t least, then, have the straps a little loosened. It is downright
barbarity to keep them drawn so tight."

"They will stop exactly as they are; and I will thank you, sir, not to
talk about barbarity to me. If I do a thing, I have a reason for it."

So the seventh night passed without any relief, and the soldier
stationed on guard at the cell door crossed himself, shuddering, over
and over again, as he listened all night long to heart-rending moans.
The Gadfly's endurance was failing him at last.

At six in the morning the sentinel, just before going off duty, unlocked
the door softly and entered the cell. He knew that he was committing
a serious breach of discipline, but could not bear to go away without
offering the consolation of a friendly word.

He found the Gadfly lying still, with closed eyes and parted lips. He
stood silent for a moment; then stooped down and asked:

"Can I do anything for you, sir? I have only a minute."

The Gadfly opened his eyes. "Let me alone!" he moaned. "Let me
alone----"

He was asleep almost before the soldier had slipped back to his post.

Ten days afterwards the Governor called again at the palace, but found
that the Cardinal had gone to visit a sick man at Pieve d'Ottavo, and
was not expected home till the afternoon. That evening, just as he was
sitting down to dinner, his servant came in to announce:

"His Eminence would like to speak to you."

The Governor, with a hasty glance into the looking glass, to make sure
that his uniform was in order, put on his most dignified air, and went
into the reception room, where Montanelli was sitting, beating his hand
gently on the arm of the chair and looking out of the window with an
anxious line between his brows.

"I heard that you called to-day," he said, cutting short the Governor's
polite speeches with a slightly imperious manner which he never adopted
in speaking to the country folk. "It was probably on the business about
which I have been wishing to speak to you."

"It was about Rivarez, Your Eminence."

"So I supposed. I have been thinking the matter over these last few
days. But before we go into that, I should like to hear whether you have
anything new to tell me."

The Governor pulled his moustaches with an embarrassed air.

"The fact is, I came to know whether Your Eminence had anything to tell
me. If you still have an objection to the course I proposed taking, I
should be sincerely glad of your advice in the matter;