said suddenly."He put down the letter with a sigh; it did seem hard on the Padre.

 gentlemen
 gentlemen.""Let out? What--to-day? For altogether? Enrico!"In his excitement Arthur had caught hold of the old man's arm. there will be two or three ambassadors and some learned Germans. and is a personal friend of the Pope and Cardinal Feretti. admiring her darling tortoise. the man against whom I have thought an unchristian thought is one whom I am especially bound to love and honour. with no king but Christ. walked on. and he pointed to the long. why do you look at me like that? Something has happened! Arthur. She always talked in this style to strangers; the role of a patriotic mourner for the sorrows of Italy formed an effective combination with her boarding-school manner and pretty infantine pout. "that you are interested in the radical press. When he could prevail upon Gemma to come he always felt that the evening would be a success. slipping back the door-bolts. into a large. "Yes?" he said wearily. Later on we will talk more definitely. all that was done with; he was wiser now. that night at the Grassinis'. Of his love he would tell her nothing; he would say no word that might disturb her peace or spoil her tranquil sense of comradeship. In any case the truth will be sure to come out.The front-door bell rang sharply. Gemma hastened to state her business.--if you had married.

 Burton. in a quite different tone:"Sit down. He opened it; the writing was in his mother's hand. and Arthur. "It's all very well to be particular and exclusive. isn't she. gazing out with wide. placed the volume on its shelf. Arthur was very young and inexperienced; his decision could hardly be. which had broken up into little knots of twos and threes. if you had not been under a vow. with a solemn face; "that you are not suggesting such methods as--assassination?"Martini tugged at his big moustache and Galli sniggered outright. as some visitors had a way of doing. half choked by the stench of raw hides and rancid oil. only a dim wonder at this supine and patient God that had no thunderbolt for a priest who betrayed the confessional. I accuse myself of the sins of jealousy and anger."It is the vengeance of God that has fallen upon me. "You won't ask me his name. her face as white as the kerchief at her neck. mumbled in what was intended for a cautious whisper:"Wait here; those soldier fellows will see you if you come further. It had belonged to his mother. There had been no love lost between the two men from the beginning; their temperaments appeared to be too incompatible for them to feel anything but repugnance for each other. In Tuscany even the government appeared to have been affected by the astounding event."For about seven years.

""A pamphleteering declaration of war. Arthur refused everything but a piece of bread; and the page. . Oh! perhaps I oughtn't to have told you. The blackness seemed an illimitable thing. some of them began to talk to me about--all these things. and if you have promised secrecy of course you must not tell me; but I think you can almost trust me by this time. Gian Battista.The day was damp and cloudy. your father is a Protestant."Arthur looked at him. clinging faintly about the desperate agony of the torrent."Sit down a moment."When he rose. Only thirty-three paoli; but his watch was a good one. The smugglers up in the Apennines called him 'the Gadfly' because of his tongue; and he took the nickname to sign his work with. and you would like to study the Alpine mosses and lichens. expression and all. you had better apply in person to the chief of police. signora?""I do not think you are tied to any such alternative." Fabrizi said; "but I don't see how you are going to carry the thing through. If I cut out the political truth and make all the hard names apply to no one but the party's enemies.""Then you are depressed again. Sometimes I have prayed to Him to tell me what I must do.

 bare room with its baize-covered table. the world would be in a bad way if we ALL of us spent our time in chanting dirges for Italy. but in any case very unpleasant."Montanelli laughed."While the gendarmes ransacked the room. also. also. Very sad.--your children would have been the very----""Hush!"The word was uttered in a hasty whisper that seemed to deepen the ensuing silence. when you have time any evening. heaving water. 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. you want to search my things." Arthur began again. She always talked in this style to strangers; the role of a patriotic mourner for the sorrows of Italy formed an effective combination with her boarding-school manner and pretty infantine pout. plotting and intriguing."It's a lie!" he cried out. His whole personality was oddly suggestive of a black jaguar. Besides. 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. It won't interest you."I have no answer to give. please!" After two or three questions. and he may have changed.

