arkness to the light!"

As he spoke he moved on slowly, and left Viola wondering, silent,
saddened with his dim prophecy of coming evil, and yet, through sadness,
charmed. Involuntarily her eyes followed him,--involuntarily she
stretched forth her arms, as if by a gesture to call him back; she would
have given worlds to have seen him turn,--to have heard once more his
low, calm, silvery voice; to have felt again the light touch of his hand
on hers. As moonlight that softens into beauty every angle on which it
falls, seemed his presence,--as moonlight vanishes, and things assume
their common aspect of the rugged and the mean, he receded from her
eyes, and the outward scene was commonplace once more.

The stranger passed on, through that long and lovely road which reaches
at last the palaces that face the public gardens, and conducts to the
more populous quarters of the city.

A group of young, dissipated courtiers, loitering by the gateway of a
house which was open for the favourite pastime of the day,--the resort
of the wealthier and more high-born gamesters,--made way for him, as
with a courteous inclination he passed them by.

"Per fede," said one, "is not that the rich Zanoni, of whom the town
talks?"

"Ay; they say his wealth is incalculable!"

"THEY say,--who are THEY?--what is the authority? He has not been many
days at Naples, and I cannot yet find any one who knows aught of his
birthplace, his parentage, or, what is more important, his estates!"

"That is true; but he arrived in a goodly vessel, which THEY SAY is his
own. See,--no, you cannot see it here; but it rides yonder in the bay.
The bankers he deals with speak with awe of the sums placed in their
hands."

"Whence came he?"

"From some seaport in the East. My valet learned from some of the
sailors on the Mole that he had resided many years in the interior of
India."

"Ah, I am told that in India men pick up gold like pebbles, and that
there are valleys where the birds build their nests with emeralds to
attract the moths. Here comes our prince of gamesters, Cetoxa; be sure
that he already must have made acquaintance with so wealthy a cavalier;
he has that attraction to gold which the magnet has to steel. Well,
Cetoxa, what fresh news of the ducats of Signor Zanoni?"

"Oh," said Cetoxa, carelessly, "my friend--"

"Ha! ha! hear him; his friend--"

"Yes; my friend Zanoni is going to Rome for a short time; when he
returns, he has promised me t