least, I thought I had a right to speak with some show ofauthority. 

"Violet, " I said, "is my promised wife, and I am not going to allow anyfolly of this kind to come between her and me. I shall insist upon myright to see her, and to clear myself of any accusation which may havebeen brought against me in my absence. "

"You may insist as much as you please, Captain Fyffe, " Lady Rollinsonanswered. "I have made up my mind as to what is my duty, and I shall doit, even at the risk of your most serious displeasure. "

"You tell me, " I said, "that she is not here?"

"I have told you already, " she replied, "that she is not here. I havemade arrangements for her until the count returns. "

"And am I to understand, " I asked, "that you refuse to allow me to knowher address?"

"You may understand that definitely, " said her ladyship. 

It was all very disagreeable, but at least there was one ray of comfortin the middle of it. 

"Violet knows my address, " I said, "and she is certain to write to me. "

"I might have something to thank you for there, Captain Fyffe, " saidthe old lady, with an almost comical increase of dignity, "if I had notalready taken my precautions. I may tell you, however, that Violet isaccompanied by a discreet person, who has my instructions as to thedisposal of any letters she may write. "

This amounted to an open declaration of war, and I felt myself on thepoint of answering so hotly that I was wise in binding myself, for themoment at least, to silence. 

"Pray let us thoroughly understand each other, " I said at length. "You, on your side, have resolved to place complete reliance on the statementof an exposed adventuress, without one word of corroboration, and torefuse the clear proof of my innocence, which I undertake to giveyou. " I waited for a moment, but she maintained an altogether obstinatesilence. "Very well, " I resumed, "that is understood so far. Youconceive it your duty to separate Violet and myself, and to attempt towiden any possible separation between us by suppressing my letters toher and hers to me. You must permit me to point out to you that you areadopting a very dangerous course, and I must warn you that I shall do mybest to frustrate a design which seems to me so ureasonable and so cruelthat I should never have thought you capable of forming it. "

"You will do your best, of course, " she answered, "and I shall do mine. I wish you good-morning, Captain Fyffe. "

What with perplexity, and what with grief and anger, I scarce knew whatto do, but I turned to her with a final appeal. 

"I am sure, " I said, "that you have your niece's interests at heart. Itis not so very long since you professed to be my friend. Ever since Ihave known you I have had to tell you that you very much overestimated achance service I have rendered to your son. "

"I have been waiting for that, " she answered. "That is just the sort ofappeal I was expecting you to make. It is of no use for us to discussthis question any longer, for let me tell you I have seen your letters. "

"The letters!" I cried. 

"The letters, " she repeated--"the letters to Miss Constance Pleyel. "

"Great Heaven, madam!" I cried, exasperated beyond patience, "I havenever denied that I wrote to Miss Constance Pleyel, but the letterswere written when I was a boy, and they are as absolutely harmless andblameless as any love-sick nonsense ever written in the world!"

"I have seen the letters, " she repeated, "and I have seen Miss Pleyel, and, once more, Captain Fyffe, and for the last time, I have made up mymind. "

With that she laid her hand upon the bell-pull, and sounded a peal atthe bell which was so rapidly answered that I more than half suspected, and, indeed, do now more than half suspect, that the man who respondedto it had been listening. 

"Show Captain Fyffe out, " said her ladyship. And so, a definiteend being put to the interview, I left the house as wrathful and ashumiliated a man as any to be found that hour in London. So long as Ilive I shall not forget the smug alacrity with which the servant obeyedthe behest of his mistress. I was in a state to wreak my own ill-humorupon anybody, and it was in my mind, and more than half in my heart, tokick that smug man in livery down the steps. I have suffered all my lifefrom a certain Scotch vivacity of temperament which it has cost memany and many a hard struggle to control. It has not often been moreunreasonable or more vigorous in its internal demonstrations than itwas then, but I managed to reach the street and to walk away withoutexposing myself. As to where I went for the next few hours I never hadthe remotest idea. I must have walked a good many miles, for at last, when I pulled up, I found myself, at five o'clock in the evening, ina part of the town to which I was a complete stranger, and I hada confused remembrance of Oxford Street and the parks, and then ofHighgate Archway. I made out, after a while, that I was at the East End, and, turning westward, I tramped back to my own lodgings with a returnto self-possession which was partly due to the fact that bodily fatiguehad dulled the sting of resentment. 

Hinge had dinner ready when I reached home, but I had no appetite forit, and, to the good fellow's dismay, I sent it away untasted. I turnedover a thousand schemes that evening, and rejected each in turn. But Idecided, finally, to prepare an advertisement for the newspapers, Whichmight perhaps prevent further mischief. I concocted so many subterfuges, each of which in turn proved to reveal too much or to be tooenigmatical, that at ten o'clock I found myself with a dozen sheets ofclosely-written paper before me. But at last I hit on this:

 "Dear Violet, --Distrust altogether anything you may hear to my disadvantage until I have found an opportunity to explain. Do not wonder at not hearing from me. Both your letters and mine are intercepted. When you next write, post letter with your own hand. "

After much consideration, I hit upon "John of Itzia" as a signature, and having made three clear copies, I drove round to the offices ofthe three great daily newspapers of that date, and at each secured theinsertion of this advertisement for a week. A little comforted by thatachievement, I went to bed, and, being dog tired, got to sleep. 

The days that followed were among the dreariest I can remember. I spentthem for the most part at home, sitting at the open window which lookedupon the street, and waiting for the advent of the postman. 

I was there in the morning an hour before his arrival could reasonablybe expected, and I was there all day, and there still an hour afterhis last round had been made. Every time he came in sight my heart beatfuriously; and as the short official note on the knocker came nearer andnearer, I strove in vain to resist the temptation to run down-stairs andawait him at the front door. Every man on that beat got to know me, andI grew to be utterly ashamed of myself at last, for day after daywent by, and there came no answer to my advertisement and no note fromanywhere of Violet's existence. At last the week for which I had prepaidthe advertisement expired. I had determined to renew my warning andentreaty if no answer came, and I waited the last part of that daywith a throbbing heart. The minutes of the dull, rainy night--it wasmid-April by this time--crawled slowly on, and at last I heard thebelated knocker at the far end of the street, and hurried on my overcoatand hat in case I should be disappointed once again. Then I slipped downto the door, and waited in the portico. The postman knocked next door, and I was ashamed to show myself; but only a second or two later heappeared with a single letter in his hand. 

"Captain Fyffe?" he asked, inquiringly, and I responding "CaptainFyffe, " he handed me the letter. 

The superscription was in Violet's hand. I tore it open and read, in embossed letters at the top of the first page, "Scarfell House, Richmond. " Then came this:

 "My Dearest, --Is the strange advertisement addressed to Violet and signed 'John of Itzia' yours? I almost think it must be, and yet I am half afraid and half ashamed to say so. But since I left town, nine days ago, I have written to you every day, and have not received a line in answer. If you will look in either the Times or the Advertiser, if the advertisement should not have been put there by yourself, you will see what I mean. I shall obey its instructions, and shall post this letter with my own hands. So far I have given my letters to my maid, and I cannot think of any reason which could induce her to be wicked enough to destroy or suppress them. This, at least, will be sure to reach you, and if my fancy is absurd, I know you well enough to trust to your forgiveness. If you are not 'John of Itzia, ' I can only fear that something dreadful has happened, for I do not believe that you could be so unkind as to leave eight consecutive letters of mine unanswered by a single word. I have only just seen the advertisement by chance, and if you are at home when this arrives it ought to reach you at about nine o'clock. It is very little over an hour's drive to Richmond, and I beg you to come down at once. If the whole thing is a mistake, you have still something to explain, and must have, I am sure a great deal to tell me. 

 "Yours always, "Violet. "

I had no sooner read this than, with the letter crumpled in my hand, Idashed into the street and made at full-speed for the nearest cab-stand. Half a dozen whips were waved at me at once, but I walked up and downthe line inspecting the horses before I would choose a vehicle. Asorrier lot of screws I never saw, but I chose the one that looked theleast unpromising, and gave the driver the word for Richmond. 

CHAPTER XVIII

Overjoyed as I was at the receipt of Violet's letter, and at theprospect of seeing her again, I had not been many minutes on my waybefore I began to feel embarrassed at the prospect of the unavoidableexplanation which lay before me. I felt malevolently disposed towardsthe ridiculous old lady who was the cause of all this needless trouble, but I soon forgot her in the contemplation of the difficulty she hadcreated. It was a painful and difficult thing even to mention to Violetsuch a charge as that against which I had to defend myself, and as thevehicle bumped along I threw myself back in the seat and gave up mywhole mind to the attempt to approach it delicately, and in the waywhich would make it least offensive and painful to her ears. 

