s to what had passed verbally; they could
only surmise. But here was something they all understood. La Signorina
was first to recover. She sprang toward the combatants and grasped
Hillard's hand, the one buried in the prince's throat, and pulled. She
was not strong enough.

"Merrihew, O'Mally, quick! He is killing him!" she cried wildly.

The two, Merrihew and O'Mally, finally succeeded in separating the men,
and none too soon. The prince staggered to a chair and sank heavily into
it. A moment more and he had been a dead man. But he was not grateful to
any one.

La Signorina turned upon Hillard. "And you would have done this thing
before my very eyes!"

"I was mad," he panted, shamed. "I love you better than anything else in
God's world, and this man means that I shall lose you."

"And you would have come to me across his blood?" wrathfully.

"I was not thinking of that. The only thought I had was to kill him. God
knows I'm sorry enough." And he was.

"Ah, what a night!" She swayed and pressed her hand over her eyes. "No,
do not touch me," she said. "I am not the kind of woman who faints."

The prince lurched toward Hillard, but fortunately Merrihew heard the
slithering sound of the saber as it left its scabbard. Kitty screamed
and O'Mally shouted. Merrihew, with a desperate lunge, stopped the blow.
He received a rough cut over the knuckles, but he was not aware of this
till the excitement was past. He flung the saber at O'Mally's feet.

"You speak English," said Merrihew, in an ugly temper, half regretting
that he had interfered with Hillard. "You may send your orderly to the
Hotel Italie to-morrow morning, and your saber will be given to him. You
will not carry it back to Florence to-night. Now, it is time to excuse
yourself. We can get along without you nicely."

The prince tore at his mustaches. He would have put them all to the
sword gladly. Meddlers! To return to Florence without his saber was
dishonor. He cursed them all roundly, after the manner of certain
husbands, and turned to La Signorina.

"I am in the way here," he said, controlling his passion with
difficulty. "But listen attentively to what I say: you shall remain my
wife so long as both of us live. I had intended arranging your freedom,
once the estate and moneys were divided, but not now. You shall read my
wife till the end of the book; for unless I meet you half-way, the
marriage contract can not be broken. In the old days it was your
con