n he longed for some turn of life in which for her sake he might
do something above the dead level of that commonplace heroism which
begins in hard work and ends in the attainment of ordinary necessities.
He felt his strength in him and about him, and he wished that he could
let it loose upon some adversary in the physical satisfaction of
fighting for what he loved. It was not a high aspiration, but it was a
manly one.

He drew upon his resources to the utmost, in order to make her
comfortable in Subiaco when they should get there. He was not a dreamer,
though he dreamed when he had time. It was his nature to take all the
things which came to him to be done and to do them one after another
with untiring energy. He worked at his correspondence, and got
additional articles to write for periodicals, though it was no easy
matter in that day when the modern periodical was in its infancy.

Gloria, acting her part, complained sadly that he worked too hard. Work
as he might, he had no such stress to fear as was wearing out her life.
She hated him, she feared him, and she envied him. Sometimes she pitied
him, and then it was easier for her to act the play. As for Griggs, he
laughed and told her for the hundredth time that he was indestructible
and defied fate.

So far as he could see what he had to deal with, he could defy anything.
But there was that beyond of which he could not dream, and destiny, with
leaden hands, was already upon him, on the day when a great,
old-fashioned carriage, loaded with boxes and belongings, brought him
and his to the door of Stefanone's house in Subiaco.

Sora Nanna, grey-haired, and withered as a brown apple, but tough as
leather still, stood on the threshold to receive them. She no longer
wore the embroidered napkin on her hair, for civilization had advanced a
generation in Subiaco, and a coloured handkerchief flapped about her
head, and she had caught one corner of it in her teeth to keep it out of
her eyes, as the afternoon breeze blew it across her leathery face.

First at the door of the carriage she saw the baby, held up by its
nurse, and the old woman threw up her hands and clapped them, and crowed
to the child till it laughed. Then Griggs got out. And then, out of the
dark shadow of the coach, a face looked at Sora Nanna, and it was a face
she had known long ago, with dark eyes, beautiful and deadly pale, and
very fateful.

She turned white herself, and her teeth chattered.

"Madon