I have said that the hacks on the cab-stand were a sorry lot, andthough I had chosen the brute which looked most promising in the wholecontingent, I was not long in finding that I had no special reason to beproud of my choice. Since 1848 London has grown enormously, and in thosedays it was possible, even with such a beast as the one my cabman drove, to be in the country within half an hour of a West End street. I knewvery little of the environs of the great city, and when I woke up to arecognition of my surroundings I was in a district altogether strange tome. There were fields on either hand, and here and there the twinklingof a distant light proclaimed a probable human habitation; but therewere no lamps about the road as there are nowadays, and the scene lookedaltogether deserted and desolate. I pulled down the window, and, puttingout my head, hailed the driver, who was apparently asleep upon his box. A thin, persistent drizzle was falling, the ill-kept road was wet withrecent rain, and the wretched horse was jogging along at a shufflingtrot at a rate of perhaps four miles an hour. 

"Wake up there, " I cried, "and get along! I don't want to reach Richmondafter midnight. "

"All right, " cabby responded, and applied the whip with such effect thatfor a hundred yards or so he contrived to get a decent pace out of theweary brute he drove. By this time I had fallen back once more into theperplexity of my own thoughts, but in a while I woke to the fact thatwe had fallen back to our old pace, and I made a new effort to stimulatethe driver. He in turn made an effort to stimulate his steed, and so wewent on, bumping in the shallow ruts of the road, occasionally standingstill, and at our best scarcely exceeding the pace of a smart walk. 

"I suppose, " I asked the cabman, "that at least you know where you aregoing to?"

"Richmond, " replied the driver. "I suppose it's Richmond, in Surrey, ain't it? There is a Richmond in Yorkshire, but you don't expect a manto drive there at this time of night?"

"When do you expect to get to the end of your journey at this rate?" Iasked. 

"The fact is, sir, " said the driver, leaning confidentially backward, "the 'orse is tired. He's a very good 'orse when he's fresh, but 'e'sbeen in the shafts for sixteen hours at least, and whether he'll getthere at all is more than I should like to swear to. 'Ows'ever, " saidthe cabman, "we'll do our best. "

Now I was certain that Violet was awaiting my answer to her letter insome anxiety, and I myself was on fire to see her, so that this dilatorymethod of progress made me feel altogether miserable. We went joggingon in a sad, mournful fashion, and I made up my mind that at the firstinhabited place we came to I would discharge my driver, and find eithera horse or a new conveyance; and with this resolve I controlled myselfwith patience. By-and-by, however, after a series of extraordinary joltsand bumpings, the vehicle came to a standstill, and once more loweringthe glass and putting my head out into the drizzle, I demanded to knowwhat was the matter. 

"I'm afeard, sir, " said the cabman, "as I've lost my way. It's soblessed dark here, I've got off the road. All right, " he cried, a secondlater, "I see it! You 'old on, sir, I'll be right in a minute. " Withthis he stood up to flog the horse, and at that instant the vehicleoverturned, slid rapidly down a slope, and stopped with a shock whichfor the moment not only drove all the breath out of my body, but all thesense out of my head. When I recovered I found my hat crushed over myeyes, and in struggling to find my feet made the unpleasant discoverythat my right ankle was dislocated. I had sprained a wrist into thebargain, and under these circumstances I had great difficulty inextricating myself from the overturned vehicle. The horse was hammeringwith his hind-feet at the front of the carriage with a vigor surprisingin a creature who had only lately shown himself so fatigued and feeble;and when at last I contrived to open one of the doors and call to thedriver, I received no answer. I scrambled out painfully, and foundmyself scarcely able to stand. The darkness was intense; both the lampshad been broken and extinguished in the spill, and the rain was nowfalling with considerable violence. I called repeatedly to the driver, and groping about in the pitchy darkness on my hands and knees, Ireceived a blow on the head from one of the frightened horse's feet, andlay for a little while quite sick and stunned. How long this sensationlasted I have no means of knowing, but when I recovered my senses I waswet through, and found myself lying among furze-bushes in a damp hollow. The horse had apparently resigned himself to the position, and layquiet. As I struggled to my feet, with a thousand colored lightsflashing before ray eyes, the darkness and silence of the night seemedfilled with booming noises like those which are made by a heavy seawhen the wind has fallen. I crawled about cautiously through the wet andprickly furze, and at last laid a hand upon the driver's sleeve. He wassitting with his head between his hands, and I could just make him outdimly, now that I was close upon him and certain of his presence. 

"Are you hurt?" I asked. "You understand what I am saying?"

"Hurt!" he responded. "I'm as near killed as makes no matter. I thoughtyou was done for, sir. I called out two or three times when I came to, but you never made a sign. "

"I got a kick on the head, " I explained. "It made me stupid for a time. Do you know where we are, or have you lost your way altogether?"

"I don't know, " the man responded, with a groan. "I never drove thisroad before, but it strikes me we're on Barnes Common. "

"Is there any house within reach?" I asked. 

"How should I know?" he answered. 

"Can you walk?" I asked. "I am dead lame, and cannot put one foot beforeanother. "

"I'll try, " he answered, still groaning, and with an effort he scrambledto his feet. Once there he shook himself, and then began carefully toexplore his person with both hands from head to foot; kneeling on theground there I could see him more clearly against the lowering sky, andwhen, after a prolonged examination of himself, he drew up his figureand stretched his arms, I could see that he was fairly recovered fromthe shock his fall had given him. 

"Can you walk?" I asked again, this time with a little touch ofimpatience. He answered that he thought he could, and began to stampabout the wet grass to assure himself that his limbs were stillserviceable. "Mark this place well, " I told him. "Find the road again, and go for help. Don't leave me here all night. "

The man promised to be back as soon as possible, and set off at astumbling walk. I shouted to him from time to time, he answering, and atlength I learned that he had found the road. 

"Keep your heart up, governor!" he called, finally. "I'll be back assoon as ever I can, " and with that he left me. 

For a long time, or for what seemed a long time then, I could hear hisheavy boots crunching on the gravel and loose pebbles of the roadway, and then, except for the low voices of the rain and wind, and the heavybreathing of the horse, complete silence reigned. I had been in worsecase many a time, and have been since; and I set myself to make thebest of things. The wind was rising and bringing the cold rain down in afierce slant, and the first thing I did was to crawl to the lee side ofthe overturned four-wheeler, which lay wheels upward, securely wedgedinto a hollow. There was a little hillock, against one side of whichit had rested, which was free from the prickly furze, and, all thingsconsidered, made no bad resting-place. The wrenched ankle painedme severely, but I was dazed by the blow on the head, and had moredifficulty in fighting against an inclination to sleep or swoon than inenduring that discomfort. In spite of all my efforts, all knowledge ofsurrounding objects faded away at times, and I passed into a momentaryoblivion, though a twinge from the injured ankle always swiftly recalledme to myself. In a while I remembered that I had my cigar-case in mypocket, together with a box of those old-fashioned brown paper fuseeswhich were commonly used by smokers at that time. I had only one handavailable, and it cost me a good deal of trouble to get at that bit ofsolace and companionship; but when I had lit a cigar, and had coiledmyself into the most comfortable posture I could find, I felt morepatient than before, and smoked away for half an hour or so in atranquillity more or less enforced. I listened keenly all the time, andanybody who has ever tried the experiment knows how that act retards theslow passage of the moments at any time of anxiety and pain. If anybodythinks that an old campaigner is making much of a very slight accident, I shall ask him to remember the circumstances under which it occurred. I had been bitterly anxious the whole week, uncertain of the whereaboutsof the lady who loved me, and whom I loved with all my soul, imagining, in a fashion which seemed contrary to my own nature, a hundred thousandmisfortunes, and suffering more in mind than I can ever have the abilityto express in words. And now, just as I had come to a knowledge of whereto find her, with the note from her dear hand still near my heart, andwith the knowledge in my mind that every fruitless minute spent therewould be full of weariness and doubt to her, I was as effectuallystopped by this trumpery overturn as if it had been the most seriousdisaster in the world. My cigar was smoked out, and, after a long pause, I lit another. Sometimes the mere act of listening as intently as I didmade me imagine noises in my neighborhood, and I called out frequentlyon the mere chance of these sounds being real. Little by little the coldand wet began to take effect upon me. I grew more and more heavy withit, and at last, with the second cigar still alight between my lips, Ifell fast asleep, and lay there unconscious of the wind and rain, andknowing nothing of my own bodily inconveniences. How long this lastedI never had an opportunity of knowing, but I was awakened at last by thegrasp of a hand upon my shoulder, and tried to rise, half-blinded by thedazzling rays of a lantern, which was swinging close before me. Therewere a dozen men upon the ground, attracted by the story the driverhad told, and among them was a local medical man, who had had theold-fashioned prescience to charge a big flask with brandy. I wasglad enough to get a pull at its contents, and the doctor having gonecarefully over me and pronounced that no bones were broken, I was liftedwith a good deal of trouble into his dog-cart, and at my own request wasdriven on to Richmond. It was long after midnight when we got there, but after a good deal of knocking and ringing we made our way intothe Talbot Hotel, where I secured a comfortable bedroom; and when mysprained wrist and dislocated ankle had been put into cold compasses bythe doctor, I was got to bed. I passed an uneasy night, afflicted mainlyby the thought of Violet's bewilderment about me, and in the morning Iscrawled a note to her, telling her where I was, and asking her to sendme word that she had received my message. I was more damaged than I hadfancied, and the mere writing of the letter with my injured hand was atough task. The messenger I despatched knew Scarfell House, and told methat it had been bought by General Sir Arthur Rollinson a dozen yearsago, but had lately been very rarely used, though an old house-keeperand a general servant were always left in charge of the place. The mancame back in an hour, and to my annoyance and surprise told me thatMiss Rossano had left at an early hour that morning. Lady Rollinson haddriven down from London in great apparent haste, and had taken the younglady back to town with her. I lay raging and helpless half the day, notknowing what to do in this unexpected posture of affairs; but at length, being myself unable to move, and unlikely, according to the doctor'sstatement, to leave my room for a week to come, I resolved, as a lastresource, on sending a message to Hinge, on taking him completely intomy confidence, and setting him to work to find out in what directionLady Rollinson had spirited her ward. 

