ood hundred thousand florins out of the job."

"But are our tracks well covered? Is there no risk in all this?"

"Fear nothing. There are eyeglasses that blind the sharpest of eyes."

"How if there are some eyes that will not be fitted with these glasses?"

"Again I say, never fear. A victorious campaign covers a multitude of
sins."

"And a lost one brings everything to light."

"Not at all. A slaughtered army tells no tales. But, by the way, is not
our Toroczko friend among those who are likely enough to fall some day
before the French and Italians?"

"He is still in Lombardy," said Vajdar, with a significant nod of the
head. "We have our eyes on him."

"I am curious to know what this apostle of peace will do when he is
ordered into battle. You know, he and his comrades are Unitarians and
entertain scruples against shedding blood, except in defence of home and
country. Will Manasseh Adorjan fight when he is ordered to, or throw
down his arms?"

"In either case, he will die," declared Benjamin Vajdar.

"I should prefer to have him only wounded," said the marchioness. "Then
his mate would leave her nest in the mountains and hasten to nurse him
in the hospital; and contagious diseases are not uncommon in military
hospitals, where both patients and nurses are often swept off by
them--so quickly, too, that no one thinks of inquiring very closely into
the matter."

"You are impatient, marchioness," commented the secretary.

"And you choose to remark upon it because I would have the prince a
widower and a free man?"

With that the fair Cyrene nestled close at her fellow-conspirator's
side, and proceeded to caress him and to murmur soft words in his ear.

And so the night sped, and the first peep of dawn overtook the two
before they separated.

CHAPTER XXVI.

SOLFERINO.

One of the most momentous battles in history was in progress, and the
battalion in which Manasseh Adorjan still served as a sergeant stood
from early morning until afternoon among the reserves, watching the
fight.

Leaning on his gun, Manasseh thoughtfully observed the transformation of
that earthly paradise into a scene of slaughter. He thought how, in
times of peace, the cry of a single human being in distress would call
ready succour and excite the warmest sympathy; but now, when men were
dying by thousands, their fellows looked on in the coldest indifference.
He asked himself whether this fearful state of things, this deplora