"We confide in thy prudence, wise mother," rejoined one of the elder ones; "thy will is the tabernacle of blessing and good luck."

No more was said.

The former lively state of feeling returned; the wine-flask circulated. They slapped me familiarly on the shoulder; gave me the best pieces of the venison which was served up; but the old woman sat as before immovably at work with her hand spindle, whilst one of the younger men laid fresh ashes at her feet, saying, "Thou art cold, old mother!"

From their conversation, and from the name by which they had addressed her, I now discovered that she it was who had told my fortune, as a child, when I, with my mother and Mariuccia, wove garlands by Lake Nemi. I felt that my fate lay in her hand; she had made me write, "I travel to Naples!" That was my own desire, but how was I to get across the barrier without a passport? how was I to maintain myself in the foreign city, where I knew no one? To make my début as an improvisatore, whilst I was a fugitive from a neighboring city, was a thing I dared not to do. My power of language, however, and a singular childish reliance on the Madonna, strengthened my soul; even the thought of Annunciata, which dissolved into a strange melancholy, brought peace to my heart

a peace like that which descends upon the seaman, when, after his ship is gone down, he alone is driven in a little boat towards an unknown shore.

One day after another glided on; the men came and went, and even Fulvia was absent for one whole day, and I was alone in the cave with one of the robbers.

He

This was a young man of about one-and-twenty, of ordinary features, but with a remarkably melancholy expression, which almost bordered on insanity; this, and his beautiful long hair which fell upon his shoulders, characterized his exterior. sat silent for a long time, with his head sunk upon his arm. At length he turned himself to me and said, "Thou canst read: read me a prayer out of this book!" and with that he gave me a little prayer-book. I read, and the most heartfelt devotion beamed in his large, dark eyes.

"Why wilt thou leave us?" asked he, offering me his hand

good-naturedly; "perjury and falsehood dwell in the city as in the wood; only in the wood one has fresh air and fewer people."

A sort of confidential feeling arose between us; and whilst I shuddered at his wild manner, I was touched by his unhappiness.

"Thou knowest, perhaps," said he, "the legend of the Prince of Savelli? of the gay wedding at Ariccia? It was, to be sure, only a poor peasant and a simple country-girl, but she was handsome, and it was her wedding. The rich lord of Savelli gave a dance in honor of the bride, and sent her an invitation to his garden; but she revealed it to her bridegroom, who dressed himself in her clothes, and put on her bridal veil, and went instead of her, and then, when the count would have pressed her to his breast, a dagger was driven into his noble heart. I knew a count and a bridegroom like these, only the bride was not so open-hearted: the rich count celebrated the bridal night, and the bridegroom the feast of Ideath with her. Her bosom shone like snow when the pale knife found its way to her heart!"

I looked silently into his face, and had not a word wherewith to express my sympathy.

"Thou thinkest that I never knew lovenever, like the bee, drank from the fragrant cup!" exclaimed he. "There travelled a high-born English lady to Naples ; she had a handsome serving-maid with her - health on her cheek and fire in her eyes! My comrades compelled them all to dismount from the carriage, and to sit in silence on the ground whilst they plundered it. The two women, and a young man, the lover of one I fancy he was, we took up among the hills. By the time that the ransom came for all three the girl's red cheeks were gone, and her eyes burned less brightly: that came from so much wood among the hills!"

I turned myself from him, and, as if half to excuse himself, he added, "The girl was a Protestant, a daughter of Satan!"

In the evening Fulvia returned, and gave me a letter, which she commanded me not to read.

"The mountains have their white caps on; it is time to fly

away. Eat and drink; we have a long journey before us, and there grow no cakes upon the naked rocky path."

The young robber placed food on the table in haste, of which I partook, and then Fulvia threw a cloak over her shoulders, and hurried me along through dark, excavated passages.

"In the letter lie thy wings," said she ; "not a soldier on the barrier shall ruffle a feather of thine, my young eagle! The wishing-rod also lies beside it, which will afford thee gold and silver till thou hast fetched up thy own treasures."

She now divided, with her naked, thin arm, the thick ivy, which hung like a curtain before the entrance to the cavern; it was dark night without, and a thick mist enwrapt the mountains. I held fast by her dress, and scarcely could keep up with her quick steps along the untrodden path in the dark: like a spirit she went forward; bushes and hedges were left behind us on either hand.