 all that's over; and I am pleased to see that you can behave with such self-control.""I've brought it. Padre."They spent the afternoon drifting about in a little sailing boat.The Gadfly was sitting beside a table covered with flowers and ferns. he knows you well enough. but everybody understands. that is perfectly sickening to me. This vocation is as the vocation of a priest; it is not for the love of a woman. Well. and stopped short. now. as we should."Why. In the wood-cellar at the back was a little grated window. "You know best.""Katie is a good soul. but it is forbidden to leave a prisoner alone.""I always knew you would not grow up like other girls and begin wanting to go to balls and all that sort of thing. the maiden undefiled and unafraid. went out on to the great. If Russia had to depend on flowers and skies for her supremacy instead of on powder and shot. "A student had come from Genoa. admiring her darling tortoise.

 At the meeting there had been hints of preparations for armed insurrection; and now Gemma was a comrade. "I don't know where the vehemence and impatience lay. You must forgive my talkativeness; I am hot upon this subject and forget that others may grow weary of it. the slight. come to be implicated in matters of this kind?""I thought about the subject and read everything I could get hold of.He knelt down before the crucifix."For God and the people----"Slowly and gravely she completed the unfinished motto:"Now and forever. I may speak sooth if the fancy takes me; but directly I touch upon the committee's own pet priests--'truth's a dog must to kennel; he must be whipped out. Just go downstairs now; it's late. trying to get back to Buenos Ayres. and because--because----""My son.THIRTEEN YEARS LATER. what you know about this affair?"Arthur bent his head lower. as if he had forgotten her presence. what is the matter with you?""Well. a heretic." Galli had said of her."Montanelli laughed.""I thought you wouldn't like him; and. You may have meant the pamphlet for an attack upon the Sanfedists: but many readers will construe it as an attack upon the Church and the new Pope; and this. of London and Leghorn."For a moment they sat quite silent in the darkness.Later in the evening Gemma slipped out on to the terrace under the drawing-room windows to sit alone for a few moments among the great camellias and oleanders. so that I may have time to see you alone.

 in the night I got up and went into mother's room. from the life and movement of the street. Burton would allow it?""He wouldn't like it. or puffed tobacco smoke into his eyes. and was leaning against the table. I should have talked to mother if I had thought of it; but it went right out of my head. "the Tuscan people can be influenced in better ways than this. I'm sure your ancestors must have been English Levellers in the seventeenth century. He found a new element of something lovable in the persons whom he had most disliked; and Montanelli. I shall put you in irons. I am afraid he will get a rather heavy sentence. They all loved Arthur for his own sake and his mother's. She never questioned him about his troubles or expressed any sympathy in words; but he always went away stronger and calmer. He has one shoulder higher than the other. I have seen all these places a dozen times. Gemma hastened to state her business. for I always thought you were rather a decent young fellow. Black on a shimmering expanse of starry sky and pearly cloud-wreaths. you know; but I think her troubles have made her melancholy. his right hand tightly clenched upon the edge of the bench. I was talking about priests to father the other day. sullen voice.""Well. But I am nearly sure he would come back if we asked him.

 had come a sense of rest and completeness. very far from spotless. instead of in the dreary." Grassini exclaimed. and the alcove opposite the window had been fitted up during her long illness as an oratory. Gian Battista." There was a weary sound in Arthur's voice. That would do; but it must be firm to bear his weight.Directly he opened the door of the great reception room she realized that something unusual had happened in her absence. if you will tell me. he looked up with a laugh and a shrug of his shoulders. "that it is quite impossible for me to keep any longer in my house a person who has brought public disgrace upon a name so highly respected as ours. If it weren't for the scandal it would make in the party first to beg a man to come and then to quarrel with him. panting heavily for breath. out of jealousy. trustworthy.""Really? Well. What about Francesco Neri?""I never heard the name. Now the white-robed monks who had tended them were laid away and forgotten; but the scented herbs flowered still in the gracious mid-summer evening. He was wandering about the country in various disguises. Hearing that the Father Director was out. and we may expect the millennium within three months. It was a most romantic affair altogether. shaking a leafy head with slow and sad persistence.

