g of the chains of the door, and its
creaking movement on its rusty hinges. M. Narelli entered, and with the
rough, straightforward, practical conduct of a man in his position, he
came at once to the point.

"You confess, then, that you stole the lace?"

"I do," she answered, with a firm voice, which surprised me after the
scene I had just witnessed; "I do confess that I stole the lace; but it
was not for myself, but for one far greater, and far better capable of
making a defence--for that man Flavio."

I noticed the gleam of satisfaction that passed over M. Narelli's
countenance at the mention of his name; and when he felt well assured
that he was, at last, fairly on the track of the man who had evaded all
his efforts, and in pursuit of whom, as I afterwards learned, he was, on
one occasion, nearly losing his situation, on account of a robbery
which it was quite evident that Flavio had committed, but of which he
could not obtain the least trace, at once his whole manner changed
towards the unfortunate girl; he asked her to sit down, to be quite
calm, and to tell him all that she knew of the man's career.

I thought, for one moment, that even then she would have relented, but
it was far otherwise; she began at once, with the calmest voice, to give
a sketch of Flavio's life from the time when she first met him. The
story was one of intense interest. It seems that at one time he was
engaged in gaining an honest livelihood; but one unlucky day he
quarrelled with a man--struck him; this led to a tussle, and, in a fit
of exasperation, he took out a knife and killed him on the spot. From
that moment he was lost. The dead man's family vowed vengeance against
him. He had to take to the woods, where, for self-defence, and really
for his subsistence, he took to the brigand's life. His extreme courage,
and even generosity, soon brought a large number of followers together;
and, as I have already remarked, he became the terror of the whole
Neapolitan frontier. At one time two or three regiments were sent in
pursuit of him; and then it was he undertook the last and boldest step
of coming to Rome itself. He got into the city at night, and for a long
time nothing more was heard of Flavio. At last his old habits returned.
Some robberies committed with wondrous skill, and a murder of
extraordinary atrocity, made the police suspect that the man who thus
braved their vigilance was a criminal of no ordinary description; but do
what the