istfully, and with no
idea that she had sighed. A sable collar and muff had been one of the
desired things of her life, but it was utterly impossible now to think
of so much as one skin, and in the piece and muff in question there were
more than thirty.

That evening, upon their return, the princess found the furs in her room
when she went to dress. At first she felt that they were too much to
accept, but when Nina's hazel eyes implored, and her lips begged her
aunt to take "just one present to remember her by," the princess for
once gave free reign to her emotions and was as wildly delighted as a
child.

The very next afternoon, however, Scorpa saw the sables, and on a slip
of paper made the following note:

Sables 80,000 lire
60 H. P. motor car 30,000 lire

With a smile that would have done no discredit to his Satanic Majesty,
he put the paper in his pocket.

CHAPTER XIV

APPLES OF SODOM

"It amounts to this: do you take a fitting interest in the name you
bear, or do you not?" Sansevero was the speaker, and beneath his usual
volubility there was an unwonted eagerness. The two brothers were in
Giovanni's apartment on the second floor, which in Roman palaces usually
belongs to the eldest son, and Giovanni sat astride a chair, his arms
crossed over the back.

"I don't think you can ask such a question," he retorted hotly. "I am as
much a Sansevero as you! But I really see no reason why--just because
you have got a notion in your head that a pile of gold dollars would
look well in our strong box--I should tie myself up for life. I am well
enough as I am. My income is not regal, but it suffices."

Sansevero, like many talkative persons, was too busy thinking of what he
was going to say next himself, to listen attentively to his brother's
responses. He was merely aware that Giovanni's manner proclaimed
opposition, so, when the sound of his voice ceased, Sansevero continued:
"Nina is all the most fastidious could ask. _Noblesse oblige_--are you
going to keep our name among the greatest in Rome, or are you going to
let it fall like that of the Carpazzi? Shall they say of us in the near
future, as they say of them to-day: 'Ah, yes, the Sanseveros were a
great family once, but they are all dead or beggared now'?"

"_Per Dio!_ What an orator we are becoming!" mocked Giovanni, looking
out of half-shut eyes like a cat. But after a moment, also like a cat,
he opened th