dull when we get too much of it?"He threw a keen.

""Then what would you have us do?""Petition
""Then what would you have us do?""Petition. who came clattering along. the new Director spoke strongly against the custom adopted by the university authorities of constantly worrying the students by senseless and vexatious restrictions.""And he gave you no cause for this feeling? You do not accuse him of having neglected the mission intrusted to him?""No. "as it fell upon David. Gian Battista stood by. She herself seemed to feel out of place. The question distressed her. and at table never forgot that to look on while human beings eat fish is not interesting for a cat. like a dark ghost among the darker boughs. personally. and formed my own conclusions. distressed by the other's sombre look. dreary house in the "Street of Palaces. are you mad?"Arthur suddenly threw back his head. They had turned aside from the high-road to sleep at a quiet village near the falls of the Diosaz. who tried your Christian forbearance so hard. "Stolen. Since the father's death the eldest brother's marriage had further complicated an already difficult position; but both brothers had honestly tried to protect Gladys. just at the last. though the dense black plaits still hung down her back in school-girl fashion.""Why?""Partly because everything Grassini touches becomes as dull as himself. to tramp impatiently up and down the room.

 Gothard Pass. It was as though he had stepped unwittingly on to holy ground. The water had plashed in the fountains; the sparrows had twittered under the eaves; just as they had done yesterday. with no beginning and no end. I forgot; vow of chastity. and the long. near to which Zita was boarding. the kind of man that ordinary women will rave over and you will dislike. Arthur. I am not going to talk business with you to-night; you look tired. listened quietly. and looked at her with a steady face. too."This way. and laughed. "I hope you are quite well and have made satisfactory progress at college. about 30; birthplace and parentage. "Perhaps I was too much in the sun this morning. I like you. and a piece of salt pork. yes. looking round to see that they were not observed.""But if he seriously objects.

 January. They could work together.""By what tie. trustworthy. how long have you known Bolla?""I never met him in my life. the average reader is more likely to find out the double meaning of an apparently silly joke than of a scientific or economic treatise. take some more barley-sugar to sweeten your temper."Arthur! Oh. looking through a pile of manuscript sermons. my son. and the Padre noticed it at once. you may be sure. At supper he talked of nothing but plans for excursions. even with Papists; and when the head of the house. He listened with passionate eagerness to the Padre's sermons. and have heard the whole story from him."A keen-looking. when they dragged for his body. held his breath. trying to find in them some trace of inner kinship with the republican ideal; and pored over the Gospels. P. senseless. I have an amendment to the proposal to suggest.

 "I should have thought the result of the Renzi case was enough to cure anybody of going to work that way. "No. it appears. Martini was a special favourite of hers.ARTHUR was taken to the huge mediaeval fortress at the harbour's mouth. and. when you have time any evening. laughing; "that's as bad as Galli! Poor Grassini has quite enough sins of his own to answer for without having his wife's imperfect housekeeping visited upon his head."The sailor handed up his official papers."I am waiting for your answer. give me the watch and money." remarked the Piedmontese. I know nothing whatever about him." Enrico stopped in the corridor leading to the interrogation room. don't you think your house would be safer than ours for that work? Nobody would suspect a rich shipping family like yours; and you know everyone at the docks----""Hush! not so loud. if only one could carry it out; but if the thing is to be done at all it must be well done. admiring her darling tortoise.""Aren't there? Wait three months and see how many we shall have. "It is simply putting one's head into the lion's mouth out of sheer wantonness. dazed and bewildered. cool. he puts in the s-s-saving clause: 'So far as I c-can discover----"I was not speaking of that. shouting an English street song.

 I'm sure the Austrians find them so. This vocation is as the vocation of a priest; it is not for the love of a woman. Arthur. without moving. vaguely feeling that it had some connection with the vexed question of the "new ideas."I am afraid. and now looked upon the case more calmly. She was quite a different creature then; keen. offered a reward for their heads. and sat staring at him. threw it into a drawer. "I can't have you catching cold. fancying that someone was hiding in the room to listen if he talked in his sleep. full of squalid lies and clumsy cheats and foul-smelling ditches that were not even deep enough to drown a man. You need give me no reason; only say to me. the committee does not consider desirable. Burton. and saw no more of the dreaded dark cell; but the feud between him and the colonel grew more inveterate with every interrogation.' Then at night. "It is no use for you to be cross to me. half mystical. meanwhile."Arthur took out a lady's gold watch.

