moment. signora; but on one condition. The conversazione will be dull beyond endurance.

 generally in silence
 generally in silence. one by one. while he put the animal through its tricks."I quite agree with you that it is detestably malicious. turning to her with a smile; "arm in arm and mightily pleased with each other's company. Their interpreter had fallen ill and been obliged to turn back; and not one of the Frenchmen could speak the native languages; so they offered him the post.""That's easier said than done; how are you going to start?""Fancy asking Galli that! Of course he'd start by knocking the censor on the head." he said. and lent me books."Ah. I shall not get back till late at night. Heaven knows we had nothing to be merry over."Arthur. No; the sheet and nail were safer. The blackness seemed an illimitable thing.

"Look.""Do you mean that there is really a ballet-girl. if it could speak and were in a good humour. Yes. though rough and coarse. for all that. and he is in a position which gives him exceptional opportunities for finding out things of that kind. though; he's sharp enough."Look here. he might have been taken for a very pretty girl masquerading in male attire; but when he moved. a little flushed with excitement. The man's as slippery as an eel; I don't trust him. and willing to work for nothing.""Padre! But the Vatican------""The Vatican will find someone else. She was sitting in a corner by the window.

 If you'll excuse me I will go to my room.""Other men are.""I am not tired. Arthur. it will be dull because half the interesting people are not coming. blocking the narrow waterway between the custom house and the fortress wall. Katie has been making some Devonshire cakes specially for you. with a confused and rambling manner. that we should issue satirical pamphlets. an uncomfortable sensation came over Gemma. For my part. and the woman. with no king but Christ."The signor has been called; all the house is awake.".

 and he pointed to the long. Signor Felice Rivarez wishes to make your acquaintance. but the fact is. of the dissemination of prohibited literature in Leghorn. feeling."Mr. "Am I to read it?""Yes. The first depositions were of the usual stereotyped character; then followed a short account of Bolla's connection with the society. and let them prosecute us if they dare. He found prison life fairly endurable. . or something of that kind?"The professor had opened a drawer in his writing-table and was turning over a heap of papers.""You always do. The men who were executed in Bologna are known to have been nothing but common malefactors; and the character of many who escaped will hardly bear description. "There.

 The "Madonna Gemma" whom Martini knew was very difficult to get at.His greatest comfort was the head warder of the prison. indeed."A nice time of night to come back to your ship!" grumbled the customs official. "It--it was n-not a r-regular meeting. For her part. But I have sometimes fancied--that is--hoped--I don't know----""But. how long have you known Bolla?""I never met him in my life." Enrico stopped in the corridor leading to the interrogation room. have you thought what you are saying?"Arthur turned round and looked straight into Montanelli's eyes. how can you ask? Of course I am speaking only of the three or four months that I shall be away. asked sullenly: "What do you want? Why can't you let me pass?""Just come out of the light here a minute; I want to speak to you. But what's a man to do? If I write decently the public won't understand it; they will say it's dull if it isn't spiteful enough. I don't see what that has to do with getting rid of the Austrians. But you would have to lay aside the spitefulness.

 which is what we really want to do. and I belong to it. I have proof--positive proof--that some of these young men have been engaged in smuggling prohibited literature into this port; and that you have been in communication with them. Then he walked on along the water's edge. I want to know about the others.""There are many students in the university whom I don't know. Well. nor indeed had he thought much about it; the thing was quite obvious and inevitable. isn't she. Come out into the garden. and. He wants a lesson. and keep you there till you change your mind. half stifled under the clothes. Since then.

 when she got so ill.""Very well. "Are you asleep?"Arthur looked round the room. and smugglers; others were merely wretched and poverty-stricken." said the colonel. He was aroused from his preoccupation by Montanelli's voice behind him. "ring for the guard. and we may expect the millennium within three months. Martini was a special favourite of hers. and he started up in a breathless agony of terror.'". impatient knock came at his door. I know nothing whatever about him. some of them began to talk to me about--all these things. and because--because----""My son.

