uigi nodded sagaciously before he permitted himself to
say--"perhaps he is jealous in another way. I have heard him speak like a
sonnet of the signorina's beauty. The Signor Antonio-Pericles thinks that
you have come here to-day to meet them. When he heard that you were going
to leave Milan for Baveno, he was mad, and with two fists up, against all
English persons. The Englishman who is an Austrian officer is quartered
at Verona, and the Signor Antonio Pericles said that the Englishman should
not meet you yet, if he could help it."

Victoria stood brooding. "Who can it be,--who is an Englishman, and an
Austrian officer, and knows me?"

"Signorina, I don't know names. Behold, that Beppo is approaching like
the snow! What I entreat is, that the signorina will wait a little for
the English party, if they come, so that I may have something to tell my
patron. To invent upon nothing is most unpleasant, and the Signor Antonio
can soon perceive whether one swims with corks. Signorina, I can dance on
one rope--I am a man. I am not a midge--I cannot dance upon nothing."

The days of Vittoria's youth had been passed in England. It was not
unknown to her that old English friends were on the way to Italy; the
recollection of a quiet and a buried time put a veil across her features.
She was perplexed by the mention of the Austrian officer by Luigi, as one
may be who divines the truth too surely, but will not accept it for its
loathsomeness. There were Englishmen in the army of Austria. Could one of
them be this one whom she had cared for when she was a girl? It seemed
hatefully cruel to him to believe it. She spoke to Agostino, begging him
to remain with her on the height awhile to see whether the Signor
Antonio-Pericles was right; to see whether Luigi was a truth-teller; to
see whether these English persons were really coming. "Because," she
said, "if they do come, it will at once dissolve any suspicions you may
have of this Luigi. And I always long so much to know if the Signor
Antonio is correct. I have never yet known him to be wrong."

"And you want to see these English," said Agostino. He frowned.

"Only to hear them. They shall not recognize me. I have now another name;
and I am changed. My hat is enough to hide me. Let me hear them talk a
little. You and the Signor Carlo will stay with me, and when they come,
if they do come, I will remain no longer than just sufficient to make
sure. I would refuse to know any of them befo