It was late in the afternoon before he came, and the good fellow wasfull of sympathy about my accident, and was disposed to stop and nurseme through the effects of it. But when he had once learned the facts ofthe case he took up my business with an almost romantic fervor. 

"You lay your life, sir, " said Hinge, "I'll find her. There's nogo-betweens as 'll get any letter for the young lady out o' my hands. All right, sir; you write the letter, and you trust me to see as it getsto the proper quarter. "

Hinge's devotion and loyalty did me good, and when I had struggledthrough with the letter and had confided it to his care, I felt easierand more hopeful. Hinge's first movement was up to London, and thencehe returned to me within half a dozen hours with the dispiritingintelligence that Lady Rollinson and Violet had left town togetheran hour before his arrival without leaving any instructions as to theforwarding of letters. Hinge, in his occasional visits to the house, hadcontrived to get on very excellent terms with a pretty parlor-maid, whohad given him voluntarily all the information she had at her command. The only definite bit of news he brought was that the ladies had drivento Euston Station; and though that fact opened up, then, a vista ofinquiry far less wide than it would to-day, it was still possible togo to so many places, and I had so little to guide me as to theirintentions, that the news left me in a perfect fog of despair, However, Hinge, in obedience to my instructions, went to Euston, and attemptedthere to find out for what place tickets had been taken; but he cameback next morning to report his complete non-success, and was evidentlya good deal dashed and dispirited by his own failure. 

"Never you mind, sir, " said Hinge, with outside stoutness, "we'll find'em yet. "

The poor fellow did his best to keep me cheerful, but between bodilypain and suspense, and the sense of my own helplessness, I am afraid hefound me rather difficult to manage. 

A week had gone by, and I was so far recovered that I could limp aboutthe room. The doctor had found it necessary to warn me more than oncethat I was retarding my recovery by my own eagerness, and that unlessI would consent to absolute repose I might not improbably do myself alife-long injury; but I could feel the injured ankle growing firmer, andI was resolute to try the search next day myself. 

Since the complete failure of his enterprise, Hinge had devoted himselfentirely to nursing me; and he had been so assiduous in his attentionsthat I was surprised to find him absent when I called for him. At thistime I was liable to be unduly excited by almost anything, and as hisabsence continued hour after hour, I lashed myself into a conditionof wild anxiety. I was convinced that nothing but his interest for mywelfare could have kept him away from me so long, and I was certain inmy own mind that he had found a clew of some sort. It was seven o'clockin the evening when he came back at last, and my first glance at hisface told me that something of importance had transpired. 

"Where have you been all day?" I asked. 

"Do you think, sir, " Hinge returned, with a face and voice ofmystery--"do you think, sir, as you'll be able to get about to-morrow?If you can, I'll show you something. "

"Speak out plainly and at once, there's a good fellow, " I responded. 

"Well, sir, " said Hinge, "I've found out something. " He was like anarrow-necked bottle whenever he had anything which he was eager tocommunicate, and I knew by experience that it was worse than useless totry to hasten the stream he had to give. 

"Give me my pipe, " I said, "and get on as fast as you can. "

"I've found out something, " Hinge repeated. "I've been surprised in mytime, sir, but I never was knocked so much of a heap as I have been thisafternoon. " I lit my pipe and waited for him, controlling impatience asbest I might. "Now who in the name of wonder, sir, " said Hinge, "do youthink is down here colloguing together?"

"How should I know?" I asked, groaning with impatience. 

"I was a-walking up the 'ill, sir, " said Hinge, "towards the Star andGarter this morning, just to get a breath of fresh air, when you toldme as I might go out for half an hour. You remember as you'd given meleave, sir?"

"Yes, yes!" I answered. "Go on with your story. "

"Well, sir, " said Hinge, "you might have knocked me over with a feather, for coming down the 'ill arm in arm I see the Honorable Mr. Brunow andthat there Sacovitch. They was talking together that interested theydidn't notice me. Now Mr. Brunow, 'e knows me, sir, if Sacovitchdoesn't, and I thought, after all as had happened, it might be worth mywhile to see what they was up to and not to be seen myself; so I justslips off the roadway behind a house as is a-build-ing on the right-'andside, and right in front of me they stops. I could hear 'em talking, but I couldn't make out what they was a-saying, till all of a sudden Mr. Brunow says, ''Ere she is, ' 'e says, just like that, sir--' 'Ere she is, 'as if they was a-waiting for somebody. In 'arf a minute up drives theBaroness Bonnar in a carriage, with a lady a-sitting beside her. Thetwo gentlemen takes off their 'ats, and they all shakes hands together, and then Mr. Brunow and Mr. Sacovitch gets into the carriage, and theyall drives off together. " He stopped there with such an air of triumphand perspicacity that I was angry with him. Certainly the news thatBrunow was about again was interesting, and might perhaps be useful. Butthat, being at large, he should be in the companionship of the baronessand the Austrian police spy was not at all by itself surprising, andHinge had the air of one who had discovered a wonder. 

"Is that all?" I asked him. 

"No, sir, " said Hinge, "that's only the beginning. They drives offthrough the park, turning the carriage round directly the gentlemen getsinto it. They drove as slow as slow could be, just at a lazy kind ofwalk, sir; and when they was a little bit of a distance off I venturesto follow 'era. Their four heads was that close together you mighthave covered them with one hat, but of course I never dare venture nearenough to find out what they was a-talking about. They drove about fortwo or three hours, and I kep' 'em in sight all the while-At one timethe Baroness Bonnar and the other lady, they gets down to feed the deerfrom a paper-bag of biscuits, and the gentlemen strolled about smokingcigars. Then they all four gets together again just as eager and as busyas ever. I could see 'em a-talking and a-arguing like mad, and I wasjust wild myself to know what it was all about, sir, but of course Icouldn't get a-nigh of 'em. Finally, " said Hinge, "after two or threehours, they drives back to the Star and Garter, and goes in there. Ifound out, sir, " he went on, with a growing air of importance which, considering the triviality of the intelligence he had so far brought me, was hard to bear with--"I found out, sir, as they'd ordered lunch; but Ididn't likes to leave 'em without knowing what they was up to, and soI 'ung about, sir. That comes easy, sir, " said Hinge, "to a man as 'asbeen used to barrack life. I 'ung about, and in the course of an hour ormore they comes out very jolly, and drives into the park again, and allthe morning's business over again. Well, sir, having gone on so long, Ididn't like to be put off; and I determined, as a man might say, to seethe finish of it. It come, sir, and it come sooner than I expected. Theydrives back about four o'clock, just as it was beginning to get towardsdusk, and they leaves the carriage at the Star and Garter, and theyall walks down the 'ill together, the two ladies in front and the twogentlemen behind. I followed, sir, at a respectful distance, and theyroams on quite gay and easy for a good mile and a 'arf, and at last theydrops down by the river-side on a little cottage. The dusk was fallingfast, sir, and I was able to get nearer to them than I had been. I waswithin twenty yards of them when they all went in together. If you canget out to-morrow, sir, you can see the cottage, and you'll see where Igot to. It's just right over the river, and there's a bit of what theyused to call a veranda when I was in Bombay, sir. It's right over theriver, the veranda is, and I clomb onto it, and through the Venetianblind I see the 'ole party. I was just a-peeping in when Sacovitch comesalong and throws the window open, just as if he'd wanted me to hear whatthey was a-saying. 'And now, ' says he, 'it's all ready, ain't it?'"

I suppose I shifted in my chair at this, and turned round with a look ofsome eagerness and interest, for Hinge, in his excitement, laid his handupon my shoulder and begged me not to hurry him. 