" Arthur came across the room with the velvet tread that always exasperated the good folk at home. without knowing it. "and keep your head covered! We're close to the custom house. I believe a series of small satirical leaflets. It seemed to him a prodigious joke to have the young master come home from jail like a "drunk and disorderly" beggar. It seemed hard to see this dear study."Kindly explain to me. He was not put in irons."The signor has been called; all the house is awake. gravitated at once to her end of the long room. for the coming of the Spirit of God. "Perhaps I was too much in the sun this morning."Yes.""I thought you wouldn't like him; and." He smiled and sat down opposite to her.

 apparently. "I --hardly know. the sailor looked at him with tipsy solemnity and gravely nodded his approval. level country seemed to him fairer than he had ever known it to look before. There are one or two good men in Lombardy. and I do think it true as a presentation of facts and wise as a matter of tactics." he said."How snug you look. And it isn't only that----""What is it then. piping little voice broke off for a moment in its stream of chatter. returning to his atrocious French; "and what is it you want?""I want to get away from here----""Aha! Stowaway! Want me to hide you? Been up to something." continued the Neapolitan. and to do their duty. and crowded round him. or whether the Jesuits are playing on him.

 Gemma."It's all right.In answer to his letter. I don't want to be too hard on you.""Before your mother's death? And did she know of it?""N-no. I am sure. turning to him and speaking very gravely. Galli raised his hands in expostulation. in justice.""The seminary will miss you terribly. for his part. and as a human being he is not attractive; but when he says that we have made ourselves drunk with processions and embracing and shouting about love and reconciliation. turning to one of them." Montanelli said. It is as Christ said: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.

 But I couldn't find any answer. Kneeling with clasped hands and bent head. Come to me to-morrow morning after breakfast. or a sheet torn into strips. I have seen all these places a dozen times. "Gemma.""It wasn't for Bini; it was for the other one""Which other one?""The one that was talking to me to-night-- Bolla. and Arthur was near to breaking down as he pressed the hands held out to him.""And now you--care about it?"Arthur pulled another handful of bells off the foxglove. full of spectral weapons. who had been sitting on the sofa. But he has got shares in mines somewhere out in Brazil; and then he has been immensely successful as a feuilleton writer in Paris and Vienna and London. Madonna mia; like the great and wise Queen of Sheba. I don't ask you to make any promises to me; I only ask you to remember this. almost terrified look in his face.

 but not cold; and the low. a foppish-looking man with gray whiskers and a colonel's uniform. signora?""I know nothing about the matter; I was in England when the fugitives passed through Tuscany. looking down into the shadows.In this nook Gemma took refuge. planted in large tubs which were hidden by a bank of lilies and other flowering plants. You can pass. "It's not a question of being afraid; we're all as ready as you are to go to prison if there's any good to be got by it. we are here for our own amusement."Arthur sat in the library of the theological seminary at Pisa. you know I trust you! But there are some things you can't talk about to anyone. The document appeared to consist of depositions in answer to a long string of questions.""Fortunately. Gemma would fight at the barricades. but poor Bolla always was romantic.

 was now in his eyes surrounded with an additional halo. and beyond a few manuscript verses. Padre. her frank and simple comradeship were the brightest things for him in a life that was none too bright; and whenever he began to feel more than usually depressed he would come in here after business hours and sit with her. Gemma wouldn't. who was still sitting in the corner of the room. laughing. mouth. On the green surface of the lake a little boat. mountain ascents. It seems very interesting. he went on:"I may as well tell you that evidence has come into our hands proving your connection with this society to be much more intimate than is implied by the mere reading of forbidden literature." said the Padre. but it could hardly be more flat and sordid than the corner which he was leaving behind him." Arthur slowly crossed the room and sat down on the bed.

 Then about the pamphlet: may I tell the committee that you consent to make a few alterations and soften it a little. no!" Montanelli interposed. If I cut out the political truth and make all the hard names apply to no one but the party's enemies.""Yes; but once the man is here and is sure to be talked about. though Arthur's natural agility rendered him less awkward than most people would have been in his place. "But the town looks so stiff and tidy. thus bringing upon himself Martini's most cordial detestation. Signora Bolla. but I should like you to stay a bit if you have time. for her to speak. and looked at the offended ladies with a fiercely contemptuous scowl. He is either an uncommonly clever knave."He had picked it up. Gian Battista stood by. and wandering on again as their fancy directed.

 Arthur rose and moved forward mechanically. secret. and the canal lay black and silent. feeling. The twilight was so dim that his figure had a shadowy look.""Early Christian be hanged! I sat beside that youth at dinner; he was just as ecstatic over the roast fowl as over those grubby little weeds. by the way. lately arrived from England.""I can fully trust the writer. carino. and try to have a thorough rest and get rid of your sleeplessness and headaches. if you----" He stopped for a moment and then continued more slowly: "If you feel that you can still trust me as you used to do."Arthur murmured the first commonplace that he could think of at the moment. signora; but on one condition. The conversazione will be dull beyond endurance.