tephano; "I stand in no need
of it--at least for the present. The reward I crave is of a different
nature, and will even cost you less than you proffer me."

"What other recompense can I give you?" demanded Giulia, painfully
alarmed.

"A few lines written by thy fair hand to my dictation," answered
Stephano.

Giulia cast upon him a look of profound surprise.

"Here, lady, take my tablets, for I see that your own are not at hand,"
cried the chief. "Delay not--it grows late, and we may be interrupted."

"We may indeed," murmured Giulia, darting a rapid look at the
water-clock. "It is within a few minutes of midnight."

She might have added--"And at midnight I expect a brief visit from
Manuel d'Orsini, ere the return of my husband from a banquet at a
friend's villa." But of course this was her secret; and anxious to rid
herself of the company of Stephano, she took the tablets with trembling
hands and prepared to write.

"I, Giulia, Countess of Arestino," began the brigand, dictating to her,
"confess myself to owe Stephano Verrina a deep debt of gratitude for his
kindness in recovering my diamonds from the possession of the Jew
Isaachar, to whom they were pledged for a sum which I could not pay."

"But wherefore this document?" exclaimed the countess, looking up in a
searching manner at the robber-chief; for she had seated herself at the
table to write, and he was leaning over the back of her chair.

"'Tis my way at times," he answered, carelessly, "when I perform some
service for a noble lord or a great lady, to solicit an acknowledgment
of this kind in preference to gold." Then, sinking his voice to a low
whisper, he added with an air of deep meaning, "Who knows but that this
document may some day save my head?"

Giulia uttered a faint shriek, for she comprehended in a moment how
cruelly she might sooner or later be compromised through that document,
and how entirely she was placing herself in the bandit's power.

But Stephano's hand clutched the tablets whereon the countess had,
almost mechanically, written to his subtle dictation; and he said,
coolly: "Fear not, lady--I must be reduced to a desperate strait indeed
when my safety shall depend on the use I can make of this fair
handwriting."

Giulia felt partially relieved by this assurance: and it was with
ill-concealed delight that she acknowledged the ceremonial bow with
which the bandit-chief intimated his readiness to depart.

But at that moment three