a tone half
confidential. 'He told me that, if you showed a disposition for it, he
would place you at the University of Sienna, where you could follow your
studies until such time as a career should present itself.'

'To what do I owe this gracious interest in my fate, lady?' asked he
eagerly. 'Is it my casual resemblance to the prince he was so fond of?'

'So fond!' exclaimed she; then, as quickly correcting herself, she
added: 'No, not altogether that--though, perhaps, the likeness may have
served you,'

'How kind and good of him to think of one so friendless!' muttered
Gerald, half aloud.

'Is the proposal one you would like to close with? Tell me frankly,
Gherardi, for we are speaking now in all frankness!'

'Perhaps I may only lose another friend if I say no!' said he timidly;
and then, with bolder accents, added: 'Let me own it, madame, I have no
taste for study--at least such studies as these. My heart is set upon
the world of action: I would like to win a name, no matter how brief the
time left me to enjoy it.'

'Shall I tell you _my_ plan--'

'_Yours!_' broke he in. 'Surely you too have not deigned to remember me?'

'Yes; the Count interested me strongly in you. This morning we talked
of little else at breakfast, and up to the moment we overtook you at the
gate. His generous ardour in your behalf filled me with a like zeal, and
we discussed together many a plan for your future; and mine was, that
you should enter the service of the King----'

'What King?'

'What other than the King of France, boy, the heir of St. Louis?'

'He befriended the cause of Charles Edward, did he not?' asked Gerald
eagerly.

'Yes,' said she, smiling at the ardour with which he asked the question.
'Do you feel deep interest in the fortunes of that Prince?'

The youth clasped his hands together and pressed them to his heart,
without a word.

'Your family, perhaps, supported that cause?'

'They did, lady. When I was an infant, I prayed for its success; as I
grew older, I learned to sorrow for its failure.'

There was something so true and so natural in the youth's expression as
he spoke, that the Marquise was touched by it, and turned away her head
to conceal her emotion.

'The game is not played out yet, boy,' said she at last; 'there are
great men, and wise ones too, who say that the condition of Europe, the
peace of the world, requires the recognition of rights so just as those
of the Stuarts. They see, too, that