now
judge whether I have formed an unworthy attachment!"

"She _is_ worthy of you, captain!" exclaimed Lomellino. "Know you who
she is?"

"Not a whit," replied Stephano Verrina. "I should have followed her when
she left the garden, and complimented her on her proficiency in handling
a poniard, but I was not so foolhardy as to stand the chance of meeting
the sbirri. Moreover, I shall speedily adopt measures to discover who
and what she is; and when I present myself to her, and we compare
qualifications, I do not think there can arise any obstacle to our
happiness--as lovers are accustomed to say."

"Then it was _she_ who murdered the Lady Agnes?" said Lomellino.

"Have I not told you so? Signor Wagner is as innocent of that deed as
the babe unborn; but it is not for me to step forward in his behalf, and
thereby criminate a lady on whom I have set my affections."

"That were hardly to be expected captain," returned Lomellino.

"And all that I have now told thee thou wilt keep to thyself," added
Stephano; "for to none else of the band do I speak so freely as to
thee."

"Because no one is so devoted to his captain as I," rejoined Lomellino.
"And now that we are about to separate," added the man, as they reached
the verge of the suburb, which was then divided by a wide, open space
from the city itself, and might even be termed a detached village--"now
that we are about to separate, captain, allow me to ask whether the
affair of Monday night still holds good?"

"The little business at the Riverola Palace, you mean?" said Stephano.
"Most assuredly! You and Piero will accompany me. There is little danger
to be apprehended; and Antonio has given me the necessary information.
Count Francisco sleeps at a great distance from the point where we must
enter; and as for his sister--she is as deaf as if she had her ears
sealed up."

"But what about the pages, the lackeys----"

"Antonio will give them all a sleeping draught. Everything," added the
robber-chief, "is settled as cleverly as can be."

"Antonio is your cousin, if I err not?" said Lomellino.

"Something of the kind," replied Stephano; "but what is better and more
binding--we are friends. And yet, strange to say, I never was within the
precincts of the Riverola mansion until the night before last, and--more
singular still--I have never, to my knowledge, seen any members of the
family in whose service Antonio has been so long."

"Why, Florence is not much honore