ghout the entire city, did any signs of
habitation linger, and here a single lamp threw its faint light over a
wide courtyard, giving a ghost-like air to the vaulted corridors and dim
distances around. All was still and silent within the walls; not a light
gleamed from a window, not a sound issued. A solitary figure walked with
weary footsteps up and down, stopping at times to listen, as if he heard
the noise of one approaching, and then resuming his dreary round again.

As night closed in, a second stranger made his appearance, and timidly
halting at the porter's lodge, asked leave to enter; but the porter had
gone to refresh himself at a neighbouring cafe, and the visitor passed
in of his own accord. He was in a friar's robe, and by his dusty
dress and tired look showed that he had had a long journey; indeed, so
overcome was he with fatigue that he sat down at once on a stone bench,
depositing his heavy bag beside him. The oppressive heat, the fatigue,
the silence of the lonesome spot, all combined, composed him to sleep;
and poor Fra Luke, for it was he, crossed his arms before him, and
snored away manfully.

Astonished by the deep-drawn breathing, the other stranger drew nigh,
and, as well as the imperfect light permitted, examined him. He himself
was a man of immense stature, and, though bowed and doubled by age,
showed the remnant of a powerful frame: his dress was worn and shabby,
but in its cut and in the fashion he wore it, bespoke the gentleman. He
gazed long and attentively at the sleeping friar, and then approaching,
he took up the bag that lay on the bench. It was weighty, and contained
money--a considerable sum, too, as the stranger remarked, while he
replaced it. The heavy bang of a door at this moment, and the sound of
feet, however, recalled him from this contemplation, and at the same
time a low whistle was heard, and a voice, in a subdued tone, called
out, 'O'Sullivan!'

'Here!' cried the stranger, who was quickly joined by another.

'I am sorry to have kept you so long, chief,' said the latter; 'but he
detained me, watching me so closely, too, that I feared to leave the
room.'

'And how is he--better?'

'Far from it; he seems to be sinking every hour. His irritability is
intense; eternally asking who have called to inquire after him--if Boyer
had been to ask, if the Cardinal Caraffa had come. In fact, so eagerly
set is his mind on these things, I have been obliged to make the
coachman drive re