y, reddening the upper story of an ancient
convent beyond. His sharp eyes counted the windows mechanically, and
one of them belonged to the cell of Sister Giovanna, the Dominican
nun, though he did not know it; and much less did he guess that before
very long he himself, and his master, and the fine lady who had come
in a motor that afternoon, were all to play their parts in the nun's
life. If he had known that, he would have tried to guess which window
was hers.

The first bitter tang of the vile tobacco was gone out of it, and Pica
thoughtfully rolled the quid over his tongue to the other side of his
mouth. At that moment he was aware of a man in a little brown hat and
shabby clothes who must have come round the house very quietly, from
the direction of the magazine, for he was already standing still near
the corner, looking at him.

'What do you want?' Pica asked rather sharply.

The man looked like a bad character, but raised his hat as he answered
with a North Italian accent.

'I am a stranger,' he said. 'Can you tell me how to reach the nearest
gate?'

'There is the road,' the soldier replied, pointing to it, 'and there
is Rome, and the nearest gate is Porta Portese.'

'Thank you,' the man said, and went on his way.

CHAPTER IX

During the month of December the Princess Chiaromonte fell ill, much
to her own surprise and that of her children, for such a thing had
never happened to her since she had been a mere child and had caught
the measles; but there was no mistaking the fact that she now had a
bad attack of the influenza, with high fever, and her head felt very
light. During the first two days, she altogether refused to stay in
her room, which made matters worse; but on the third morning she
yielded and stayed in bed, very miserable and furiously angry with
herself. It had always been her favourite boast that she never caught
cold, never had a headache, and never broke down from fatigue; and
considering the exceedingly gay life she had led she certainly had
some cause to be vain of her health.

Her eldest daughter and her maid took care of her that day, and her
maid sat up with her during the following night, after which it became
quite clear that she must have a professional nurse. The doctor
insisted upon it, though the Princess herself flew into a helpless
rage at the mere suggestion; and then, all at once, and before the
doctor had left the room, she began to talk quite quietly about
or