wrench that she must suffer.
But she is strong, she is brave, she is the daughter of her
father, and I have faith in the natural power of her mind, in her
youth and the chances of life for one so beautiful and so gifted,
to remove the passing impression that may have been made.

"Good-bye yet again! And God bless you! D.

"P. S.--I am not afraid of M----, and come when he may, I shall
certainly stand my ground. There is only one person in Rome who
could be used against me in the direction you indicate, and I
could trust her with my heart's blood."

VIII

Before two o'clock next day the Chamber of Deputies was already full.
The royal chair and baldacchino had been removed, and their place was
occupied by the usual bench of the President.

When the Prime Minister took his place, cool, collected, smiling,
faultlessly dressed and wearing a flower in his button-hole, he was
greeted with some applause from the members, and the dry rustle of fans
in the ladies' tribune was distinctly heard. The leader of the
Opposition had a less marked reception, and when David Rossi glided
round the partition to his place on the extreme Left, there was a
momentary hush, followed by a buzz of voices.

Then the President of the Chamber entered, with his secretaries about
him, and took his seat in a central chair under a bust of the young
King. Ushers, wearing a linen band of red, white, and green on their
arms, followed with portfolios, and with little trays containing
water-bottles and glasses. Conversation ceased, and the President rang a
hand-bell that stood by his side, and announced that the sitting was
begun.

The first important business of the day was the reply to the speech of
the King, and the President called on the member who had been appointed
to undertake this duty. A young Deputy, a man of letters, then made his
way to a bar behind the chairs of the Ministers and read from a printed
paper a florid address to the sovereign.

Having read his printed document, the Deputy proceeded to move the
adoption of the reply.

With the proposal of the King and the Government to increase the army he
would not deal. It required no recommendation. The people were patriots.
They loved their country, and would spend the last drop of their blood
to defend it. The only persons who were not with the King in his desire
to uphold the army were the sec