s I did, into a great and lasting felicity. For about a year after I
had finished "Mr. and Mrs. Robinson" I wandered from place to place,
trying to kill memory, shunning all places frequented by the English.
At last I found myself in Lucca. Here, if anywhere, I thought, might a
bruised and tormented spirit find gradual peace. I determined to move
out of my hotel into some permanent lodging. Not for felicity, not for
any complete restoration of self-respect, was I hoping; only for peace.
A "mezzano" conducted me to a noble and ancient house, of which, he
told me, the owner was anxious to let the first floor. It was in much
disrepair, but even so seemed to me very cheap. According to the simple
Luccan standard, I am rich. I took that first floor for a year, had it
repaired, and engaged two servants. My "padrona" inhabited the ground
floor. From time to time she allowed me to visit her there. She was
the Contessa Adriano-Rizzoli, the last of her line. She is the Contessa
Adriano-Rizzoli-Maltby. We have been married fifteen years.'

Maltby looked at his watch. He rose and took tenderly from the table
his great bunch of roses. 'She is a lineal descendant,' he said, 'of the
Emperor Hadrian.'

'SAVONAROLA' BROWN

I like to remember that I was the first to call him so, for, though he
always deprecated the nickname, in his heart he was pleased by it, I
know, and encouraged to go on.

Quite apart from its significance, he had reason to welcome it. He had
been unfortunate at the font. His parents, at the time of his birth,
lived in Ladbroke Crescent, XV. They must have been an extraordinarily
unimaginative couple, for they could think of no better name for their
child than Ladbroke. This was all very well for him till he went to
school. But you can fancy the indignation and delight of us boys at
finding among us a newcomer who, on his own confession, had been named
after a Crescent. I don't know how it is nowadays, but thirty-five years
ago, certainly, schoolboys regarded the possession of ANY Christian name
as rather unmanly. As we all had these encumbrances, we had to wreak our
scorn on any one who was cumbered in a queer fashion. I myself, bearer
of a Christian name adjudged eccentric though brief, had had much to put
up with in my first term. Brown's arrival, therefore, at the beginning
of my second term, was a good thing for me, and I am afraid I was very
prominent among his persecutors. Trafalgar Brown, Tottenha