ried a
third; and there rained upon him, from every side, words of mockery and
sarcasm.

'Don't you see that he is a mere boy--have you no shame that you can
mock a simple-hearted child like this?' said the burly Fra, as he pushed
the crowd right and left, and forced a passage through the mob. 'Come
along, Gerald, come along. They are a cowardly pack, and if they were
not fifty to one, they 'd think twice ere they 'd insult us.' This
speech he delivered in Italian, with a daring emphasis of look and
gesture that made the craven listeners tremble. They opened a little
path for the friar and his charge to retire; nor was it until they had
nearly gained the corner of the Piazza that they dared to yell forth a
cry of insult and derision.

The boy grasped the Fra's hand as he heard it, and looked up in his face
with an expression there was no mistaking, so full was it of wild and
daring courage.

'No, no, Gerald,' said he, 'there are too many of them, and what should
we get by it after all? See, too, how they have torn your soutane all
to pieces. I almost suspect we ought to go back again to the college, my
boy. I scarcely like to present you in such a state as this.'

Well indeed might the Fra have come to this doubtful issue, for the
youth's gown hung in ribbons around him, and his cap was flattened to
his head.

'I wish I knew what was best to be done, Gerald,' said he, wiping the
sweat from his brawny face. 'What do you advise yourself?'

'I'd say, go on,' cried the youth. 'Will a great signor think whether my
poor and threadbare frock be torn or whole?--he 'll not know if I be in
rags or in purple. Tell him, if you like, that we met with rough usage
in the streets. Tell him, that in passing through the crowd they left me
thus. Say nothing about Marietta, Fra; you need not speak of her.'

The boy's voice, as he uttered the last words, became little louder than
a mere whisper.

'Come along then; and, with the help of the saints, we 'll go through
with what we 've begun.'

And with this vigorous resolve the stout friar strode along down the
Corso.

CHAPTER VI. THE INTERVIEW

It was full an hour after the time appointed when the friar, accompanied
by young Gerald, entered the arched gate of the Altieri Palace.

'You have been asked for twice, Frate,' said the porter; 'and I doubt
if you will be admitted now. It is the time his Royal Highness takes his
siesta.'

'I must only hope for the best,' sighed