"Don't you 'urry me, sir, if you please. I'm a coming to it now, and Ithink before I've done you'll say, sir, as I've got it. 'And now, ' saysSacovitch, 'it's all ready, ain't it. ' The baroness was standing thereclose by the table. There was decanters on the table, and a lotof soda-water bottles. She 'elps herself and the other lady to abrandy-and-soda, and says she, just as she let the cork fly, 'Yes, ' shesays, 'I think you've got it. ' I'd 'ave give a guinea at that minute, "said Hinge, "to know what they'd got, but I never thought I should tillMr. Brunow gets up and says, just at that minute, 'Let's see exactlywhere we stand, ' 'e says. 'Very well, ' says Sacovitch; 'it's likethis. Now listen, all of you, ' 'e says, 'for these is the finalinstructions. '"

I moved again, half rising from my seat, but Hinge waved a protestinghand against me. 

"For God's sake, sir, don't 'urry me! I'm at it now, and you shall haveit all in half a minute, sir. 'It's like this, ' says Sacovitch; 'weknow, ' he says, 'that Miss Rossano has drawn that forty thousand pounds. What that forty thousand pounds is for, ' he says, 'is thoroughly wellbeknown to all of you. There's Colonel Quorn, ' he says--Did you ever'ear of Colonel Quorn, sir?"

"Yes, yes!" I answered. "Go on with your story. "

"'There's Colonel Quorn, ' 'e says, 'lying off Civita Vecchia with thecount on board 'is ship with the arms and ammunition. ' Now I'm a-comingto it, sir; don't you stop me. Such a wicked plot you never heard in allyour life. 'The count's on board, ' he says, 'and the arms is on board. The count won't land until he gets both arms and ammunition. ColonelQuorn won't 'hand over neither arms nor ammunition, ' he says, 'until hegets that forty thousand pounds. The very minute he gets that money hehands it over to Colonel Quorn, he gets the arms, and he lands. But now, mind you, ' says Sacovitch, 'there's this to be considered: the countwon't trust his foot on Italian soil, arms or no arms, ' he says, 'afterwhat's happened to him, unless he's sure of meeting his friends whenhe get's there. Now what's got to be done, ' says he, 'is to time thedelivery of the money. That money mustn't be paid until we've got ourpeople ready. The count won't land until he thinks he's safe, and wemust take jolly good care, ' says Sacovitch, ''e don't land until we'reready, ' he says. 'To be a day too soon on the one side, or a day toolate on the other, ' he says, 'would wreck us all. And mind you, ' hesays, 'the Austrian government puts more importance onto this affairthan anything else as is happening just at present. They'd sooner pay amillion pounds, ' he says (I'm giving you his very words, sir)--' they'dsooner pay a million pounds, ' he says, 'than miss the Count Rossano. "

In spite of my lame foot I was pacing about the room by this time, altogether too eager to control myself longer to physical quietude. 

"And then, " said Hinge, "this come out, and this is what I want to tellyou. Says Sacovitch to the other lady: 'You bring your messenger, 'says he, 'at this time to-morrow here, and I'll give him his lastinstructions. '"

CHAPTER XIX

My story until now has dragged a lingering length along, but from thispoint onward it moves swiftly to its close. In the haste I feel to reachthat close I strive to obliterate from my mind whatever came between thehour of Hinge's revelation and the hour of the appointment. The task isnot easy, for the four-and-twenty hours that intervened were filled witha suspense and anxiety of no common sort. The night passed, as even themost anxious of nights will pass; the day succeeding it crawled on, aseven the dreariest of days will crawl; and at last the hour arrived. When, aided by Hinge on one side and by a stout walking-stick on theother, I left the hotel, the night was already dark, and once more aheavy rain was falling. Hinge had secured a vehicle, which carried usto within a hundred yards of our destination, and was there discharged. There was a lamp at either end of the brief lane in which the river-sidecottage stood, and we could see that the road was diverted. There wasstill a chance that the traitors who were plotting against us might keepwatch, and we slipped into the garden with some little trepidation. Oncewithin the gate, I made a circuit of the house to assure myself thatthere was no chance of our being observed, and finding the whole fieldclear, I climbed, with Hinge's aid, onto the balcony. We had found thewhole land in front of the house in darkness, and only a single room onthe river-side was illuminated. Hinge touched me on the elbow, and witha forward finger indicated the lighted window, and motioned me on. Iwent crouching with a stealthy step until I came on a level with thewindow, and then, kneeling on the wet boards of the veranda, I foundwithin eyeshot Brunow, the baroness, Sacovitch, and Constance Pleyel. The two men were smoking, wine was set out upon the table, and fourglasses were filled. The whole party had an air of Bohemian ease andjollity. They were talking together, and I could see Sacovitch pacingthe room with great vehemence of gesture; but though I could hear thedeep murmur of his voice, and could even ascertain that he was speakingin English with a foreign accent, I could not succeed, strain my ears asI might, in making out the burden of a consecutive sentence. Hinge wascrouching at my side, his shoulder touching mine. The rain dripped fromthe upper part of the house onto the shelving roof of the veranda witha monotonous and incessant noise which drowned the voices within atcritical moments, so that we caught no more than detached words. Allof a sudden I felt Hinge's hand on my wrist, and at that second a stepcrunched on the gravel between the gate and the door of the house. Thena bell tinkled faintly, and we both saw the whole quartet turn withvarying expressions of waiting and attention. Then the door of the roomopened and a servant appeared, explaining in dumb show, so far as wewere concerned, but to our perfect understanding, that a visitor hadarrived. I saw Brunow wave permission to the visitor to enter, andunderstood quite clearly what was going on, though at this moment thepattering of the rain and the sudden sigh of the wind robbed my earsof even the murmur of his voice. The servant retired, leaving the dooropen, and the quartet of conspirators bent towards each other whileSacovitch spoke. I watched the movement of his forefinger and the motionof his lips. The glint of his eye, the elevation of his brow, and theinclination of his head towards the open door all meant caution, andI could tell as clearly as if I had heard his words that he was takingupon himself the burden and responsibility of an approaching interview. An instant later the servant reappeared, laying a needless hand upon thedoor and swaying it open by a superfluous inch or two as he introducedthe visitor. 

"Roncivalli!" whispered Hinge, in a tone of unutterable amazement as theman came in. 

I thought myself prepared for anything; but the presence of such a manin such company astonished me profoundly. Roncivalli was one of the mosttrusted of our committee, an Italian _pur sang_, a man whose family hadsuffered from Austrian misrule for half a century back. He representeda house which had been rich and noble, and had been persecuted intonothingness. No man had been louder in denunciation of the Austriancruelty, no man apparently more sincere. There never lived a man whohad more reason for sincerity. My first impression was that he mustbe spying upon the spies, for my opinion of his patriotism had been solofty, that next to the Count Rossano and poor old Ruffiano, whom Brunowhad betrayed, I should have counted him the last man in all the Italianranks to be bought by Austrian gold. 

He came in, hat in hand, with a sweeping salute to the ladies, andtossing his sombrero on the sofa, dripping wet as it was, unbuttonedwith both hands a paletot shining with rain, and displayed himselfin evening-dress, with a big jewel shining in the centre of hisshirt-front, after a fashion which became popular a score of yearslater. Sacovitch stepped forward to help him divest himself of hiscloak; and when it was slipped from his shoulders he held it with onehand, groping in the pockets from one side to the other, and in themeantime nodded round with a smiling air, with an allusion which Iunderstood a second later when he held up a long Virginian cigar. MissPleyel and the baroness bowed, and Roncivalli set his cigar over thelamp until one end of it became incandescent. Then he began to smoke, and at a wave from Miss Pleyel's hand took an arm-chair close to thewindow. The baroness rose from her seat and poured out wine forhim. Motions of hand and eye, change of feature, and movement of lipindicated an animated social converse, but not a word of it all reachedmy ears. I was just meditating on Hinge's luck in the fact that on theoccasion of his watch the conspirators had thrown open the window as ifon purpose that he should secure a hearing of their deliberations, whenthe baroness put her hand to her round white throat, with an exaggeratedgesture of oppression, and then waved it towards the window. Sacovitchbowed and rose from his place. I laid a hand on Hinge, impelling himdownward as the Austrian police spy walked towards the window. We eachglued ourselves to the wall, and prostrated ourselves on the rainywood-work of the veranda walk. We heard the grating sound of the windowas it rose; and the mingled voices of the people inside--all _five_speaking together--came out with a gush, and brought such anticipatoryjoy and triumph to my heart as I had never felt before. 

"Let us make sure, " said Roncivalli, in a laughing tone. "We haveimportant business to discuss--at least, I am advised so--and it wouldbe just as well to be certain that we are not overheard. " He raisedthe Venetian blind by the cord, and for a moment the rattle soundedas disturbing to the nerves as anything I can remember. But I heardSacovitch say:

"The veranda looks upon the river. There is nobody within hearing. "

"We will see, in any case, " Roncivalli responded, and with that hethrust his head between the window-sill and the blind, and peeped outinto the river. The lamplight took him from behind and illuminated thetips and edges of his hair, his beard, and his mustache, so that theyshone bright gold, though he was a man of darkish complexion. As heturned his head sideways the white of his eye gleamed like an opal, andbending suddenly he looked downward, seeming to stare me in the faceso intently that I did not even dare to breathe. I was so absolutelycertain that he would give an alarm that it came upon me with a shock ofrelief beyond description when he drew his head back into the room, andsaid that everything was clear. 

