that Luisa was lost in thought, and did not heed
him, he started towards the hot-house containing the begonias. "An old
_Strobus_," said he, speaking in a loud voice that the visitors might
hear him, but without looking around, "An old _Strobus_ that has been
struck by lightning. If you wish to visit the private gardens----"

Luisa turned from the parapet and went to fetch the uncle, and give him
her arm if necessary. The gardener, who was waiting at the entrance of
the little grove of laurels, saw her start towards the old gentleman,
who was still sitting on the bench, saw her quicken her pace and then
rush to his side with a cry.

Like the innocent and aged tree Uncle Piero also had been struck down.
His body was resting against the back of the bench, his head had fallen
forward, and his chin touched his breast. His eyes were open, fixed and
expressionless. It had indeed been a farewell spectacle his beloved
Valsolda had offered him the day before. Uncle Piero, the dear,
venerable, old man, wise, upright, and fatherly, the benefactor of his
own people, Uncle Piero was gone, gone forever. He had come to enlist,
but God had called him to a higher service; the bugle had sounded, and
he had answered the call. The drums of Pallanza still rolled, rolled for
the end of the old world, and rolled for the advent of the new. In
Luisa's womb there lay a vital germ which was preparing to fight the
battles of a new era, preparing to taste other joys, other griefs than
those which the man of the old world was leaving thus peacefully,
blessed unconsciously, at the last moment, by that strange priest of
Isola Bella, who had, perhaps, never uttered the holy words to one more
worthy.

_A Selection from the
Catalogue of_

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

Complete Catalogues sent
on application

"Signor Fogazzaro is at the present moment undoubtedly the greatest of
Italian novelists. His nobility of feeling, his wide sympathy, his
kindliness and breezy humor entitle him to a high place among writers of
fiction."--

From Villari's "Italian Life."

The Trilogy of Rome

BY

ANTONIO FOGAZZARO

The Patriot

PICCOLO MONDO ANTICO _Crown 8vo. $1.50_

A picture of "the little ancient world" of Vasolda in the troubled
period of 1848-49, when the "spirit of patriotism mourned its fiercest."
The bo