y bottle over
his head.

Everybody was on his feet in a moment. It was too late. In thirty
seconds the poison had begun its work, and Bruno was reeling in the arms
of the Carabineers. Somebody called for a doctor. Somebody else called
for a priest.

"That's all right," said Bruno. "God is a good old saint. He'll look
after a poor devil like me." Then he began to sing:--

"The tombs are uncovered,
The dead arise,
The martyrs are rising
Before our eyes."

"Long live David Rossi!" he cried again, and at the next moment he was
being carried out of court.

In the tumult that ensued everybody was standing in the well of the
judges' horse-shoe table. The deaf old woman, with her shawls slipping
off her shoulders, was wringing her hands and crying. "God will think of
this," she said. The Garibaldian was gazing vacantly out of his rheumy
eyes and saying nothing. Roma, who had recovered control of herself, was
looking at the letter, which she had picked up from the floor.

[Illustration: "GOD WILL LOOK AFTER A POOR DEVIL LIKE ME."]

"Mr. President," she cried over the heads of the others, "this letter is
not in Mr. Rossi's handwriting. It is a forgery. I am ready to prove
it."

At that moment one of the Carabineers came back to tell the judges that
all was over.

"Gone!" said one after another, more often with a motion of the mouth
than with the voice.

The president was deeply agitated. "This court stands adjourned," he
said, "but I take the Almighty to witness that I intend to ascertain all
responsibility in this case and to bring it home to the guilty ones,
whosoever and whatsoever they may be."

XVIII

"MY DEAR DAVID ROSSI,--You will know all about it before this
letter reaches you. It is one of those scandals of the law that
are telegraphed to every part of the civilised world. Poor Bruno!
Yet no, not poor--great, glorious, heroic Bruno! He ended like an
old Roman, and killed himself rather than betray his friend. When
they played upon his jealousy, and tempted him by a forged
letter, he cried, 'Long live David Rossi!' and died. Oh, it was
wonderful. The memory of that moment will be with me always like
the protecting and strengthening hand of God. I never knew until
to-day what human nature is capable of. It is divine.

"But how mean and little I feel when I think of all I went through
in the court this