"That is a relief, " said the baroness; "but with all you gentlemensmoking, I was afraid that I should faint. "

"So?" said Sacovitch, with an altogether insolent disregard in hisinquiry. "Let us get to business. "

"I am ready, " Roncivalli answered, throwing himself anew into thearm-chair. 

"A moment, " said a voice, which I recognized as Constance Pleyel's; "itis very well to have the window open, but all the same we need not catchour death of cold. Will you be good enough, Signor Roncivalli, to lowerthe blind. "

The signor arose and obeyed her, and as he did so I could see his longfigure between me and the whitewashed, lamplit ceiling of the room. Before another word was spoken Hinge touched me again upon the elbow, and I knew at once the meaning of his signal. We rose, both of us, silently to our knees, and each found a crevice through which he couldcommand a view of the occupants of the room. 

"The first thing, I take it, " said Sacovitch, "is to decide that thenegotiations we are about to conclude are not likely to be broken by anybetrayal on either side. "

"So far as I am concerned, " said Roncivalli, "my being here is guaranteeenough. I am not risking my life for nothing, or, if I am, I shall knowthe reason why. "

At this moment Brunow broke in with an Italian-sounding phrase, and thebaroness interrupted him. 

"Speak English, " she said. "Herr Sacovitch has no Italian, and MissPleyel no German. English is the one language which is understood by allof us, and we may just as well have everything open and above-board. "

With one eye glued to the lower interstice of the Venetian blind, I sawthe quintet all bowing and bobbing to each other at this with a Judaspoliteness which was altogether charming to look at. Roncivalli, withhis back half turned towards me, was so near that I could have taken himby the hair. A little removed from him, on the right, sat the baroness, in a captivating little bonnet and gloves of pearl gray, smoothing onehand over the other on her silk-clad knees with a purring satisfactionin the charm of her own attire. At her side sat poor Constance Pleyelwith a wineglass in her left hand, looking into its last spot or two asdrearily as if she contemplated the dregs of her own wasted andweary life. Beyond her again, and almost facing me, just seen acrossRoncivalli's shoulders, sat Brunow, smoking at his ease, and toying withhis eyeglass with the fingers of both hands. Sacovitch stood upright, his cigar balanced between his first and second fingers, dominating, orseeking to dominate, the whole party. 

"I especially desire, " he said, in his strong German accent, and tickingoff on his left forefinger every important syllable, with such emphasisthat he scattered the ashes of his cigar into his own wineglass--"Iespecially desire that Signor Roncivalli should understand with extremedefiniteness that there is no escape from the position which he haselected to assume. "

"No fear of me, my friend, " Roncivalli answered. The liquid Italianplayed against the German guttural like the warble of a flute answeringthe snarl of a violoncello. "I am doing what I know. Until our friendRossano came to England I had a place from which he was good enoughto depose me. You may say what you like, Herr Sacovitch, but theindependence of my country is secure. Italy wins; and I desire Italy towin. I will help you to your Count Rossano if you want him, and if youwill pay me for it, because I hate him, and because he is in my way. ButItaly wins, all the same. "

There was a candor about this which I could appreciate, but Sacovitchturned upon his purchased traitor with something very like a snarl. 

"Understand, " he said, in his thick German-English, "that I buy you or Ido not buy you. Whether I buy you or not, you are sold already. Our lasttalk was overheard by a fellow-committeeman of yours, who is in my pay, and who will go back to his old patriotism, or come to me, exactly as Itell him. "

"I am here for a service, " responded Roncivalli "I will do one thing foryou, as I have told you all along, and I will do no more. I will giveyou the Count Rossano, who is in my way, and I will not give you anyreal chance over Italy for anything you may offer me. I will take yourmoney because I want it, and I will serve your turn because it suits me. How I reconcile these matters with my own conscience is my own affair. "

"Your conscience is your own, " Sacovitch answered; "the question ofyour conduct is our consideration. I want you only to understand thata single false move on either side--" He took a deep pull at his cigarthere, and made a purposed pause for effect. "I think, ladies andgentlemen, you will agree with me that I do not exaggerate. Swerve aninch to right or left, " he added, "and you lose your life. "

Roncivalli's flute-like voice followed the troubled grumble of theGerman's threat. 

"I know my business, Herr Sacovitch, as well as you know yours. I canserve your turn and I can serve my own. Give me what I ask, and you mayhave the Count Rossano. But if you think that in betraying the man whohas usurped my place I betray my cause, you are very much mistaken. Solong as Count Rossano is at liberty, it is not worth your while to trapso inconsiderable a person as myself. When once he is in your hands Ishall be a great deal too wise to give you the chance of seizing me. When I fight, I shall fight openly--against Austria, " he added, with alaugh. 

"Miss Rossano, " said Sacovitch, "drew the forty thousand poundsyesterday, and it now lies in the hands of Lady Rollinson. You will goto Southampton by the first train in the morning, accompanied by theBaroness Bonnar, who will introduce you to her English ladyship. LadyRollinson is in direct communication with the Count Rossano, and will beable to give you a meeting-place at which you will hand over the moneyto the count. Mr. Brunow and the baroness will accompany you, and willundertake to see that the money is delivered. Any one of you may act asintermediaries between the Count Rossano and the forces on shore; but itmust be definitely understood that the count is, under no circumstances, to be allowed to land until our own side is ready. "

"That is clear enough, " answered Roncivalli. 

"Let me be clearer still, "-said Sacovitch, turning upon him with amenacing look. "In a case like this, many things have to be providedfor. It is quite possible that it may seem worth your while to play forforty thousand pounds. "

"Not at all, " said Roncivalli, tranquilly. 

"It is assuredly not worth your while, " the Austrian returned. "Thisenterprise is in my hands, and it has never been my practice to leaveany of my agents unwatched. I shall not tell you who will watch you, or who in turn will watch him; but it will save possible trouble if youshould understand that from the moment at which you leave, until theCount Rossano is in our hands, you will be under my observation andcontrol as definitely as you are at this moment. "

"All this, " replied Roncivalli, "is a waste of words. I have undertakenthis piece of work for my own purpose, and for my own purpose I shallcarry it through. When the work is done I shall go my own way, as I havealways told you. I am to have the pleasure of your society, madame, " hecontinued, turning to the baroness. "That is charming, and will beguilea journey which might otherwise be tedious. What is the hour of thetrain's departure?"

Sacovitch drew out a pocket-book, and, extracting a loose leaf from it, handed it to him. 

"You will find all your instructions there: the train, the hotelat which Lady Rollinson is staying, and the boat. Mr. Brunow has mycertificate to the captain of the boat, who will place himself at yourservice at any hour. "

"_Buono!_" said the Italian, folding the paper with a flourish, andbestowing it in his breast-pocket. "Is there anything more?"

"That is all, " said Sacovitch. "I think we understand each other, and wecould do no more than that if we talked till midnight. "

"In that case, " said Roncivalli, rising, "until tomorrow, madame. Untilto-morrow, Mr. Brunow. " He took up his paletot from the chair onto whichhe had thrown it on his entrance, and threw it over his shoulder. Thenhe took his hat, and with a half-theatrical bow all round, and a smileat Sacovitch, he left the room. The hall-door banged a few secondslater, and his footstep sounded on the gravel of the path and then diedaway. 

"I am not quite sure that I trust that fellow, " Sacovitch said a minutelater. "It will be your business to keep a strict eye upon him. "

"Have no fear, " said the baroness. "He shall be well watched. "

There was more talk, but it had no interest for me, though I stilllistened intently in the hope of learning more. In a quarter of an houror thereabouts the servant was called in, and received instructions tobring the baroness's carriage, which appeared to be put up at a hotelwhile the conference was being held. She and Brunow and Constance were, it appeared, going back to town together, and I learned incidentallythat the cottage had been rented by Sacovitch for his own purposes, asaffording a more convenient and secret meeting-place than any he couldfind in London. Directly the servant had received his orders I gaveHinge a sign, and with infinite precautions we climbed from the verandato the garden, and thence made our way on tip-toe, like a pair ofthieves, to the roadway. 

"They're a nice old lot, sir, ain't they?" said Hinge, when we hadwalked a hundred yards in silence. 