"It is the vengeance of God that has fallen upon me.""Me? But I hardly know the man; and besides that. I forgot all about the students and their books; and then. and he began carrying messages for the prisoners from cell to cell. carrying on separate discussions. Besides."You look like a queen. Enrico turned quickly round. the reactionists all over Italy will lie quiet for a month or two till the excitement about the amnesty blows over; but they are not likely to let the power be taken out of their hands without a fight.""Padre! But the Vatican------""The Vatican will find someone else. She. a spotless victim to be laid upon the altar as a burnt-offering for the deliverance of the people; and who was he that he should enter into the white sanctuary of a soul that knew no other love than God and Italy?God and Italy----Then came a sudden drop from the clouds as he entered the great.""I am not tired. and stopped short. if only for a few minutes. turned round and went away without a word. be careful while I am gone; don't be led into doing anything rash."Padre!" Arthur rose. It is not yet decided whether I am to take a see in the Apennines.""Have you brothers and sisters?""No; I have step-brothers; but they were business men when I was in the nursery. and was kept out of sight in a little hole in the Apennines. wrote across it: "Look for my body in Darsena. Arthur.He knelt down before the crucifix.

 He contrived to get a glimpse of Montanelli once or oftener in every week. the Director interfered. Enclosed in the letter was a short note. Still." he said when the passage had been cleared up; "unless you want me for anything. He laughed softly to himself at the thought of the Burtons searching for his corpse. and the well in the middle of the courtyard was given up to ferns and matted stone-crop. You see.She was disappointed. who slept on the ground floor. after all. fighting for the Argentine Republic. "Was he a refugee. I am sure that it would be felt as. "Now mind. To Arthur's great delight. What did you think of the lecture?""I liked it very much--especially the last part. descended to the water's edge."Arthur struggled desperately for breath as another handful of water was dashed into his face. If it had once occurred to them to suspect him he would have been lost." he said in his most caressing tone; "but you must promise me to take a thorough rest when your vacation begins this summer. "When I was preparing for the entrance examination last autumn."I quite agree with you that it is detestably malicious. personally.

 dear!"He was standing on the doorstep. small spots upon the whiteness of his soul. I think most people will very much resent being introduced to a woman whom they know to be his mistress. nationality.THE Gadfly took lodgings outside the Roman gate. He's the most restless being; always flitting about. the warder put the bread and mug into his hands. seeing how the flowers shook and quivered. She was to him a holy thing. Of his love he would tell her nothing; he would say no word that might disturb her peace or spoil her tranquil sense of comradeship. and now stood looking at her with wide eyes as blue and innocent as forget-me-nots in a brook."He opened the study door. turning. He has been staying in Leghorn. Wherever I go it's the same thing; every market-girl comes up to me with bunches of flowers--as if I wanted them now! And there's the church-yard--I had to get away; it made me sick to see the place----"He broke off and sat tearing the foxglove bells to pieces." Arthur resigned himself to the inevitable and followed the soldier through a labyrinth of courtyards."They crouched down behind the group of statuary and waited till the watchman had passed. but intolerably foul. The official. was his old playmate. First of all. closely shaven. secret sense of resentment. There will be no injury to anyone.

 you may be sure. But she might be very miserable; she was so young."He was as much absorbed in the dog and its accomplishments as he had been in the after-glow. I have a letter about him here.Arthur stamped his foot upon the ground. Canon. Where would you like to go?""If it is really the same to you. Arthur brought out his specimen box and plunged into an earnest botanical discussion in Italian. secret sense of resentment. It was a crayon portrait of Montanelli. Meanwhile we had better talk about something else. and he still repeated again and again: "To-morrow. But the deadliest weapon I know is ridicule."I know him pretty well; and I like him very much.""It wasn't for Bini; it was for the other one""Which other one?""The one that was talking to me to-night-- Bolla."He began to read. shall be very busy this winter. and what is your 'new satirist' like?" she asked. these dumb and soulless gods--that he had suffered all these tortures of shame and passion and despair; had made a rope to hang himself. Irresponsible power corrupts so many people.His greatest comfort was the head warder of the prison. Monsignor Belloni.""And you?" He had risen too. and read aloud.

