d with your presence during the
day-time," observed Lomellino; "and at night the great lords and
high-born ladies who happen to be abroad, are so muffled up--the former
in their cloaks, the latter in their veils----"

"True--true; I understand all you would say, Lomellino," interrupted the
captain; "but you know how to be rather tedious at times. Here we
separate, I repair to the Arestino Palace, and you----"

"To the cavern," replied Lomellino: "where I hope to sleep better than I
did last night," he added.

"What! a renewal of those infernal shriekings and screamings, that seem
to come from the bowels of the earth?" exclaimed the captain.

"Worse than ever," answered Lomellino. "If they continue much longer, I
must abandon my office of treasure-keeper, which compels me to sleep in
the innermost room----"

"That cannot be allowed, my worthy friend," interrupted the captain;
"for I should not know whom to appoint in your place. If it were not
that we should not betray our own stronghold," continued Stephano,
emphatically, "we would force our way into the nest of our noisy
neighbors, and levy such a tribute upon them as would put them on their
good behavior for the future."

"The scheme is really worth consideration," remarked Lomellino.

"We will talk more of it another time," said the captain. "Good-night,
Lomellino. I shall not return to the cavern until very late."

The two banditti then separated--Lomellino striking off to the right,
and Stephano Verrina pursuing his way toward the most aristocratic
quarter of Florence.

Upon entering the sphere of marble palaces, brilliantly lighted villas,
and gay mansions, the robber chief covered his face with a black mask--a
mode of disguise so common at that period, not only amongst ladies, but
also with cavaliers and nobles, that it was not considered at all
suspicious, save as a proof of amatory intrigue, with which the sbirri
had no right of interference.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE COUNTESS OF ARESTINO.

We must now introduce our readers to a splendid apartment in the
Arestino Palace.

This room was tastefully decorated and elegantly furnished. The tapestry
was of pale blue; and the ottomans, ranged round the walls in Oriental
style, were of rich crimson satin embroidered with gold. In the middle
stood a table covered with ornaments and rich trinkets lately arrived
from Paris--for France already began to exercise the influence of its
superior civilization