I quieted him by returning no answer, and we walked on without anotherword until I had reached my own chamber. By this time I had quite madeup my mind as to the line it was my duty to adopt, and wheresoever itled me I was resolved to follow. I gave Hinge my purse, and instructedhim to pay the bill, to pack up my belongings, and to be ready to catchthe first train into town. He was full of wonderment and conjecture, but, like the old soldier he was, he obeyed without inquiry. When Iarrived at my own rooms I sat down and wrote a statement of the wholetruth, as brief and concise as I could make it, and copied it fouror five times over; and armed with these documents, I drove to theaddresses of such men as I knew where to find among our _sociétaires_. Under ordinary circumstances, since the count's departure and thebetrayal of poor old Ruffiano, I should have gone to Roncivalli; butnow that he was turned traitor I had to rely upon my own limitedinformation, which served me very awkwardly. I had calculated beforehandon the chance that I might not find any one of the men I sought at home, and my worst forebodings were fulfilled. I left in each case my writtenstatement, and before I returned to my own rooms I had delivered themall. The unfortunate part of the business was, as I knew full well, thathardly a man among them could read English, and in almost every case therecipient of my letter would have to seek a translator before he couldfind me. I knew, on the other hand, that if once the statement I hadmade reached the intelligence of any one Italian patriot, the news wouldspread like wildfire, and that, if I needed them, a hundred men would beat my disposal to check the treason meditated by Roncivalli and Brunow. In each epistle I besought the receiver to follow me without delay toSouthampton, and I undertook to wire to each the address at which Imight be found, and begged him, in case he should follow immediately, tomake arrangements to have that address rewired. 

All this being done, I sat down and wrote out a fuller statement of thecase for Violet's reading, if ever I should again be so happy as to findthe chance of placing it in her hands. This occupied me until an hourafter midnight. I went to bed, leaving with Hinge the responsibility ofawaking me in time for the first train next morning to Southampton. When we reached the railway station I caught a glimpse of Roncivalli andBrunow and the baroness; but this was no more than I had expected, andit cost me but little trouble to evade them. We reached Southamptonwithout adventure, and I kept my place in the railway carriage untilHinge reported to me that they had left the platform. Then I venturedafter them in a fly, and having seen them all enter a hotel together, Imade a note of its name and position in my mind, and took a little driveinto the country before returning. When I got back and procured rooms, my heart leaped as I signed the visitors' book, for at the top of thepage on which I wrote I saw the names of Lady Rollinson, Miss Rossanoand maid. It cost me an effort to put the question with untroubled faceand voice, but I asked the servant who conducted me to my room if MissRossano were still staying in the house. He answered uninterestedly thathe did not know the lady. But when I mentioned her as Lady Rollinson'scompanion, he recalled her to mind. 

"No, sir, " he said; "the lady stayed in the house the night beforelast, but she went away with her maid yesterday morning. "

As to when she would return, or as to the direction she had taken at thetime of her departure, he could tell me nothing. And so, as fate wouldhave it, I was left in the ignorance and uncertainty which had perplexedme from the first. A minute's interview with Violet would, of course, have put an end to the danger of the situation, but in her absence Ifelt as powerless here as I had been in London. I was on the scene ofaction, but so long as Lady Rollinson retained her absurd suspicions, I could not approach the actors and actresses in the scene of tragedywhich grew every moment more threatening and more imminent. 

Hinge was so far in my confidence already that I had not much difficultyin laying before him all my hopes and fears. I wrote an urgent note toLady Rollinson, and sent it by his hand, instructing him to deliver itto her ladyship personally. I read it over to him when it was completed, and at the end of every sentence he nodded assent to it. 

"Dear Lady Rollinson, " I wrote, "you have engaged to pay into the handsof Signor Roncivalli a sum of forty thousand pounds, to be handed toCount Rossano. Before you do this I beseech you solemnly to give me amoment's interview. The payment of that money will result in the count'sbetrayal to the Austrians. You know what he has suffered already, andyou know how little mercy he can look for at their hands if they shouldonce more succeed in getting hold of him. I beg you, for his sake, andfor the sake of Violet, whom I know you love, to give me an interviewof five minutes only. You may question the bearer of this note, who willtell you everything, and you may rely upon his knowledge and discretion. If you are still determined not to see me, I shall be quite content thatyou should learn the truth from him. But I beg you, by everything youhold dear, not to disregard my warning. Count Rossano is in peril of thegravest sort, and if you should hand Miss Ros-sano's gift to himwithout inquiry, you may sign his death-warrant, and will certainly giveyourself grounds for the bitterest self-reproaches you have ever known. "

Hinge undertook, with a full sense of the responsibility which restedupon him, to deliver this letter, and went away with it; but in tenminutes he came back with the envelope unopened. 

"_I_ got to 'er ladyship, " he said; "but the minute I told 'er where Icame from she threw the letter on the table and told me to bring it backagain. I tried my best, sir, but she wouldn't listen to me. She orderedme out of the room, sir; and when I tried to tell 'er what the matterwas, she rung the bell and walked out. You can't follow a lady into 'erbedroom, sir; and say what I would I couldn't get 'er to let me geta word in edgeways. A servant comes up in answer to the ring, and 'erladyship, from inside 'er bedroom, says, 'Waiter, request that man toleave my room, and see as 'e don't trouble me no more. '"

"Where are Lady Rollinson's rooms?" I asked him, desperately. 

"They're in this corridor, sir, " Hinge answered; "at the far end, numbers 38, 39, and 40. "

I snatched up the letter, strode along the corridor, and knocked at themiddle door of the suite. Lady Rollinson herself answered my summons, and before I could speak a word slammed the door indignantly in my faceand turned the key. I heard the bolt shoot in the lock, and a secondlater an angry peal at the bell sounded. I stood there, altogetherirresolute and disconsolate. A waiter came flying up the stairs, and, bustling past me, knocked at the door. 

"Who's there?" cried her ladyship's voice from within. "Send the managerto me. Tell him that I am being persecuted, and that I demand hisprotection. "

What was a man to do in a case of that kind? I could simply retire tomy own apartments; but I did it in such a passion of wrath and impotencethat I could have taken that stupid and credulous old woman by theshoulders and shaken her to reason. I was too angry and disheartened tospeak a word; but while I was pacing up and down the room, and wonderingwhat my next move should be, the manager of the hotel presented himself, with a message from Lady Rollinson. 

"It is no affair of mine, sir, " said the man, who was extremely politeand business-like; "but the lady declares that she will not see you onany account, or receive any communication from you. I am to tell youthat if you persist in attempting to see her she will leave the hotel. I can't afford to have my customers troubled in this way, and I must askyou to go. "

I told him I should decline to go. I asked him to sit down, and Irelated to him the whole story, so far as it was necessary that anyoutside person should hear it, in order that he might judge of thesituation. The man became interested, and even in a way sympathetic. 

"It's a very curious case; sir, " he admitted; "but I can't allow mycustomers to be disturbed, all the same. If I were in your place, sir, "he added, "I should appeal to the police. "

This advice was so hopelessly astray from the point that I dismissed theman, though I had to promise him that Lady Rollinson should suffer nofurther annoyance. Hinge was hard to pacify, for in his loyalty to meand the affection that had grown up between us, he was almost as muchinterested as I was, and he kept breaking in with a "Look 'ere, sir, this is Captain Fyffe, my master. It was him as rescued Count Rossanofrom the fortress of Itzia--you must have seen it in the papers. " Theman was got rid of at last, and the promise was given. And now there wasnothing to be done but to await the arrival of some one or two of thepatriotic _sociétaires_ from London. Even in the extremity at whichthings had arrived, I more than half dreaded their coming. If they cameat all, they would come with a full knowledge of the facts, and theirarrival meant nothing less than murder. It would have been the wildestof dreams to suppose for an instant that any one of them would allowhis beloved chief to be handed over to the Austrians at any cost; andthough I was willing to pay almost any price to save the count, I had ahorror of bloodshed in a case like that. 

"Let us leave no stone unturned, " I said to Hinge. 

"I will go to the railway station to meet any friends of mine that mayarrive, and in the meantime you can go to the docks and ascertain whatvessels sail for any Italian port to-morrow. Find out if it is possiblefor me to get berths aboard the boat by which Brunow and Roncivallisail. "

"You trust me, sir, " Hinge returned; "I'll do my best. "

We parted for an hour or so. My waiting at the station came to nothing, and when Hinge returned he had no news worth the telling. The regularliners were all known, and had been easy enough to find. He had learnedby cunning inquiry that luggage had been taken that evening aboard acraft whose destination v was unknown, and he had had her pointed out tohim. When he had pulled out into the harbor to speak the craft, he hadbeen warned away by a man who either could not understand him or refusedto do so. It was not in itself a suspicious or remarkable thing thata stranger should not have been allowed to board a foreign craft afterdark, but in the circumstances it was enough to make me believe thatthis was the ship by which the traitorous party was to sail. To beso near, to know so much, and yet to be so helpless was downrightmaddening. 

"Once the money is in the hands of those wretches, " I said, "once theyare away, the count is doomed. That headstrong old woman is throwingaway her niece's fortune to betray her niece's father; and if she knewwhat she was doing she would sooner put her own right hand in the fire. "

"If I was you, sir, " Hinge responded, "I shouldn't let her do it. "

"You wouldn't?" I responded. 

"No, sir, " said Hinge; "I wouldn't. "

"And how would you prevent it?" I asked. I spoke eagerly, for I couldnot help thinking he had some scheme in mind. 