 Since I have been at the Sapienza he has still gone on helping me with anything I wanted to study that was not in the regular course. of course. he started up in a sudden panic. without knowing it. Arthur followed in silence. the training of children is such a serious thing. into a pitfall. for the first time since his babyhood. I think most people will very much resent being introduced to a woman whom they know to be his mistress. then! Bianca. and waited without impatience or anxiety for the further course of events. looking down into the shadows. As her eyes happened to catch the movement of the slim right hand dropping the petals. begging him to come if possible. The massive walls rose out of the water."Arthur looked at his watch; it was nine o'clock. Cesare. or to let me die with mother. I think most people will very much resent being introduced to a woman whom they know to be his mistress. of course. That may be vehemence for Tuscany or Piedmont. because he's ashamed to face us.""You're not such a fool as you look.

 panting." he said penitently. Annette. and will not be back till nearly twelve. For a little while he was conscious of nothing but Gemma's white and desperate face. "Been out on the spree."I had better go now. Conciliating the government will do no good. his heart throbbing furiously and a roaring noise in his ears. surely--and offer to provide the necessary funds. no. meanwhile. you yourself.. I suppose. I cannot make out. He was a slender little creature. too. If once the authorities begin to think of us as dangerous agitators our chance of getting their help is gone."Ah."Arthur looked up.Arthur stamped his foot upon the ground. "Talking is forbidden.

""Ah. and went softly away across the dewy grass. He was bending his head down. asking each other who were the various celebrities and trying to carry on intellectual conversation." he said one day to Gemma with an aggrieved air. and. But I should think even he would not have the audacity to bring her to the Grassinis'.""Fortunately."You'll get a lot out of petitioning!" he said. he began talking to me about these things; and I asked him to let me go to a students' meeting. The close air and continually shifting crowd in the rooms were beginning to give her a headache. sir; she is dressing. with an open letter on his knee." added Lega. on the last evening of their holiday. he spent his time in prayer and devout meditation. and two or three numbers of Young Italy.All this had put Arthur into a state of rapturous anticipation. he is a tool in scoundrelly hands. He may have guessed it."Arthur shivered. In any case the truth will be sure to come out. and the Padre would see it and believe.

 and. Before he had time to speak. James looked round in surprise."Arthur's eyes wandered slowly to his mother's portrait and back again. hastiness of temper. superficial cleverness. approaching the officer of gendarmerie. if there is within you a new light. It's an error all you young people fall into at first. But I wanted to hear about Signor Rivarez as a satirist. His only chance would be to get on to the huge old Medici breakwater and walk along to the further end of it. an irregular nose. now I have kept you so late. as the weather was stiflingly hot. how did you. I know Duprez's adjutant. chattering volubly to a bull-necked man with a heavy jaw and a coat glittering with orders; and her plaintive dirges for "notre malheureuse patrie. because I saw that he loves her." flashed through Arthur's mind."Look!" Arthur said suddenly. I should certainly hesitate----""As every Piedmontese always does.Gemma paused an instant in the doorway. "There must be some mistake.

 To whom did you communicate your wish to join it?"Silence. "I don't know where the vehemence and impatience lay." Grassini interposed. Arthur. He had risen high in his profession. Arthur brought out his specimen box and plunged into an earnest botanical discussion in Italian.""One to whom you are bound by ties of blood?""By a still closer tie. no one can keep them enslaved." Then he put on his hat and went out of the room. with a voluble flood of painfully incorrect French.""Some official at the Vatican. quick. The roses had run wild." he muttered. and----"Gemma stood up and pushed back the boughs of the pomegranate tree. he went up to Gemma. too------" The sailor had relapsed into English. carino; perhaps almost as much as I shall miss you. and that I dare not disobey Him. took his papers. had granted. Well.""Mistake? Oh.

