went their several
ways, not to meet again till a late dinner.

"How nobly and manfully your brother bears up!" said Julia, as she
walked back to the inn with Nelly.

"And there is no display in it," said Nelly, warmly. "Now that he is
beyond the reach of condolence and compassion, he fears nothing. And you
will see that when the blow falls, as he says it must, he will not wince
nor shrink."

"If I had been a man I should like to have been of that mould."

"And it is exactly what you would have been, dear Julia. Gusty said,
only yesterday, that you had more courage than us all."

When L'Estrange returned, he came accompanied by an old man in very
tattered clothes, and the worst possible hat, whose linen was far from
spotless, as were his hands innocent of soap. He was, however, the owner
of the villa, and a Count of the great family of Kreptowicz. If his
appearance was not much in his favor, his manners were those of a
well-bred person, and his language that of education. He was eager
to part with this villa, as he desired to go and live with a married
daughter at Ragusa; and he protested that, at the price he asked, it was
not a sale, but a present; that to any other than Englishmen he never
would part with a property that had been six hundred years in the
family, and which contained the bones of his distinguished ancestors,
of which, incidentally, he threw in small historic details; and, last of
all, he avowed that he desired to confide the small chapel where these
precious remains were deposited to the care of men of station and
character. This chapel was only used once a year, when a mass for the
dead was celebrated, so that the Count insisted no inconvenience could
be incurred by the tenant. Indeed, he half hinted that, if that one
annual celebration were objected to, his ancestors might be prayed for
elsewhere, or even rest satisfied with the long course of devotion to
their interests which had been maintained up to the present time. As for
the chapel itself, he described it as a gem that even Venice could not
rival. There were frescos of marvellous beauty, and some carvings in
wood and ivory that were priceless. Some years back he had employed a
great artist to restore some of the paintings, and supply the place
of others that were beyond restoration; and now it was in a state of
perfect condition, as he would be proud to show them.

"You are aware that we are heretics, monsieur?" said Julia.

"We are al