out the Fra, as he ascended the
wide stairs of white marble, with a sinking heart.

'Let us go a little slower, Fra Luke,' whispered the boy; 'I 'd like to
have a look at these statues. See what a fine fellow that is strangling
the serpent; and, oh! is she not beautiful, crouching in that large
shell?'

'Heathen vanities, all of them,' muttered the Fra; 'what are they
compared to the pure face of our blessed Lady?'

The youth felt rebuked, and was silent. While the friar, however, was
communicating with the servant in waiting, the boy had time to stroll
down the long gallery, admiring as he went the various works of art it
contained. Stands of weapons, too, and spoils of the chase abounded,
and these he examined with a wistful curiosity, reading from short
inscriptions attached to the cases, which told him how this wolf had
been killed by his Royal Highness on such a day of such a year, and how
that boar had received his death-wound from the Prince's hand at such
another time.

It almost required force from the friar to tear him away from objects
so full of interest, nor did he succeed without a promise that he should
see them all some other day. Passing through a long suite of rooms,
magnificently furnished, but whose splendour was dimmed and faded
by years, they reached an octagonal chamber of small but beautiful
proportions; and here the friar was told the youth was to wait, while he
himself was admitted to the Prince.

Charles Edward had just dined--and, as was his wont, dined freely--when
the Fra was announced. 'You can retire,' said the Prince to the servants
in waiting, but never turning his head toward where the friar was
standing. The servants retreated noiselessly, and all was now still in
the chamber. The Prince had drawn his chair toward the fire, and sat
gazing at the burning logs in deep reverie. Apparently he followed his
thoughts so far as to forget that the poor friar was yet in waiting; for
it was only as a low, faint sigh escaped him that the Prince suddenly
turning his head, cried out, 'Ah! our Frate. I had half forgotten you.
You are somewhat late, are you not?'

In a voice tremulous with fear and deference Fra Luke narrated how
they had been delayed by a misadventure in the Piazza, contriving
to interweave in his story an apology for the torn dress and ragged
habiliments the boy was to appear in. 'He is not in a state to be seen
by your Royal Highness at all. If it wasn't that your Royal Hi