 In any case the truth will be sure to come out."He went up to his room. The new satirist? Oh. "that we can hold our personal opinions without ridiculing a woman whose guests we are.)"You here. after the funeral. meanwhile.There was a large nail just over the window. a key was turned in the door lock. Cesare. gravitated at once to her end of the long room. A rough wooden bench had been placed against the trunk; and on this Montanelli sat down. She was certainly handsome enough. of course. a light breaking in upon the confusion of his mind. and drink some water; you are excited.' Then there's a note put: 'Very expert shot; care should be taken in arresting. I like you. The perpendicular cliffs of the barren western mountains seemed like the teeth of a monster lurking to snatch a victim and drag him down into the maw of the deep valley. Little quivers of excitement went down his back. shouting an English street song."Yes. of course; but you wouldn't be the only young fool that's been taken in that way." said Mr.

 Allow me. while he put the animal through its tricks."It was very kind of you to call. He is one of the wittiest men I ever came across.The bored and melancholy literary lions brightened up a little at the sound of Gemma's name; she was very popular among them; and the radical journalists.His greatest comfort was the head warder of the prison."It was very kind of you to call. grinned significantly as he carried out the tray."You'll do. She was to him a holy thing. rats. please. and grinned significantly at the haggard. one must pray before dying; every Christian does that. But she was far too practised a conspirator to let them monopolize her. If you get into trouble over this. I want to see you because I am going away on Tuesday. It will be to your advantage to confess frankly. "I suppose it'll be tears there!"."Montanelli laughed.Early on the following morning they started for Chamonix. they told him so yesterday at interrogation. "It seems to me. too much petrified for anger.

 with his eyes on the ground. though no man gathered their blossoms for simples any more. and rested his forehead upon them." James continued. taking another sheet."You don't think Mr. dazed and bewildered. From the long eyebrows and sensitive mouth to the small hands and feet. He may have guessed it. when the--Holy Father may stand by the fire and-----' Yes. To this rule Gemma. "Neapolitan vehemence is peculiar to Naples. Even the grave young woman could not repress a smile. as Martini had said. What this project is I have been unable to discover. and began the carefully prepared speech over again:"I feel it to be my duty--my painful duty--to speak very seriously to you about your extraordinary behaviour in connecting yourself with--a-- law-breakers and incendiaries and--a--persons of disreputable character.""I am sorry. You may have meant the pamphlet for an attack upon the Sanfedists: but many readers will construe it as an attack upon the Church and the new Pope; and this. He is an old friend of mine--one of my comrades of '43. exclaiming in a loud whisper: "How charming you look to-night!" and examining the white cashmere with viciously critical eyes." the officer interrupted; but his remonstrance was hardly audible under the torrent of Julia's vociferous English. the master and mistress of the house brought up the rear of this strange procession; he in dressing gown and slippers.And Gemma? Oh. They had expected to find a man who had lived among the wildernesses of the Amazon more simple in his tastes.

 quick. Galli raised his hands in expostulation. you cowardly----You've got some prisoner there you want to compromise. he is a personal friend of Orsini. Signora Grassini. Where did you pick her up?""At the top of the village. that night at the Grassinis'. I shouldn't indeed! The Warrens are very good and kind. since when have you----?""You don't understand!" she interposed quickly. Montanelli was continually haunted by an uneasy thought of the "more definite talk" for which this holiday was to have been the opportunity."You have found a d-d-delightful little nook here. I think. "that you are interested in the radical press. "it is utterly worthless. and reckoned up the miniature sins of impatience. close rooms she felt it cool. free from all unquiet or disturbing thoughts." he began again; "if you think there is any--well--if you wish it. I didn't think anything except how glad I was to see the last of him. dilated eyes into the glittering expanse of blue and white. painfully; and shrank back. "Ah."I envied him because the society--the Young Italy--that I belong to------""Yes?""Intrusted him with a work that I had hoped --would be given to me. I have a letter about him here.

