hould not have rung forth
to carry them on the popular current; and some might have sympathized
with the insane grin which distorted the features of Antonio-Pericles,
when he beheld illusion wantonly destroyed, and the opera reduced to be
a mere vehicle for a fulmination of politics. But the general enthusiasm
was too tremendous to permit of individual protestations. To sit, when
the nation was standing, was to be a German. Nor, indeed, was there an
Italian in the house who would willingly have consented to see Vittoria
silenced, now that she had chosen to defy the Tedeschi from the boards
of La Scala. The fascination of her voice extended even over the German
division of the audience. They, with the Italians, said: 'Hear her! hear
her!' The curtain was agitated at the wings, but in the centre it was
kept above Vittoria's head by the uplifted arms of the twelve young
men:--

'I cannot count the years,
That you will drink, like me,
The cup of blood and tears,
Ere she to you appears:--
Italia, Italia shall be free!'

So the great name was out, and its enemies had heard it.

'You dedicate your lives
To her, and you will be
The food on which she thrives,
Till her great day arrives
Italia, Italia shall be free!

'She asks you but for faith!
Your faith in her takes she
As draughts of heaven's breath,
Amid defeat and death:--
Italia, Italia shall be free!'

The prima donna was not acting exhaustion when sinking lower in
Montini's arms. Her bosom rose and sank quickly, and she gave the
terminating verse:--

'I enter the black boat
Upon the wide grey sea,
Where all her set suns float;
Thence hear my voice remote
Italia, Italia shall be free!'

The curtain dropped.

CHAPTER XXII

WILFRID COMES FORWARD

An order for the immediate arrest of Vittoria was brought round to the
stage at the fall of the curtain by Captain Weisspriess, and delivered
by him on the stage to the officer commanding, a pothered lieutenant of
Croats, whose first proceeding was dictated by the military instinct to
get his men in line, and who was utterly devoid of any subsequent idea.
The thunder of the house on the other side of the curtain was enough to
disconcert a youngster such as he was; nor have the subalterns of
Croat regiments a very signal reputation for efficiency in the