while the other was talking." He laughed drily, and drank
again. "No," he said thoughtfully, as he set down his glass. "I feel
nothing unusual in my head. It would be odd if I did, considering that
we have only just begun."

"So I thought," answered Dalrymple.

He ordered more wine and relapsed into silence. Neither spoke again for
a long time.

"There goes another bottle," said Dalrymple, at last, as he drained the
last drops from the flagon measure. "Drink a little faster. This is slow
work. We know the old road well enough."

"You are not inclined to give up the attempt, are you?" inquired Griggs,
whose still face showed no change. "Is it fair to eat? I am hungry."

"Certainly. Eat as much as you like."

Griggs ordered something, which was brought after considerable delay,
and he began to eat.

"We are not loquacious over our cups," remarked Dalrymple. "Should you
mind telling me why you are anxious to get drunk to-night for the first
time in your life?"

"I might ask you the same question," answered Griggs, cautiously.

"Merely because you proposed it. It struck me as a perfectly new idea. I
have not much to amuse me, you know, and I shall have less when my
daughter leaves me. It would be an amusement to lose one's head in some
way."

"In such a way as to be able to get it back, you mean. I was walking
this evening after the party, and I came to the Piazza Montanara. There
is a big flagstone there on which people used to leave their heads for
good."

"Yes. I have seen it. You cannot tell me much about Rome which I do not
know."

"There were a lot of carriers drinking close by. It was rather grim, I
thought. An old fellow there had a spite against somebody. You know how
they talk. 'They may cut off my head there on the paving-stone,' the man
said. 'If I find him, I kill him. An evil death on him and all his
house!' You have heard that sort of thing. But the fellow seemed to be
very much in earnest."

"He will probably kill his man," said Dalrymple.

Suddenly his big, loose shoulders shook a little, and he shivered. He
glanced towards the window, suspecting that it might be open.

"Are you cold?" asked Griggs, carelessly.

"Cold? No. Some one was walking over my grave, as they say. If we varied
the entertainment with something stronger, we should get on faster,
though."

"No," said Griggs. "I refuse to mix things. This may be the longer way,
but it is the safer."

And he drank again.

"He wa