"I don't know, sir, " said Hinge; "but I shouldn't let 'er do it. I'drouse the town agen 'em. Do you mean to tell me, sir, as any set ofEnglish people 'ud let a lot of scoundrels like them go off to sell thelife of an innocent gentleman? I don't believe it. I should rouse thetown. "

I bade him hold his tongue and go, and for two or three hours I sat bymyself, raging at my own helplessness. There is nothing so intolerableto an active mind as the sense of urgent duty confronted by impotence. And if ever circumstance in the whole history of the world yet justifieda man, sane and sober, in a madman's act, I felt myself justified whenthe last desperate resort occurred to me. 

CHAPTER XX

I said not a word; but I sat by myself, and I matured, I think, themaddest scheme that ever entered a sane man's head. Desperate diseases, as everybody knows, ask for desperate remedies, and here I do not knowhow it was possible for anybody to overestimate the urgency of the case. Count Rossano has gone peacefully to his rest now this many a year, butI had learned to love the man with a loyal affection and esteem, thelike of which I never felt for any human creature, except my wife and myown children. It made for a good deal in my affection for him that I hadbeen instrumental in rescuing him from that living death he had sufferedfor so many years, for I have found over and over again in my ownexperience that one of the surest ways of learning to love a man is todo him a good turn. And apart from my own affection for him, he was thevery apple of Violet's eye, and my affection for her I have never beenable to find words for. That her money should be employed to lure herfather to destruction was a thing altogether hideous and intolerable;and when I hit upon the only method I could see to prevent so dreadfula consummation, I accepted my own madness with a tranquillity which hassurprised me very often in remembering it. I thought it well, beforestarting on the enterprise I had in hand, to set down my purpose inwriting, so that if it miscarried I might at least escape the mischiefof misconstruction. So I sat down and wrote deliberately that it wasmy intention to rob Lady Rollinson of the sum of forty thousand pounds, intrusted to her by Miss Violet Rossano for transmission to her father. If I could have seen any other way out of it I would not have takenthis; but I had searched everywhere in my own mind, and until this oneextraordinary proposition disclosed itself I had been able to findno road at all. I set down in the document I wrote my purpose in thisstrange proceeding; I signed and sealed it in an envelope, and put it inmy pocket. Then I waited until the house was quite silent, and thelast waiter had shuffled along the corridor. It was one o'clock in themorning before I was satisfied that the whole house had sunk to slumber, and then I marched straight to the room in which Lady Rollinson had lastdecisively refused to grant me a moment's interview. I remember verywell that there were three pairs of boots outside the door, that theywere all new and neat and fashionable, and that I thought, as I lookedat them, that in contrast with my own heavy and mud-stained footgearthey looked marvellously small and delicate. I turned the handle ofthe door, and, to my surprise, it yielded. I found myself within adimly-lighted room, where the main illumination was refracted in aghostly fashion from the white ceiling, and came from the street-lampsin the square below. I closed the door behind me, and found that Ihad light enough to make my way about without difficulty. The room wasfurnished in hotel fashion, and at one wall of it stood a ghostly piano, its form revealed by mere hints of polish on its surface here and there. On the opposite side was an escritoire with writing implements, and afew scattered sheets of paper. In the centre of the room was a table, and two or three disordered chairs were scattered about the apartment. Faint as the light was, a cursory glance about the place made it evidentto me that so large an amount of money as the sum I meant to steal washardly likely to be there. There were two doors opening out of the roomapart from the one by which I had entered, and I was compelled to trustto chance in my choice of the one to be next opened. I cannot in theleast tell why, but I walked without hesitation to the one on my left. I tried the handle, and the door resisted me. I tried again morestrenuously, and I heard a voice from the other side cry out in sleepytones, asking who was there. I knew the voice for Lady Rollinson's. 

I know very well that I am telling a queer story, but I must tell itplainly. I set my sound knee against that door and threw my whole weightwith it, and in a second, with a horrible wrench at the injured wristand ankle, I stood inside the room. A faint scream greeted me, and I sawa white figure in the act of scrambling upright in the bed. 

"You will do well to be quiet, " I said, and the figure sank back witha sort of moan and gurgle of astonishment. My own nerves were sooverstrung already that I discerned a comedy in a situation sufficientlyserious, and if I had given way to the impulse which assailed me Ishould have broken into a shout of unreasoning laughter. This was onlya surface current, however, and I was as conscious of the serious importof my business as I am now in recalling the incidents of that incredibleadventure. 

"Your ladyship, " I said, with that odd sense of comedy still uppermost, "will regard this as rather a curious intrusion. You have forty thousandpounds belonging to Miss Rossano, and I am here to rob you of it. Ipropose to do it with all delicacy; but if your ladyship will be goodenough to understand me, I mean to have the money. "

That she heard me I am sure, but the sole answer I received came in theshape of a muffled scream from underneath the bedclothes. 

"The money, " I said, "is Violet's property, and to her I shall beperfectly willing to account for it. You must tell me where it is, and Ishall take it, and shall keep it until she comes to claim it. " I waited, and no answer came at all. I was bubbling with subdued laughter, andfully alive at the same time to the serious side of my own position. "Where is the money?" I asked, in a voice as stern as I could make it. "Tell me, and tell me without delay!"

The blinds of the room were drawn, and even that faint illuminationwhich had guided my steps in the sitting-room was missing here. I couldsee nothing but the dull gray gleam of the white counterpane and thehangings of the bed. 

"Tell me at once, " I said. "You may ask me for any explanation in themorning, and I will give it Where is the money?"

I waited, and a dead silence reigned. I repeated my question once, andtwice, and thrice: "Where is the money?" Then I heard a muffled voicesay: "Here!" I groped forward in the darkness until my hand encounteredhers, and took from her grasp a chamois-leather bag, which was all crispto the touch above and solid below. 

"That will do, " I said. "You have forced me to do this. You can raise analarm if you will; I am willing to defend myself, and I have taken theonly step that was left me to save the life of Violet's father. "

With that I withdrew, stumbling here and there against the furniture inthe thick darkness of the room. The sitting-room beyond seemed light bycomparison, and the corridor, with its solitary sickly gleam of gas, wasas clear as it would have been in broad daylight. I ran to my own room, and flung the bag upon the table. Then I untied the cord which bound itat the neck, and counted its contents. There were twenty notes of theBank of England for one thousand pounds each, tied up in one littleladylike bundle with a bit of narrow pink silk ribbon. There werethirty-eight notes of five hundred pounds each, tied in the samedelicate and feminine fashion. Then there were notes of one hundred andof fifty, to the value of seven hundred pounds. And at the bottom ofthe bag was a great loose handful of gold, all in bright sovereigns andhalf-sovereigns, fresh from the Mint. I estimated this little mass ofcoined gold at three hundred pounds; but just as I was in the act ofcounting it, the ring of a bell in violent motion tingled through themidnight silence of the house, and I paused. I heard a door thrownopen, and an urgent voice at an incredible pitch shrieked, "Thieves!""Murder!" Then the bell sounded again and yet again, until I heard itfall with a crash upon the stone floor of the corridor below. The wildvoice, once loosed, went on shrieking, "Murder!" "Thieves!" I hurriedthe money I had stolen back into the bag, tied it as I had found it, andawaited the result with perfect equanimity. In less than half a minutedoors were banging all over the house, and hurrying feet chargedup-stairs and down-stairs. The voice of alarm never ceased for a moment. I stepped out into the corridor, and faced the manager, who was thefirst man to arrive upon the field. 

"Lady Rollinson is alarmed, " I said; "you had better send some of yourwomen to her. I have just robbed her of forty thousand pounds, and themoney is in my room. "

The man glared at me with an expression of profound astonishment. Wordswere utterly beyond him, and he could only gasp at me. 

"Tell Lady Rollinson, " I continued, "that the money is quite safe. Ishall surrender it to Miss Rossano, to whom it belongs, but to no otherperson. Now go!"

The corridor by this time was full of half-clad people, who were staringin each other's faces with the bewilderment natural to startled sleep. I returned to my own room, closing the door behind me, and awaited theprogress of events. I heard excited voices outside, but could make outnothing of their purport. Thirty or forty people made a very babel ofnoise outside my door; but by-and-by Hinge came in, wide-eyed, in a veryshort night-shirt. 

"I have saved the count, " I said, very quietly. "There is the moneywhich was to have betrayed him. "

"Good Lord, sir, " Hinge cried, "how did you get hold of it?"

"I stole it, " I responded; "it was the only thing to do. " While Hingestill stared at me in wordless amazement the outer door was flung open, and the manager appeared, ushering in a policeman. 

"This is the man!" he cried. 

"Yes, " I answered, "I have not the slightest doubt that I am the man youwant. You are an officer of the police?" The man said "Yes, " bustlingforward with a brace of handcuffs in his hand. "I claim this money, " Isaid, laying my hand upon the bag which rested on the table. "There needbe no doubt about the matter, officer. I have become illegally possessedof this, but I claim it, and I shall surrender it only to the handsof your inspector. He will keep it until its rightful owner comes toreceive it. "

"Lady Rollinson claims it!" cried the manager. 