Our march had continued for some time, and we were now in a narrow valley between the mountains. Not far from us stood a straw hut, one of those which is met with in the Marshes, without walls, and with its roof of reeds down to the ground. Light shone from a chink in its low door. We entered, and found ourselves as if in a great bee-hive, but all around was quite black from the smoke, which had no other exit than through the low door. Pillars and beams, nay, even the reeds themselves, were shining with the soot. In the middle of the floor was an elevation of brick-work, a few ells long, and probably half as broad; on this lay a fire of wood; here the food was cooked, and by this means, also, the hut was warmed. Further back was an opening in the wall, which led to a smaller hut, which was attached to the greater, just as one sees a small onion grow to the mother-bulb; within this lay a woman sleeping, with several children. An ass poked forth his head from above them and looked on us. An old man, almost naked, with a ragged pair of drawers on, made of goat-skin, came towards us; he kissed Fulvia's hands, and, without a word being exchanged, he threw his woolen skin. over his naked shoulders, drew forth the ass, and made a sign for me to mount.

.

"The horse of fortune will gallop better than the ass of the Campagna," said Fulvia.

The peasant led the ass and me out of the hut. My heart was deeply moved with gratitude to the singular old woman, and I bent down to kiss her hand; but she shook her head, and then, stroking the hair back from my forehead, I felt her cold kiss, saw her once more motioning with her hand, and the twigs and hedges hid us from each other. The peasant struck the ass, and then ran on beside him up the path: I spoke to him; he uttered a low sound, and gave me, by a sign, to understand that he was dumb. My curiosity to read the letter which Fulvia had given me let me have no rest; I therefore drew it out and opened it. It consisted of various papers, but the darkness forbade me to read a single word, however much I strained my eyes.

When the day dawned, we were upon the ridges of the mountains, where alone was to be seen naked granite, with a few creeping plants, and the gray-green fragrant artemisia. The heavens were quite clear, scattered over with shining stars; a sea-like cloud world lay below us: it was the Marshes which stretched themselves out from the mountains of Albano, between Veletri and Terracina, bounded by Abruzzi and the Mediterranean Sea. The low, wavy clouds of mist shone below us, and I quickly saw how the infinitely blue heaven changed to lilac, and then into rose-color, and the mountains even became like bright blue velvet. I was dazzled with the pomp of coloring; a fire burned upon the side of the mountain, which shone like a star upon the light ground. I folded my hands in head bowed itself before God in the prayer; my great church of nature, and silently besought, "Let Thy will be done!"

The daylight was now sufficiently clear for me to see what my letter contained; it was a passport in my own name, prepared by the Roman police, and signed by the Neapolitan ambassador; an order on the house of Falconet, in Naples, for five hundred scudi, and a small note containing the words, "Bernardo's life is out of danger; but do not return to Rome for some months."

Fulvia said justly that here were my wings and wishing-rod. I was free; a sigh of gratitude arose from my heart.

We soon reached a more trodden path, where some shepherds were sitting at their breakfasts. My guide stopped here; they seemed to know him, and he made them understand, by signs with his fingers, that they should invite us to partake of their meal, which consisted of bread and buffalocheese, to which they drank asses' milk. I enjoyed some mouthfuls, and felt myself strengthened thereby.

My guide now showed me a path, and the others explained to me that it led down the mountains along the Marshes to Terracina, which I could reach before evening. I must continually keep this path to the left of the mountains, which would, in a few hours, bring me to a canal, which went from the mountains to the great high-road, the boundary trees of which I should see as soon as the mist cleared away. By following the canal, I should come out upon the high-road, just beside a ruined convent, where now stood an inn, called Torre di tre Ponti.

Gladly would I have bestowed upon my guide a little gift; but I had nothing. It then occurred to me that I still had, however, the two scudi, which were in my pocket when I left Rome; I had only given up the purse with the money which I had received as needful in my flight. Two scudi were thus, for the moment, all my ready money; the one I would give to my guide, the other I must keep for my own wants till I reached Naples, where I could only avail myself of my bill. I felt in my pocket, but vain was all my search; they had long ago taken from me all my little property. I had nothing at all I therefore took off the silk handkerchief which I had round my neck, and gave it to the man, offered my hand to the others, and struck alone into the path which led down to the Marshes.