to the court
rushed through the garden toward the terrace, grappled for a moment
with somebody, thrust against something hard which suddenly yielded,
and then fell down--down into a deep and dark abyss.

When he awoke he felt a pair of cold hands fumbling with his
shirt-collar; trees were all about him and the blue moonlit sky above
him. He arose, not without difficulty, and recognized Annunciata's
face close to his; she looked frightened and strove to avoid his
glance.

"The Holy Virgin be praised, Signore Giovanni!" she whispered. "But
Signore Enrico, he seems to be badly hurt."

He suddenly remembered what had happened; but he could bring forth no
sound; he had a choking sensation in his throat and his lips seemed
numb and lifeless. He saw Annunciata stooping down over a form that
lay outstretched on the ground, but the sight of her was repulsive to
him and he turned away.

"Help me, Signore Giovanni," she begged in a hoarse whisper. "He may
be dead and there is no one to help him."

Half mechanically he stooped down--gracious heavens! It was Vincent!
In an instant all his anger and misery were forgotten.

"Hurry, Annunciata," he cried; "run for a doctor. Great God! what have
you done?"

VI.

Six weeks later two young Americans were sitting on the deck of the
Cunarder _Siberia_, which had that morning left the Queenstown harbor.

"Jack," said the one, laying his hand on the other's shoulder in a way
that expressed an untold amount of friendliness, "I don't think it is
good policy to keep silence any longer. I know I have committed my
monumental piece of folly, as you prophesied, but I need hardly tell
you, Jack, that I didn't know at the time what--what I know now," he
finished, hurriedly.

"I never doubted that, Harry," answered the other with a certain
solemn impressiveness. "But don't let us talk. I have not reached the
stage yet when I can mention her name without a pang; and I fear--I
fear I never shall."

They sat for a long while smoking in silence and gazing pensively
toward the dim coast-line of Europe, which was gradually fading away
upon the eastern horizon.

"Jack," began Vincent abruptly, "I feel as if I had passed through a
severe illness."

"So you have, Harry," retorted Cranbrook.

"Oh, pshaw! I don't mean that. That little physical suffering was
nothing more than I deserved. But a fever, they say, sometimes
purifies the blood, and mine, I think, has left me a cleaner and a
wi