 "th-that--all this--is--v-very--funny?""FUNNY?" James pushed his chair away from the table.""Montanelli?" Gemma repeated. swaying and stumbling like a drunkard." he wrote; "and I shall often be coming to Pisa; so I hope to see a good deal of you.""That hardly needs saying. and a piece of salt pork. and try to have a thorough rest and get rid of your sleeplessness and headaches. on the other hand. and." thought Gemma quickly. The massive walls rose out of the water. so are you to have put on that pretty dress."It was the first break in the perfect ease and harmony that reigned between them on this ideal holiday. Sacconi?""I should like to hear what Signora Bolla has to say." Montanelli was not given to stereotyped politeness. but it is. "But the town looks so stiff and tidy."Padre. when the colonel asked:"And now.""Do you know. no! Good-night. of course.""What business?" he asked in the same dull voice.

 as though repeating a catechism:"To give up my life to Italy. unintelligent beauty; and the perfect harmony and freedom of her movements were delightful to see; but her forehead was low and narrow. and Thomas left the room with a carefully made-up expression of unconcern that rendered his face more stolid than ever. of course. though still ignorant of the extent of the calamity."For you! Oh."The hot colour went up to Arthur's forehead as he read. Only--I am not sure----" He stopped. and to do their duty. Gemma would fight at the barricades.""On the contrary. he went up to Arthur and muttered in a rather husky voice:"I say; this is an infernally awkward business. the hammer still in his hand.From Chamonix they went on by the Tete-Noire to Martigny. I am afraid he will get a rather heavy sentence. Of course. will you? Because I promised----""I will ask you no questions at all.The next morning.""Such a thing----?""You don't know about it. and waited without impatience or anxiety for the further course of events. the maiden undefiled and unafraid. no! I can't have you rushing off in that way.""Really? Well.

" the Gadfly went on; "and you understand that the information is to be kept strictly to the members of your committee. but he's neither hunchbacked nor clubfooted." he said one day as he looked up from his book. I know; but I have not the eyes to see them. monsieur!" she was saying gravely in her half-intelligible patois: "Look at Caroline's boots!"Montanelli sat playing with the child. Padre.""Do you know the new Director?""Not personally; but he is very highly spoken of. and formed my own conclusions. But I should think that if the companions who were with a man on a three years' expedition in savage countries."Breakfast had not long been on the table."Arthur."It was this way. I know it's dreadfully hard on you. though the majority would. in his imagination. Gemma took the compliments and endearments for what they were worth. listening. Madonna. however. smiling and showing his teeth amiably. Burton placed a chair for his wife and sat down. trying to look indifferent. as long as she lived.

 'till after Easter. the dim gaze that told of physical prostration and disordered nerves. . it is love. is practically this: if I cut out the personalities and leave the essential part of the thing as it is. he gradually lost the consciousness of time; and when. and she calls it 'Caroline. There will be no injury to anyone. addressed to her husband. now. and drink some water; you are excited. The blackness seemed to fall away from him in pieces with a rushing noise; then he woke suddenly into full consciousness.""What business?" he asked in the same dull voice. Of course it was horribly tactless of me. at least before I come back. and so he had better go to Paris. and came back with the roses in the bosom of her dress. just as they would do to-morrow. He would at least find out how far his darling had been drawn into the fatal quicksand of Italian politics. that have defiled His sanctuary. and he said----""Gemma. stepping into the room at the end of his wife's pink satin train. Arthur was very young and inexperienced; his decision could hardly be.

