s in
life.

The foolish fellow was so delighted at the unexpected opportunity for a
flirtation that the whole purpose of our journey seemed to be forgotten
by him. The baroness, with her maid and her coachman--. who were both
on the same pay with herself (without her having the least guess of it),
and reported all her doings to her superiors--stayed only one night in
Itzia, and then went on to a village some dozen miles away, where she
put up with some friends of hers who had a country-house there. Then
nothing would please Brunow but that he must hire a horse and ride
off to this country-house, and spend hours in the society of the sham
baroness, while our scheme for the release of Miss Rossano's father hung
in the wind, without making even a sign of progress.

The young lieutenant was almost my only companion, and once or twice
he dined with me at the inn, and twice I had breakfast with him in
the fortress; but these interviews with him brought me no nearer to my
purpose. A third invitation brought something in its train, however,
and, to tell the truth, I asked nothing much better than to have Brunow
out of my scheme. The matter came about in this wise: Breschia and I
were seated in his private room, when a non-commissioned officer entered
with his report for the day, and stood, forage-cap in hand, at attention
while his superior read it over. Some conversation ensued between them,
which my ignorance of the language prevented me from following; but I
understood the phrase with which Breschia brought it to a close.

"Send him here," he said. "Send him at once."

The non-commissioned officer saluted and retired, and Breschia turned
laughingly on me.

"We have here an original who is always getting into trouble. A good
fellow, and an honest servant, but so incorrigibly kind-hearted that
he is always breaking our rules. I shall have to be serious with him in
spite of myself."

He poured out a cup of black coffee as he spoke, and set it with a
bottle of maraschino and an open box of cigars at my elbow. I had
scarcely selected and lit ray cigar, when there came a tap at the door;
and at the lieutenant's call to enter a man in uniform came in, and,
having closed the door behind him, stood rigidly at attention. Breschia
addressed him in a tone of anger, which sounded real enough, and the
man stood like a statue to receive his reproof. There was nothing in the
least degree remarkable about the fellow, who was just a me