ut when you know the danger--not merely danger, but the
positive certainty of mischief--a chance word might bring about, I read
you very ill, or you 'll profit by my warning."

I bent my head to mean assent, but I could not speak.

"Papa will question you whether you have been to school, and what books
you are reading, and your answer will be, 'Never at school; had all my
lessons at home.' Not a word more, mind that, Digby. Say it now after
me, that I may see if you can be exact to a syllable."

I repeated the words correctly, and he patted me affectionately on the
shoulder, and said,--

"You and I are sure to get on well together. When I meet with a boy,
who, besides being intelligent, is a born gentleman, I never hesitate
about treating him as my equal, save in that knowledge of life I 'm
quite ready to share with him. I don't want to be a Pope with my pupil,
and say, 'You are not to do this, or think that,' and give no reason
why. You 'll always find me ready to discuss with you, and talk over
anything that puzzles you. I was not treated in that fashion myself, and
I know well what the repressive system has cost me. You follow me, don't
you, in what I say?"

"Yes, sir; I think I understand it all."

Whether I looked as if my words had more meaning than they expressed,
or that some sort of misgiving was working within him that he had been
hasty in his confidence, I know not; but he arose suddenly, and said, "I
must go and get a cigarette." And with that he left me.

CHAPTER IV. THE VILLA MALIBRAN

For some hours I wandered over the house, admiring the pictures and
the bronzes and the statuettes, and the hundreds of odd knick-knacks of
taste or curiosity that filled the _salons_. The treasures of art were
all new to me, and I thought I could never weary of gazing on some grand
landscape by Both, or one of those little interiors of Dutch life by
Ostade or Mieris. It seemed to me the very summit of luxury, that all
these glorious objects should be there, awaiting as it were the eye of
him who owned them, patient slaves of his pleasure, to be rewarded
by, perhaps, a hurried glance as he passed. The tempered light, the
noiseless footsteps, as one trod the triple-piled carpet, the odor of
rich flowers everywhere, imparted a dreaminess to the sense of enjoyment
that, after long, long years, I can recall and almost revive by an
effort of memory.

I met no one as I loitered through the rooms, for I was in a par