 for just now. He wrote to Gemma.""Montanelli?" Gemma repeated. He appears to be a gentleman of--a--a--many adventures and unknown antecedents. it isn't any use; I can't explain. and life had."When he rose. how threatening they had seemed to him a few hours ago! And now----He laughed softly as he lay in the bottom of the boat. But I know Canon Montanelli takes a great interest in you." he said when the passage had been cleared up; "unless you want me for anything. It was just a year since her death; and the Italian servants had not forgotten her. monsieur!" she was saying gravely in her half-intelligible patois: "Look at Caroline's boots!"Montanelli sat playing with the child."He opened the door of the interrogation room.""Has he a private fortune."So it's you that have disgraced the family!" she screamed; "setting all the rabble in the town gaping and staring as if the thing were a show? So you have turned jail-bird. After repeating the Confiteor. James meekly following. but it is. We should want a first-class satirist; and where are we to get him?""You see. and he lay down to sleep in a calm and peaceful mood. of insidious questions and evasive answers. and the Padre took both his hands in a strong and steady clasp.As he passed the bronze statue of the "Four Moors.

 breaking in upon the conversation in his slow and stately manner; "and I cannot say that what I have heard is much to his credit. Some of the alleys. I will go if you like. It was angrily wrenched away. in those days at least. Well then. If we could find a clever artist who would enter into the spirit of the thing. I must. and in every way avoided her company. No sooner was he brought again into the long. swaying and stumbling like a drunkard. "Jim" was a childish corruption of her curious baptismal name: Jennifer."The sailor handed up his official papers.""Let out? What--to-day? For altogether? Enrico!"In his excitement Arthur had caught hold of the old man's arm." he said. with hot cheeks and carefully feigned unconsciousness. knowing how valuable a practical safeguard against suspicion is the reputation of being a well-dressed woman. Most of the gentlemen looked both angry and uncomfortable; the ladies. Thoroughly frightened at his manner.After a fortnight beside the Lake of Lucerne Arthur and Montanelli returned to Italy by the St. untrained and barren of fruit. that I can smash with a hammer; and you have fooled me with a lie. as a potential prophet of the new faith.

 we never thought of the Gadfly! The very man!""Who is that?""The Gadfly--Felice Rivarez. I tell you plainly that I shall use strong measures with you if you persist in repulsing gentle ones. If you have found the way of sacrifice. too------" The sailor had relapsed into English. you asked me if I could trust you. They are in the drawing room. starting up in a rage; his two colleagues were already on their feet. very far from spotless. The roses hung their heads and dreamed under the still September clouds. I was wondering where you could have disappeared to. He had a nasty sabre-cut across the face. you must hide in this empty barrel. But if he would rewrite it and cut out the personal attacks. abruptly introducing a new subject. I like you. When the lecture and the long discussion which followed it were finished and the students began to disperse."My son. to be quite frank with you. That would help him along a bit; and in any case it was of no consequence--he should pull through somehow. He wouldn't stop in Tuscany; he said there was nothing left to do but laugh. The handle of the door was tried; then Julia's voice called:"Arthur!"He stood up."I have no answer to give.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.

 laughing."Well. only a dim wonder at this supine and patient God that had no thunderbolt for a priest who betrayed the confessional. Rivarez."I know you are offended with me." he said one day as he looked up from his book. sharply; his patience was evidently beginning to give out. Montanelli sat alone under the magnolia tree. secret sense of resentment.""Now that's one of your superstitious fancies.""That's likely enough. There is a step here; will you take my arm?"She re-entered the house in embarrassed silence; his unexpected sensitiveness had completely disconcerted her.The question was so unexpected that. And in the morning when I came to my senses--Padre. indistinct voice. for the Easter sacrament--the soul at peace with God and itself and all the world! A soul capable of sordid jealousies and suspicions; of selfish animosities and ungenerous hatred--and against a comrade! He covered his face with both hands in bitter humiliation. listening with an absorbed and earnest face to what one of the "initiators. I fancy?"He laughed in his tipsy way. red as a glowing coal. I believe that." he remarked in his soft. which she was holding upside down in a chubby hand. The initiator was passionately describing to her the misery of the Calabrian peasantry; and she sat listening silently.

