y hoped to make so deep a
mark on your emotions! If you hate me, then truly you will marry
me!--against your will, if need be," he added, reining back his horse at
last. "I will wait to make you love me afterward."

At this point Allegro returned with the handkerchief, and the duke let
Nina pass. Tornik, also, now joined her, the master of the hounds gave
the signal, and again the riders were off. Nina, between Tornik and
Allegro, was protected from the duke's approach, but she kept
apprehensively glancing back. She looked about for her uncle, but could
not see him.

As a matter of fact, Sansevero's horse had strained itself slightly in
one of the jumps, and he had thought it best to drop out of the hunt. He
had gone only a short distance on his way toward Rome when he was joined
by Scorpa, who said that he did not care to ride farther but would go
back with Sansevero. The prince was glad of his company until Scorpa
began:

"You have not yet given me a favorable answer to my proposal for Miss
Randolph's hand."

The abruptness with which the subject was introduced irritated
Sansevero, and he answered sulkily: "I told you, when you first spoke to
me, that it was a matter Miss Randolph would have to decide for herself.
An American girl never allows other people to arrange her marriage for
her, and I found my niece not at all disposed to reconsider her answer."

An ugly light shone in the duke's eyes. "I do not want to seem
importunate," he said, "but--I would do very much for the man who
furthered my marriage with Miss Randolph, and you would find the
alliance of our families of great advantage. I am a hot-blooded fellow,
but I'm not such a bad lot. I cannot help being wounded, though, by your
niece's indifference, and in jealousy of a rival I might do things that
otherwise would not enter my head. This is--eh--not a threat--but it is
a family trait--the Scorpas stop at nothing once their hearts are
aflame! Think it over, my friend, before you decide not to help me."

He sighed deeply and then, as though turning his attention to the first
trivial thought that came to mind, he said casually: "By the way, I have
been reading lately an extremely interesting book on celebrated criminal
cases, and I was particularly impressed by the way in which
circumstantial evidence can be built up out of harmless trifles. Since
reading it I have been rather amusing myself by constructing
hypothetical cases. For instance"--Scorpa purs