gns of displeasure, Gerald passed his hours as
usual in Gabriel's room.

He was seated, reading, when the door opened gently, and the old man's
niece entered: her step was so noiseless, that she was nearly beside
Gerald's chair before he noticed her.

'What is it, Tina,' said he, starting; 'what makes you look so
frightened?'

She placed her finger on her lip, a sign of caution, and looked
anxiously around her.

'He has not been cruel or angry with you, poor girl?' asked the boy;
'tell me this.'

'No, Gerald,' said she, in a low and broken voice; 'but there is danger
over you--ay, and near too, if you can't escape it. He sent me last
night over to St. Stephano, twelve weary miles across the mountain,
after nightfall, to fetch the Gobbino----'

'The Gobbino--who is he?'

'The hunch-back, that was at the galleys in Messina,' said the girl,
trembling all over; and then went on, 'and to tell him to come over to
the Tana, for he wanted him.'

'Well, and then----'

'And then,' muttered the girl, 'and then,' and she made a pantomimic
gesture of drawing a knife suddenly across the throat. 'It is so with
him, they say; he 'd think no more of it than do I of killing a hen!'

'No, no, Tina,' said the boy, smiling at her fears. 'You wrong old Pippo
and the Gobbo too. Take my word for it, there is something else he
wants him for; besides, why should he dislike _me_? What have I done to
provoke such a vengeance?'

'Haven't you threatened him?' said the girl eagerly. 'Have you not said
that when Signor Gabriel comes back you will tell him something Pippo
said of him?' Is that not enough? Is the Signor Gabriel one who ever
forgives an injury?'

'I 'll not believe, I can't believe it,' said Gerald musingly.

'But I tell you it is true; I tell you I know it,' cried the girl
passionately.

'But what am I to do, then? How can I defend myself,'' 'Fly--leave
this--get over to Bolseno, or cross the frontier; neither of them can
follow you into Tuscany.'

'Remember, Tina, I have no money. I am almost naked. I know no one.'

'What matters all that if you have life?' said she boldly.

'Well said, girl!' cried he, warmed by the same daring spirit that
prompted her words. A slight noise in the garden underneath the window
startled Tina, and she stepped quietly from the room and closed the
door.

It was some time before Gerald could thoroughly take in the full force
of the emergency that threatened him. He knew well that in