Deeper and darker schemes than mine were once enacted there!--and what
fruits have they borne after all? They who convulsed the age they lived
in have never left an impress to ruffle the future, and, for aught that
we know or feel, the Medici might never have lived. And this," cried he,
aloud, "because theirs was a selfish ambition. There is but one cause
whose interests are eternal,--the Church; that glorious creation which
combines power here with triumph hereafter!" His face, as he uttered
the words, was no bad emblem of the nature within,----a high and noble
brow, lit up by the impress of a great ambition, and, beneath, eyes
of changeful and treacherous meaning; while, lower down again, in
the compressed lips and projecting chin might be read the signs of an
unrelenting spirit. Passing along through many a tortuous path, he at
last reached a small private gate which led into the grounds of the
"Moskova." He had to bethink him for a moment of the way which conducted
to the gardens, but he soon remembered the direction, and walked on.
It was the hour when in Italy the whole face of a country, the busiest
streets of a thronged city, are deserted, and a stillness far more
unbroken than that of midnight prevails. The glowing hours of noonday
had brought the "siesta," and not a laborer was to be seen in the
fields.

D'Esmonde found the garden unlocked, and entered. He knew that by
passing directly onward to the "orangery" he could enter the villa by
a small door, which led into the private apartments of the Prince. This
was, however, locked; but the window lay open, and with a spring he
gained the sill and entered the chamber. He knew it well; it was the
little room appropriated by Midchekoff as his private library, simply
furnished, and connected with a still smaller chamber, where, in an
alcove, a species of divan stood, on which it was the rich man's caprice
at times to pass the night Although certain traces showed that the
Prince had been recently there, no letters nor papers lay about;
there was no sign of haste or negligence, nor was anything left to the
accidents of prying eyes or meddling fingers. D'Esmonde opened the door
which conducted into the corridor, and listened; but all was silent He
then sat down to think. The palace--for such, under the name of villa,
it was--was of immense extent, and he could not expect to ramble many
minutes without chancing upon some of the household. His color came
and went, as, in