clasp of marvellously ill-cleaned brass. Upon his head he had a
_petasus_, or broad-brimmed hat of gray felt, fitting close to the skull,
with a long fall behind, not very unlike in form to the south-wester of a
modern seaman. This article of dress was, like the penula, although
peculiar to the inferior classes, oftentimes worn by men of superior rank,
when journeying abroad. From these, therefore, little or no aid was given
to conjecture, as to the station of the person, who now shrunk back into
the deepest gloom of the old archway, now peered out stealthily into the
night, grinding his teeth and muttering smothered imprecations against
some one, who had failed to meet him.

The shoes, however, of rude, ill-tanned leather, of a form and manufacture
which was peculiar to the lowest artizans or even slaves, were such as no
man of ordinary standing would under any circumstances have adopted. Yet
if these would have implied that the wearer was of low plebeian origin,
this surmise was contradicted by several rings decked with gems of great
price and splendor--one a large deeply-engraved signet--which were
distinctly visible by their lustre on the fingers of both his hands.

His air and carriage too were evidently in accordance with the nobility of
birth implied by these magnificent adornments, rather than with the humble
station betokened by the rest of his attire.

His motions were quick, irritable, and incessant! His pace, as he stalked
to and fro in the narrow area of the archway, was agitated, and uneven.
Now he would stride off ten or twelve steps with strange velocity, then
pause, and stand quite motionless for perhaps a minute's space, and then
again resume his walk with slow and faltering gestures, to burst forth
once again, as at the instigation of some goading spirit, to the same
short-lived energy and speed.

Meantime, his color went and came; he bit his lip, till the blood trickled
down his clean shorn chin; he clinched his hands, and smote them heavily
together, and uttered in a harsh hissing whisper the most appalling
imprecations--on his own head--on him who had deceived him--on Rome, and all
her myriads of inhabitants--on earth, and sea, and heaven--on everything
divine or human!

"The black plague 'light on the fat sleepy glutton!--nay, rather all the
fiends and furies of deep Erebus pursue _me_!--me!--me, who was fool enough
to fancy that aught of bold design or manly daring could rouse up the
dull, ad