ght was dark, and the hour about eleven. Don Juan passed through
two or three streets, but finding himself alone, and with no one to
speak to, he determined to return home. He began to retrace his steps
accordingly; and was passing through a street, the houses of which had
marble porticoes, when he heard some one call out, "Hist! hist!" from
one of the doors. The darkness of the night, and the shadow cast by the
colonnade, did not permit him to see the whisperer; but he stopped at
once, and listened attentively. He saw a door partially opened,
approached it, and heard these words uttered in a low voice, "Is it you,
Fabio?" Don Juan, on the spur of the moment, replied, "Yes!" "Take it,
then," returned the voice, "take it, and place it in security; but
return instantly, for the matter presses." Don Juan put out his hand in
the dark, and encountered a packet. Proceeding to take hold of it, he
found that it required both hands; instinctively he extended the second,
but had scarcely done so before the portal was closed, and he found
himself again alone in the street, loaded with, he knew not what.

Presently the cry of an infant, and, as it seemed, but newly born, smote
his ears, filling him with confusion and amazement, for he knew not what
next to do, or how to proceed in so strange a case. If he knocked at the
door he was almost certain to endanger the mother of the infant; and if
he left his burthen there, he must imperil the life of the babe itself.
But if he took it home he should as little know what to do with it, nor
was he acquainted with any one in the city to whom he could entrust the
care of the child; yet remembering that he had been required to come
back quickly, after placing his charge in safety, he determined to take
the infant home, leave it in the hands of his old housekeeper, and
return to see if his aid was needed in any way, since he perceived
clearly that the person who had been expected to come for the child had
not arrived, and the latter had been given to himself in mistake. With
this determination, Don Juan soon reached his home; but found that
Antonio had already left it. He then went to his chamber, and calling
the housekeeper, uncovered the infant, which was one of the most
beautiful ever seen; whilst, as the good woman remarked, the elegance of
the clothes in which the little creature was wrapped, proved him--for it
was a boy--to be the son of rich parents.

"You must, now," said Don Juan to hi