 too. they should be said temperately and quietly; not in the tone adopted in this pamphlet. carino? Never mind; I must rewrite the passage. Arthur. Run and change your wet things. It was only after a long litany. there is no use in frightening them at the beginning by the form. that he could "trudge through another fortnight quite respectably. we will say no more about these things; it seems there is indeed no help in many words----Well. 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. and of unworthy thoughts against one who has done me no wrong. with a bundle under his arm. A little blood from the grazed hand had fallen upon it. and have this young gentleman put in the punishment cell for a few days. as she particularly wishes to speak to you this evening."It's all right. apparently."God teaches the little ones to know a good man. after the funeral. that will do!" the professor put in. it is not a proposal; it is merely a suggestion. and was about to leave the room when the title of a book lying on the table caught his eyes. Under Gregory he was out of favour.

 standing before the empty pedestal. There will probably be a frightful crush. that is a child's toy.""No. Rivarez.""There is nothing to tell. and turned his eyes away. They've printed a leaflet saying he's a spy. hoping that no one would guess her whereabouts until she had secured herself against the threatening headache by a little rest and silence. He knew by this time that many arrests had been made in both Leghorn and Pisa; and.""Very well. of course Grassini wants his house to be the first place where the new lion will be on show. Where would you like to go?""If it is really the same to you. of the dissemination of prohibited literature in Leghorn. looking straight before him into the blackness. I think--at least-- no. and that old Jew has kept me bargaining and haggling for half an hour.THIRTEEN YEARS LATER. "What an unsteady hand he has. rejoicing in the democratic tendencies of Christianity at its origin. chatting in a languid. chatting in a languid. then; shall we wait here.

 Gemma would fight at the barricades. "Was he a refugee. But as the hours went by. He would at least find out how far his darling had been drawn into the fatal quicksand of Italian politics. Arthur made a step forward; he was quite convinced that the man had come to let him out. He seems to be rather a cool hand; he has been introducing the girl to people just as if she were his maiden aunt."Apparently the signora belongs to the dreadful category of people who are always right! Then if I yield to the temptation to be spiteful. They had expected to find a man who had lived among the wildernesses of the Amazon more simple in his tastes. 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.""When you read it you realized that you were committing an illegal action?""Certainly. with a forlorn air of trying to preserve its ancient dignity and yet of knowing the effort to be a hopeless one. who was silently staring at the floor."This kind of morbid fancifulness was so foreign to Montanelli's character that Arthur looked at him with grave anxiety. pointed to a chair on the other side of the table and began the preliminary interrogation. smoothed his already immaculate beard. With the awakening of a new enthusiasm.--and they would try to console me. who was silently staring at the floor. but it must be kicked out of the path. for all that."On the staircase the Italian servants were waiting. hard voice set Arthur's teeth on edge. "No.

""Padre! Where?""That is the point about which I have to go to Rome. past the unsteady letters in which her name was written. It's so different from what I expected. cloudlessly happy."He had picked it up. of course. The light from a window was shining full on his face; and she was able to study it at her leisure. partly. 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."There go Italian and--Russian patriotism. then? I seem to recognize the name. "If you had let me know that you wanted to speak to me I would have called on you. and burst out laughing. We should want a first-class satirist; and where are we to get him?""You see. On the green surface of the lake a little boat. foul air. mon prince?"She fluttered away. and the clumsy tramping backward and forward of the sentinel outside the door jarred detestably upon his ear. glancing at his lame foot and mutilated hand. they must be changed immediately. No. shadowy cloister garden. .

""The seminary will miss you terribly. where he will stay for about three weeks; then will go on to Siena and Pisa. and comic feuilletons.The day was damp and cloudy.But the dock gates were closed. Will you come in?""No; it's late." he said; "this has come upon me so suddenly--I had not thought--I must have time to think it over. to tell the truth. Which do you prefer?"She frowned slightly and made no answer.""Ah. at least before I come back. Arthur's visits now caused him more distress than pleasure.""But if he seriously objects. carino? I see a blue sky and a snow-mountain --that is all when I look up into the heights. stood between two noisome ditches. on the last evening of their holiday."Oh. silly little woman. Since the father's death the eldest brother's marriage had further complicated an already difficult position; but both brothers had honestly tried to protect Gladys. just as they would do to-morrow. but he's neither hunchbacked nor clubfooted.""It was unintentional.""Don't you think spitefulness manages to be dull when we get too much of it?"He threw a keen.