th
the tough exterior of his enemy, for in front of the cottage
there were flowers in bloom, which appeared to be cultivated by
some careful hand; but a moment's thought showed David that this
might be the work of the robber's wife. The prospect of meeting
with a woman afforded hope; for whatever the husband might be,
the wife might be gentle, and pitiful, and womanly; and David
drew hope from the flowers; for the one that would have tastes
like these might not be altogether hard and implacable; and as
the giants and ogres of the fairy books had wives who generally
were willing to help the victims of their husbands, so here, in
the wife of this Italian ogre, David hoped to find one who might
be as merciful as those of fairy lore.

At length they reached the house, and the brigand, after waiting
for a moment for his prisoner to come up, entered the door. David
followed, and found himself inside.

The door opened immediately into a room. It was large and low. The
floor was paved with red tiles, and the walls were of wood, varnished.
Around the walls hung numerous pictures without frames. In different
places there were confused heaps of clothing and drapery. The
clothing was rich, though fantastic. In one corner was a frame with
armor suspended; while over this, on the wall, he saw arms of
different kinds--pistols, carbines, daggers, and blunderbusses.
The fashion of all these was somewhat antique, and there was a
richness in their ornaments which even David noticed, in spite of
his trouble and anxiety. The furniture about the room was
old-fashioned, formed of massive mahogany, carved most elaborately,
and was of so many different styles that the pieces seemed thrown
together at random. A Glastonbury chair stood beside an Elizabethan
sofa; a modern Davenport, a Louis Quatorze side-board, and a classic
tripod, stood in a row. Some Chinese tables were in one corner. In
the centre of the room was a table of massive construction, with
richly carved legs, that seemed as old as the middle ages; while
beside it was an American rocking-chair, in which lay a guitar.
The whole scene struck David as being perfectly in keeping with
his captor; for this interior looked like some pictures which he
had seen of robber holds, where the accumulated plunder of years
is heaped indiscriminately together, and reminded him vividly of
the descriptions which he had read of the abodes of pirates or
brigands, in the novels of Cooper, in Francisc