eightened. The young
men thought they had never beheld a more entrancing vision of female
loveliness.

"Where is father?" asked the peasant, anxiously.

"He has not yet returned," replied the girl.

The guide uttered a sigh of relief.

"I am glad," said he, "for Pasquale Solara does not like strangers. Were
he here he might refuse to exercise hospitality towards this wounded man
and his companion, even though they are, as they assert, friends of
Luigi Vampa."

"Friends of Luigi Vampa!" echoed the girl, becoming greatly alarmed.
"The Blessed Virgin protect us!"

"They are not brigands, at any rate," said the peasant, "and I believe
them honest men. If, however, they are deceiving me, I shall know how to
act!"

There was an ominous flash in his eye as he spoke, and his hand again
sought the weapon concealed within his bosom. Esperance, who had been
intently listening to this conversation and had marked every motion of
the young peasant, felt his suspicions revive; but there was no time for
hesitation; shelter and aid for his friend were of the first necessity;
they must be obtained at once and at any cost. He had refrained from
offering the peasant money, not wishing to betray that he and his
companion were other personages than they seemed, and now that
Annunziata had appeared upon the scene he congratulated himself on the
wisdom of his course. He, nevertheless, feared Giovanni's impulsiveness
in the presence of the girl he so much admired, and determined to watch
him as closely as possible, in order to promptly check all damaging
disclosures. If Giovanni remained in this attractive nook long enough to
open and carry on a flirtation with the beautiful flower-girl, he must
do so solely as a peasant and under the cover of his clever disguise. It
was hardly likely that Annunziata would recognize in Massetti and
himself the two youthful gallants she had encountered but for a moment
amid the gay throng and crush of the brilliant Piazza del Popolo.

While these thoughts went flashing through his mind, the young Viscount,
leaning heavily upon his arm, had not taken his eyes from the handsome,
tempting girl before him. Suffering as he was, he longed to be at her
side, to clasp her lovely shape, to feel her warm, voluptuous breath
stream over his face and imprint kiss after kiss on her ripe red lips.
He had not forgotten Zuleika. Oh! no! But Annunziata Solara was an
altogether different being, a girl to delight him, int