ul gardens glowed in dazzling
sunshine which the scintillating jets of the fountains reflected and
intensified. The statues seemed to shrink from the blinding light into
their niches in the great square-cut hedges, and the tessellated
pavement was hot beneath his tread.

Every detail of the antique relievi which the facade of the palace had
been designed to display was brought out by the intense illumination. In
its lavish ornamentation and elegant proportions the building suggested
a carved ivory cabinet, but one rifled of its jewels, for except for the
keeper of the gate-lodge, to whom he had tossed his bridle, he had met
no guards. The great doorway stood invitingly open, but Brandilancia
hesitated to enter and looked about for some means of announcing his
presence.

"Is the villa under some enchantment?" he asked himself. "If so some imp
or sprite should lurk hereabouts and now make its appearance."

As if in answer to this mental question a peal of elfish laughter
greeted his ear,--a mirthless, falsetto cackle, like that of a parrot,
and half hidden behind one of the great marble lions in the shade of the
loggia he discerned a grotesque little creature, with the figure of a
child and a woman's face, old in its expression of slyness and
malignity.

Brandilancia started, although he knew that it was the custom of Italian
princes to maintain dwarfs in their households. This woman, probably a
dependent, was dressed like a princess. Her dress though soiled was of
stiff brocade embroidered with gold thread, and the high lace ruff,
which made her swarthy complexion darker by contrast with its whiteness,
was edged with seed pearls.

"Come in, my lord," she croaked. "The Grand Duke regretted that, obliged
to be temporarily in Florence, he could not receive you, but awaiting
his return the villa is at your service, and the Grand Duchess and the
Signorina will endeavour to make the time pass pleasantly."

He followed her, wondering as to her position. "How did you know me?" he
asked. "You are expected," she replied, "and no one but an Englishman
would have called at the hour of the siesta. Shall I show your worship
to your own room, or will you await the ladies in the library?" His hand
was on the little fan, and he was striving to frame some question whose
answer would enlighten him as to the giver, but the dwarf's last word
caught his ear, and acted like the scent of spirits upon a man thirsting
for drink.

"To the