d helped them so efficiently in their flight. The
two might be Bravi, as he said, but they were friends, and in such a
case as this they were the very friends the young couple needed.

The three entered the inner aisle to avoid all possibility of being seen
by Don Alberto, and hastened towards the main door. Though Ortensia was
not timid, her heart beat a little faster when she thought of the danger
from which she was escaping. It was already nearly dark in the church,
but the twilight was still bright outside, and the carriage was standing
quite close to the old porch; for the present portico was not built
then, and the steep carriage road ended in a square patch of pavement
before the doors.

Cucurullo glanced at the coachman and recognised Tommaso, who nodded to
him with a friendly smile. Then the hunchback hurried away on his
errand, leaving Gambardella to take care of Ortensia, who was already
getting in.

'To Santa Prassede,' said the Bravo to the coachman, in a tone meant for
Ortensia's ears.

Then he got in, shut the door, and seated himself beside her, bolt
upright, with his rapier between his knees, and his hands clasped on the
hilt. Ortensia glanced at him in the dim light, and noticed his attitude
with satisfaction, and not without reflecting on the terror she would
feel if Don Alberto were in his place. Nothing could be more reassuring
than Gambardella's behaviour.

'I suppose the carriage will go back for my husband?' she said. 'The
Canons lent us one of theirs to bring us to the church and take us home,
but you will not trust to that, will you?'

'No, indeed! If you do not mind being alone in the house for twenty
minutes I will go back with this carriage, or it can go without me and I
will stay with you.'

'I shall not be afraid,' Ortensia answered rashly. 'On the contrary, I
shall feel much safer if I know that you are going for my husband
yourself, for there can be no mistake then.'

'Precisely,' Gambardella said. 'That will be the best way.'

'How kind you are!' Ortensia sighed, and leaned back in the deep seat.

She did not know Rome very well yet, and it was the hour when all the
little snail-shell lamps were being lighted for the feast, and their
glimmer still further confused her; besides, she was not quite sure
where Santa Prassede was, nor in what sort of neighbourhood it was
situated. In that wide region, then almost without inhabitants, and
mostly divided into hedged vineyards and m