he should surely be! No
other man had the right to lift his eyes to her. As he hurried through
those silent streets, he forgot her many kindly but firm repulses.
Jesuitical in his love, any means by which he might win her seemed fair
and honorable. And to-night, though he was stooping to treachery to
possess himself of this long coveted jewel, he felt no shame; only his
heart beat strong and fast with passionate hope. The moment had come at
length for him to play his last card, and at the very prospect of
success heaven itself seemed open before his eyes.

He had been threading his way swiftly, and with the air of one well
acquainted with the neighborhood, through a network of narrow streets
and courts, filthy and poverty stricken. At last he came to a sudden
pause before a flight of steps leading down to the door of a small wine
shop, which was little more than a cellar.

From the street one could see into the bar, and the Sicilian paused for
a moment, and peered downward. Behind the counter, a stout,
swarthy-looking native woman was exchanging coarse badinage with a man
in a loose jersey and baggy trousers. There seemed to be no one else in
the place, save another man who sat in the darkest corner, with his head
buried upon his arms.

The Sicilian only hesitated for a moment. Then he pulled his soft hat
lower over his eyes, and lighting a cigarette, to dispel as far as
possible the rank stale odor of the place, stepped down and entered the
wine shop.

Evidently he was not known there. The woman stared curiously at him as
she passed the glass of curacao for which he asked, and the man scowled.
He took no notice of either, but, with his glass in his hand, made his
way across the sawdust-covered floor to the most remote of the small
tables.

A few feet only from him was the man who slept, or who seemed to sleep,
and all around quaint shadows of the tall buildings outside stealing in
through the open window almost shut the two men off from the rest of the
wine shop where the gas jets hung. The Sicilian smoked on in silence;
his neighbor commenced to move. Presently the woman and her admirer
resumed their talk, with their heads a little closer together and their
voices lowered. They were absorbed in themselves and their coarse
flirtation. The man sipped more liquor, and the woman filled his glass
with no sparing hand. The strong brandy ran through his veins quicker
and quicker. He tried to embrace the woman, and fail