ontinued, in a lower
and less excited tone: "The ambitious views of Ibrahim Pasha must
experience a signal defeat; and as he is too powerful to be personally
injured by us, we must torture his soul by crushing his relations--we
must punish him through the medium of his sister and his aunt. This
evening I had a long discourse with Dr. Duras, who is devoted to my
interests, and over whom I wield a wondrous power of persuasion. He has
undertaken to induce his brother, Angelo Duras, to abandon the cause of
the Francatellis; and the inquisition will, therefore, deal with them as
it lists. Father Marco I can also manage as I will; he understands the
language in which the deaf and dumb converse, for he has so long been
confessor to our family. To-morrow I will undertake to send him to Rome
on some charitable mission connected with the church. Thus the only
persons whom you secured when last you were in Florence, in the
interests of the Francatellis, will cease to watch over them; and, as
they are accused of being accomplices in the sacrilege perpetrated in
the Carmelite Convent, naught will save them from the flames of the
_auto-da-fe_."

"Oh! spirit of the murdered Calanthe," exclaimed Demetrius, with savage
joy, "thou wilt be avenged yet! And thou, false vizier, shalt writhe in
the flames at the stake!"

"Now, as for Antonio, and the rest of the banditti who stormed the
convent and gave freedom to the hated Flora--who have likewise captured
my brother--and who have so long been a terror to Florence," continued
Nisida; "we must annihilate them all at one blow; not a soul of the gang
must be spared!"

Nisida knew full well that at least some of the banditti were acquainted
with the fact that she was the murderess of Agnes, and that they could
also tell an awkward tale of how she sought to bribe them to rescue
Fernand Wagner in case of an adverse judgment on the part of the
criminal tribunal. The total annihilation of the horde was consequently
the large aim at which she aspired, and her energetic mind shrunk not
from any difficulties that might appear in the way toward the execution
of that object.

"The design is grand, but not without its obstacles," observed
Demetrius. "Your ladyship will moreover adopt measures to rescue the
Lord Count of Riverola first."

"By means of gold everything can be accomplished amongst villains,"
returned Nisida, "and the necessary preliminaries to the carrying out of
our object rest with