"Lady Rollinson, " I answered, "has no more right to it than I have. Thismoney is the property of Miss Rossano. It must be handed to her, and Ihave taken it in order that it may be put into the hands of the legalauthorities until such time as she appears to claim it. "

"I must trouble you to go with me, sir, " said the officer, advancingwith the handcuffs in his hand. 

"I will go with you, " I answered, "and I will go quite quietly on onecondition: you will take charge of this. "

"You bet I will!" the officer answered, facetiously; and I saw a glancepass between him and the manager which said "madman, " as plainly as thespoken word itself. 

I had done too much already to permit myself to be foiled at the end. Itook the bag of money in both hands, and held out my wrists towards theofficer. 

"You will handcuff me, " I said, "if you think that necessary. I shallsubmit to anything which you conceive to be within the limits of yourduty. But I shall not part with this until I meet your inspector. "

The man answered nothing, but he fettered me clumsily enough, keepingso wary an eye upon my face meanwhile that he manipulated the handcuffswithout guidance, and pinched me in fixing them. I winced at this, andhe got back from me as if he thought I was about to strike him. 

"Ha! would ye?" he said, and laid a hand upon his truncheon. I stoodstill, with the handcuffs still dangling from my wrists, and the man, reassured by my manner, completed his task. The door was open, and anynumber of dishevelled heads and staring eyes crowded in at us. 

"Let somebody find a cab, " I said. "Lady Rollinson is naturally a gooddeal disturbed, and will not wish to make a charge to-night. She canappear against me in the morning, and in the meantime we can see thatthe money is made safe. "

"Make no mistake about that, " said the officer. "We'll see that themoney is kept safe. You hand that bag over to me; I'll take charge ofthat. "

"No, " I answered; "it goes into your inspector's hands. You can send forhim, if you like, or you can take me to him. "

On a sudden I looked up, and there, among the faces at the door, Icaught sight of Roncivalli and Brunow. 

"Gentlemen, " I said, "I take you to witness why I have done this thing. Here is the money which was to have been handed to you to-morrow. I havetold the Brotherhood. I spared you once, " I added, to Brunow; "you maygo now and take your chance in earnest. "

Roncivalli was a man of daring, and had more than once given proofs ofcourage; but he turned white at my words, and Brunow shrank back in thecrowd with a face all ghastly gray, with his teeth gleaming behind histrembling lips. Through all the hurry and bustle of the scene the hotelmanager was vainly urging the startled occupants of the house to returnto their own chambers. Then, with a sudden leap of the heart, I heard avoice outside:

"Be good enough to make way for me. "

"Come along!" cried the officer; "hand me that bag, and have done withit. I know my duty, and I've got force enough behind me. "

"Wait a moment, " I answered; "here is the owner of the money. Make wayfor Miss Rossano, and drive all those curious people away. "

I saw the crowd divide, and Violet came in, looking about herwonderingly. I stood there manacled, holding out the stolen money in myextended hands. She gave one swift glance of astonishment, and closedthe door, leaving us alone, except for the officer and the hotelmanager. Hinge, conscious of his dishabille, had retreated at the momentof her entrance. 

"My aunt has been robbed, John, " she said, looking at me with wonderingeyes-- "robbed of forty thousand pounds!"

"And I, " I answered, "am the thief, and here is the money. "

"You the thief!" She fixed me with her eyes that have always seemed likestars of fate to me, and I saw a shadow of dreadful pain and wonder onher face. "You the thief!" she repeated. 

"Yes, " I answered; "I stole this money from Lady Rollinson five minutesago. " What with the certainty of triumph in my purpose, the surety ofbeing immediately understood, and the joy of seeing her so unexpectedlyagain, I laughed outright. "I hand you back your own, dear. Take chargeof it till you have heard my story. Sit down, and I will tell youeverything. "

"Is this your property, mum?" the officer asked, setting both hands onthe bag as I set it on the table. 

"I believe so, " said Violet. "I gave the sum of forty thousand poundsinto the charge of my aunt, Lady Rollinson, yesterday morning?"

"Then of course, " said the policeman, "you give the person in charge?"

Violet looked at me with dancing eyes, and never in all my life haveI known such pride and joy as that glance afforded me. There I stoodbefore her, taken red-handed in the act, handcuffed, and openlyconfessing with my own lips my own deed; but any doubt of me wasimpossible to her true heart. I sounded at that moment the superbloyalty of her nature, and my pride in her seemed to lift me intoheaven. 

"In charge?" she asked, with a little tender, mirthful tremor in hervoice. "No, I shall not give the gentleman in charge. Tell me what itmeans, John. "

I told her first, briefly and rapidly, the story of poor old Ruffiano'sbetrayal, and how I had let Brunow go. Then I told her of Hinge'srecognition of Sacovitch, of the meeting in Richmond Park, of whatHinge had heard at the cottage; and, finally, of what we had both heardtogether. I had called for Hinge at the very beginning of my narrative, and by the time I came to his share in it he was present, hastilymuffled in an overcoat, and divided between a desire to stand immovablyat attention and a contradictory attempt furtively to smooth his hair, which rayed out all round his head in disorderly spikes, and gave him alook of having been frightened out of his life. 

"But why, " she asked me, "did you take such an extraordinary action? Whynot communicate with me?"

Then I had to tell her the story of that wretched Constance, which wouldhave been an awkward thing to do under any circumstances, but wasmade more awkward still by the presence of the hotel manager and theconstable. I went through it, however, without flinching, and I told hermost of what has been set down in the latter part of these pages, though of course with less detail than I have given here. She scarcelyinterrupted me by a word, and when I had done she drew her purse fromher pocket, and taking from it a sovereign, tendered the coin to theconstable. 

"You have done your duty, officer, " she said. "But you understand thatyour services will not be required any longer. "

The constable took the coin and pouched it. 

"Do I understand, mum, " he asked, with a droll stolidity, "that you'resatisfied with the prisoner's story?"

"Yes, " returned Violet; "I am quite satisfied. You will not be wantedany more. "

The man took out a key from his pocket, and unlocked the handcuffswhich confined my wrists. He said not a word, but looked at me in amute admiration and wonder which spoke volumes. He and the hotel managerwithdrew together, and I sent Hinge to bed. 

"Suppose, " said Violet, "that I had been away, as you thought I was, youwould have gone to prison. "

"Not for long, " I answered. "I should have told my story, and you wouldhave believed it all the same. "

"I should have believed it all the same, " she said. "Do you know, John, I should think myself and the whole world all mad together rather thanbelieve that you were not true and honest. " A second later she laughedand blushed divinely. "As if there were any need of saying that!" shecried, and then and there she gave me the first kiss I had not had topray for. 

She had endured the whole strange position until then with the pluckand steadfastness of a man, but there she broke down and cried a little, realizing all the perils which had beset her father, and his strangeescape from it. 

"We will take the money ourselves, " she said, when she had recoveredfrom this natural emotion. "There shall be no further danger of the poordarling being trapped by those wicked Austrians if we can help it. "

And there I saw an inspiration, and hailed it with delight, and tookimmediate advantage of it. 

"My darling, " I said, "we can't travel together by ourselves, andLady Rollinson, I am afraid, is hardly likely to consent to be myfellow-traveller for some time to come. "

"I hadn't thought of that, " she answered. "Of course we can't traveltogether. But will you go alone, or shall I? I could take my maid, and Iam used to travelling. "

"Let us go together, my dear, " I urged her. "Let us never be partedagain. Let us give no more chances to well-meaning but foolish oldladies to divide us. "

She put me aside, and found a host of reasons; but though I am notstrong in argument, I managed to combat and confute them all, and shesaid "Yes" at last. And so I not only turned burglar in her cause, but won my wife by it; for within five days we were married by speciallicense. 

Thus this queer story comes to an end, or, rather, like all the storiesI have read and heard, glides off into a new one. Everybody knows thehistory of the last glorious war for Italian independence. I was in thethick of it, I thank Heaven, and so was the Count Rossano, and so wasgood old Hinge; and while we marched and fought, my dear Violet tookher share; for there was no ministering hand in the camp hospitals moreconstant or more tender, no voice and face better loved and known thanhers. We are old folks now, and have lived to prove each other as onlymarried people can; but the greatest pride I have is that at this hourshe is no more assured of the righteousness of my intent than she was atthe instant when she found me with confession on my lips and every signof guilt openly displayed about me. 

Love is a great treasure. Truth and loyalty are among man's greatestpossessions. But the truest solace to the human soul is perfect trust. 

THE END

By DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY. 

Mr. Christie Murray is a kindly satirist who evidently delights inthe analysis of character, and who deals shrewdly but gently with thefrailties of our nature. . . . There is a spontaneity in his pen which isextremely fascinating. --Saturday Review, London. 

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