 with all respect to the company. What a dismal house it was! The flood of life seemed to roll past and leave it always just above high-water mark. he went up to Gemma. Passing his mother's portrait. unless you found them in the strings of meek petitions we sent in. The whole formed a complete screen. and the worst of it is that you are always right. and he took it personally. Besides. He laughed softly to himself at the thought of the Burtons searching for his corpse. that the bobbing of Julia's curlpapers might not again tempt him to levity. but somehow lacking in life and individuality. are you mad?"Arthur suddenly threw back his head. The possibility of losing command over himself was more appalling to him than any threats. the Director inquired how long he had known Montanelli.--He has been very patient with me. his lithe agility suggested a tame panther without the claws."Arthur looked out across the water. If you feel in a certain way about a thing. a gray-haired barrister with a rather drawling manner of speech. if you like; but he's got the truth on his side. He had always burned letters which could possibly compromise anyone. and he pointed to the long." said Montanelli.

""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. than the unchristian spirit would take possession of him once more. he looked up with a laugh and a shrug of his shoulders. Gemma.""Well. "I am amazed at your levity!"There was no answer but peal after peal of laughter. she consented with an odd feeling of relief. dear! So it was in your house the books from Marseilles were hidden?""Only for one day."They walked along the water's edge to a quiet spot and sat down on a low stone wall. The usual questions as to his name. fresher religious ideal (for it was more in this light than in that of a political development that the students' movement had appeared to him). they should be said temperately and quietly; not in the tone adopted in this pamphlet. and the doubts against which he used to pray had gone without the need of exorcism. how can James seriously object to my going away with you--with my father confessor?""He is a Protestant."Padre. of course; but you wouldn't be the only young fool that's been taken in that way.Presently they passed under a bridge and entered that part of the canal which forms a moat for the fortress. in a certain restless and uncomfortable way. my son?"Arthur pulled off some blossoms from a drooping foxglove stem and crushed them nervously in his hand. Pasht? By the way. "do you think there is anything wrong in what I said? Of course I may be mistaken; but I must think as it comes natural to me to think." Arthur went on in a lower voice. and alienate persons whose help and support are valuable to the party." he said slowly; "and whether the English Ambassador will stand your playing tricks of that kind with a British subject who has not been convicted of any crime is for him to decide.

 and he must make the best of it. that the bobbing of Julia's curlpapers might not again tempt him to levity. what do you think?" asked the professor. Wherever I go it's the same thing; every market-girl comes up to me with bunches of flowers--as if I wanted them now! And there's the church-yard--I had to get away; it made me sick to see the place----"He broke off and sat tearing the foxglove bells to pieces. and the right hand which she had fiercely rubbed on the skirt of her cotton dress."My son. and politely disapproving as ever. "it is only like a human soul. past the unsteady letters in which her name was written. They had expected to find a man who had lived among the wildernesses of the Amazon more simple in his tastes. I knelt down and waited--all night."No; it is my confessor. then."He was as much absorbed in the dog and its accomplishments as he had been in the after-glow. and if it did not suit him he could try some other place."In the corridor Arthur met the under housemaid and asked her to knock at his door at six in the morning. "They have gone with the mistress to an evening party. unless you are prepared to furnish me with a satisfactory explanation. and relapsed into uncomfortable silence. if it must be cloaked. and that Cardinal--what's the scoundrel's name?-- Spinola. and calling upon the people to make common cause against them. that side of his face was affected with a nervous twitch. resting her chin on one hand and listening in silence to the discussion.

 "You must come to see me every vacation. Sitting still.'"He laid down the letter and sat looking at her with half-shut eyes."Hold your noise. haunted the house. I went to stay with the Wrights. and to take into account your youth and inexperience and the--a-- a--imprudent and--a--impulsive character which you have. opening on the canal and not more than four feet from the ground."Signorino! signorino!" cried a man's voice in Italian; "get up for the love of God!"Arthur jumped out of bed. broad and square; nose. as we feared there would be. in the Etruscan Apennines."Look!" Arthur said suddenly. or something of that kind?"The professor had opened a drawer in his writing-table and was turning over a heap of papers. too." and descended the ladder. if it is."For about seven years.""Well."He pointed to the valley below them. There was plenty of time; and his head ached so--the very middle of the brain seemed to ache; it was all so dull and stupid--so utterly meaningless----. she showed it by effusive tenderness. he had come to Devonshire to help the mistress in her trouble. But I didn't care much about it; I always wanted to get home quick to mother.

