rs! Nevertheless,
if you can think of some plan which will accomplish the same result by
saving the Maestro and putting the girl out of the way instead, I should
prefer it. A woman more or less makes no difference, but there is only
one Stradella!'

'I will do my best,' Trombin answered, 'but you cannot have everything.'

The Bravi and Stradella supped in a room apart for greater privacy,
because a large party of noisy Bolognese merchants had arrived on their
way to Venice, and were eating in the dining-room. Cucurullo and
Grattacacio waited on their masters, the dishes being brought to the
door by a scullion.

There were wax candles on the table in handsome candlesticks, for a mere
brass oil-lamp was not good enough for such fine gentlemen as Trombin
and Gambardella when their pockets were full of money; and in the middle
of the board a magnificent majolica basket was filled with cherries and
green almonds.

The two servants eyed each other with a certain mutual distrust, for
Grattacacio had at once discovered that his colleague was one of those
poor creatures that have not even the spirit to cheat their masters, and
Cucurullo's quietly penetrating intelligence detected under Tommaso's
accomplished exterior the signs of a still more accomplished scoundrel.
For the present, however, the two treated each other with much civility,
and their three masters were admirably served at supper.

They drank to one another in the old Burgundy, and Trombin proposed the
health of the bride, repeating in her honour one of Petrarch's sonnets
in praise of Laura. He said that as he had never seen her he could only
compare her beauty to that of the angels, and her virtues to those of
the blessed saints, whom he had not seen either, and had no expectation
of seeing hereafter; similarly he likened the Maestro's voice to that of
a seraph, on the ground that its like would never be heard on earth.

Stradella laughed a little, for the first time in five days, and emptied
his glass to Ortensia. He was no match for his companions at eating and
drinking, as he soon found out, and he was satisfied long before they
were; but the good old wine had brought back the warmth to his face and
hands, though he had drunk but little, and presently he went for his
lute. He tuned it and then played softly while Trombin ate candied fruit
and Gambardella cut himself shavings of fresh Parmesan cheese, which he
nibbled with salt, and both drank wine, listeni