t molestation, and even entered Rome. There I was watched, but not
interfered with. The conclusion I came to was, that as long as I lived
the life of an ordinary citizen, and showed no interest in politics, I
was safe. I crossed to Palermo unharmed. I have seen the Signorina, and
I have made my appeal."

The Englishman dropped his eyes and knocked the ash from his cigar. The
fellow was coming to the point at last.

"You, Signor," the Sicilian continued, in a tone which, although it was
no louder, seemed to gain in intensity from the smoldering passion
underneath, "you, Signor, know what my answer was, for you were the
cause. I have not told you this much of my story to win your pity; I
simply tell it that I may reason with you. I have tried to make you
understand something of the strength of my love for the Signorina. Do
you think that, after what I have risked, after what I have suffered,
that I shall stand aside, and see another man, an alien, take her from
me? I come of a race, Signor, who are not used to see the women they
love chosen for other men's wives. Have you ever heard of Count Hubert
di Marioni, who, with seven hundred men, carried off a princess of
Austria from her father's court, and brought her safely through Italy
here to be one of the mothers of my race? It was five hundred years ago,
and, among the ruins of ancient kingdoms, the Marionis have also fallen
in estate. But the old spirit lingers. Lord St. Maurice, I am not a
blood-thirsty man. I do not wish your life. Go back to your country, and
choose for a bride one of her own daughters. Give up all thought of the
Signorina di Cartuccio, or, as surely as the moon yonder looks down upon
you and me, I shall kill you."

Lord St. Maurice threw his cigar away and shrugged his shoulders. The
affair was going to be serious, then.

"You must forgive me, Signor, if I do not quite follow you," he said
slowly. "The custom in our countries doubtless differs. In England it is
the lady who chooses, and it is considered--pardon me--ill-mannered for
a rejected suitor to have anything more to say."

"As you remark, the ideas and customs of our countries differ," the
Sicilian rejoined. "Here a nobleman of my descent would consider it an
everlasting shame to stand quietly on one side, and see the woman whom
he worshiped become the bride of another man, and that man an alien. He
would be esteemed, and justly, a coward. Let us waste no more words,
Signor. I have sough