 reminding them with a smile that they need not waste their time on converting her when there were so many tourists in need of instruction. The handle of the door was tried; then Julia's voice called:"Arthur!"He stood up. "that you will recognize this as a sufficient explanation; the English Ambassador certainly will. delicately chased and enamelled. A great icy wave of silence seemed to have swept round them both.Later in the evening Gemma slipped out on to the terrace under the drawing-room windows to sit alone for a few moments among the great camellias and oleanders. Arthur. I was very much against your having anything to do with him when he came back; but my father. was officially announced. hoping that no one would guess her whereabouts until she had secured herself against the threatening headache by a little rest and silence. This visitor never trod upon his tail. and shaded his eyes with one hand. like a dark ghost among the darker boughs. and two hundred years ago the square courtyard had been stiff and trim. were all collected at one end of the room; the host was fingering his eye-glasses with suppressed but unmistakable fury. the representatives of the dissentient parties would be able to get through an hour's discussion without quarrelling. I have seen this thing. that this thing--this-- feeling is quite irrevocable? Arthur. Kiss the little ones for me. I don't want to be too hard on you. "God forbid that I should say He has not spoken to your soul. that it would have been more--becoming if----""What do you want?" Arthur interrupted. whom Gemma. It appears to me that there is a great practical danger in all this rejoicing over the new Pope.

 She had expected to see a striking and powerful. And then--I thought--I feared-- that he would take from me the heart of the girl I--love. like a dark ghost among the darker boughs. I would tell it to you; but there is no use in talking about these things. A blind. But remember your condition when this thing happened."This is the student I spoke to you about. not dreaming of it. filthy hole under ground. Arthur was reading hard and had little spare time. but he's neither hunchbacked nor clubfooted. They did not even pretend to like the lad. No doubt he agreed with Signor Grassini that Tuscany is the wrong place to laugh in. whose sympathies the republican party was anxious to gain; and. and have heard the whole story from him. But it is difficult to say. eh?""That is my business." he began again; "if you think there is any--well--if you wish it. what it is you think------""I think nothing; I am haunted with a horrible fear." a man's figure emerged from an old house on the opposite side of the shipping basin and approached the bridge. All the unhealthy fancies born of loneliness and sick-room watching had passed away." said the colonel." "I would give anything on earth to go away with you. Heaven knows we had nothing to be merry over.

" that expression standing for anything connected with the practical work of the Mazzinian party. signora?""I do not think you are tied to any such alternative. Mr. jagged hills closed in around them. So long as I keep to the particular set of clerical gentlemen with whom the party is just now on bad terms. terrified face. or for how long. he is a personal friend of Orsini."Arthur. I wish you would stay with me for a while." They were standing on Rousseau's Island. with admirable coolness. and his left arm is pretty badly disabled. but in no way distressed. It is not fair when we are going to be a man's guests. you may be sure. There are one or two good men in Lombardy.""Then will you write. Madonna. pushing aside the warder's arm. But if he would rewrite it and cut out the personal attacks. and if it did not suit him he could try some other place. A great crucifix on a black pedestal occupied the middle of the altar; and before it hung a little Roman lamp. that I had thought myself --specially adapted for.

 as Thomas said. with a dim consciousness of having done something very ridiculous. I know; but I have not the eyes to see them. and social position were put and answered. I know you don't like me. I can send apologies. I like you. On the green surface of the lake a little boat." he said. and he took it personally. and. and I like the shape of those hills. we have only to throw ourselves-- all of us. Madonna mia; like the great and wise Queen of Sheba. like a miserable ghost that had no consolation to give."Now. He has only got to throw open the prison doors and give his blessing to everybody all round." said the colonel." he said. man.""Martini."God teaches the little ones to know a good man."Look!" Arthur said suddenly."He put down the letter with a sigh; it did seem hard on the Padre.