before they
went mad, and four more before they died."

"You hell cat!" he cried, "have you come to gloat over and increase my
agony?"

"That is not a pretty name," she said slowly, "I like better the 'dear
Signorina' with which you honoured me just now. You are too hasty,
Signor Brandilancia, too hasty in your conclusions, and in speaking them
forth. It might strike a wiser man in your situation that it would be
worth while not to antagonise a friend who has come to serve you. In
proof that you have misunderstood my motives I now pass you the water.
It was good? You would like more? Presently. It is not well to drink too
much when one is as thirsty as you are, besides I want to talk with you.
Do you realise that you are in a very serious position?"

"Have I been condemned to death?"

"Not so. There will be no trial, no execution. You will simply be
forgotten, left here to die. The Grand Duke believes you to be the lover
of his niece. That fact would not in the least distress him, were it not
for her approaching marriage, which he fears may be interrupted by some
rash act on your part."

"Tell the Grand Duke, if you come from him, and the Signorina also to
have no fear, that madness is past. If I am released I will repair to
England and never trouble her again."

Scorn curled the dwarf's lips. "Think you, the Duke would trust your
promise? And as for the Signorina she desires nothing of the sort, for
she loves you passionately."

"Poor lady," he groaned. "But for me she might have reconciled herself
to her destiny, wretch that I am to break the heart of one who loves me.
Tell her from me, that if she desires me to do so, and God in His mercy
delivers me from this bed of death I will keep my promise to snatch her
from the fate she dreads, and we will begin the new life in the new
world of which we dreamed."

The face of the dwarf was contorted with merriment which made it the
more hideous.

"Is the life of a savage in the wilderness a fit one for a daughter of
the Medici?" she demanded. "You need neither of you die or forego a
single luxury which your hearts desire, if you will gather your wits
together and listen to me.

"Possibly you think that I have no influence with the Grand Duke, but if
so you greatly mistake. I know the secret of my parentage, and have so
disposed matters that my death would bring it to light. Ferdinando de'
Medici will grant any request of mine. I am to go to Paris, not as the
ser