Command me
when you will--I am your servant!"

Pressing his hand, I sprung lightly from the brig on to the quay.

"A rivederci!" I called to him. "Again, and yet again, a thousand
thanks!"

"Oh! tropp' onore, signor--tropp' onore!" and thus I left him, standing
still bareheaded on the deck of his little vessel, with a kindly light
on his brown face like the reflection of a fadeless sunbeam.
Good-hearted, merry rogue! His ideas of right and wrong were oddly
mixed--yet his lies were better than many truths told us by our candid
friends--and you may be certain the great Recording Angel knows the
difference between a lie that saves and a truth that kills, and metes
out Heaven's reward or punishment accordingly.

My first care, when I found myself in the streets of Palermo, was to
purchase clothes of the best material and make adapted to a gentleman's
wear. I explained to the tailor whose shop I entered for this purpose
that I had joined a party of coral-fishers for mere amusement, and had
for the time adopted their costume. He believed my story the more
readily as I ordered him to make several more suits for me immediately,
giving him the name of Count Cesare Oliva, and the address of the best
hotel in the city. He served me with obsequious humility, and allowed
me the use of his private back-room, where I discarded my fisher garb
for the dress of a gentleman--a ready-made suit that happened to fit me
passably well. Thus arrayed as became my station, I engaged rooms at
the chief hotel of Palermo for some weeks--weeks that were for me full
of careful preparation for the task of vengeful retribution that lay
before me. One of my principal objects was to place the money I had
with me in safe hands. I sought out the leading banker in Palermo, and
introducing myself under my adopted name, I stated that I had newly
returned to Sicily after some years' absence. He received me well, and
though he appeared astonished at the large amount of wealth I had
brought, he was eager and willing enough to make satisfactory
arrangements with me for its safe keeping, including the bag of jewels,
some of which, from their unusual size and luster, excited his genuine
admiration. Seeing this, I pressed on his acceptance a fine emerald and
two large brilliants, all unset, and requested him to have a ring made
of them for his own wear. Surprised at my generosity, he at first
refused--but his natural wish to possess such rare gems finally
preva