time to terminate this petty despotism forever, to repudiate the
suzerainty of the Pope, and to join in the great movement of Italia
Riunita. To the Palace! Let us seize the Englishwoman and her son,
and banish them from the island. Let us hoist the tricolour, and
proclaim ourselves Italians, and subjects of the King. To the Palace!'
So, while that poor lady"--her voice quavered a little--"while that
poor lady was kneeling at the bedside of her dead husband,"--her voice
sank,--"a great mob of insurgents broke into the Palazzo Rosso, singing
'Fuori l'Italia lo straniero,' seized her and the little Count, dragged
them to the sea-front, and put them aboard a ship that was leaving for
Trieste."

She paused for a few seconds.

"Then there was a plebiscite," she proceeded, "and Sampaolo solemnly
transformed itself into a province of the Kingdom of Sardinia."

She paused again.

"And the Wicked Uncle," she again proceeded, "received his price from
Turin. First, he was appointed Prefect of Sampaolo for life.
Secondly, the little Count and his mother were summoned to take the
oath of fidelity to the King, and as they did not turn up to do so,
having gone to her people in England, they were declared to have
outlawed themselves, and to be 'civilly dead', their properties,
accordingly, passing to the next heir, who, of course, was Guido
himself. Thirdly, Guido was created Count of Sampaolo by royal patent,
the Papal dignity being pronounced 'null and not recognisable in the
territories of the King.' It is Guido's granddaughter who is Countess
of Sampaolo to-day."

She terminated her narration with a motion of the hand, as if she were
tossing something from her. Anthony waited a little before he spoke.

"And the little Count?" he said, at length.

"The little Count," said Susanna, "went through the formality of suing
his uncle for the recovery of his estates--or, rather, his mother, as
his guardian, did so for him. But as the action had to be tried in the
law-courts at Turin, I need n't tell you how it ended. In fact, it was
never tried at all. For at the outset the judges decided that the
suitor would have no standing before them until he had taken the oath
of allegiance to the King, and renounced his allegiance to the Pope.
He was 'civilly dead'--he must civilly resuscitate himself. As he
refused to do this, his cause was dismissed, unheard."

"And then--?" said Anthony.

"Then the little Count returned to E