which he had caught so unaccountably from Lilia. He would
make his power felt by restraint.

Why, when he looked up to begin, was Gino convulsed with silent
laughter? It vanished immediately; but he became nervous, and was even
more pompous than he intended.

"Signor Carella, I will be frank with you. I have come to prevent you
marrying Mrs. Herriton, because I see you will both be unhappy together.
She is English, you are Italian; she is accustomed to one thing, you to
another. And--pardon me if I say it--she is rich and you are poor."

"I am not marrying her because she is rich," was the sulky reply.

"I never suggested that for a moment," said Philip courteously. "You are
honourable, I am sure; but are you wise? And let me remind you that we
want her with us at home. Her little daughter will be motherless,
our home will be broken up. If you grant my request you will earn our
thanks--and you will not be without a reward for your disappointment."

"Reward--what reward?" He bent over the back of a chair and looked
earnestly at Philip. They were coming to terms pretty quickly. Poor
Lilia!

Philip said slowly, "What about a thousand lire?"

His soul went forth into one exclamation, and then he was silent, with
gaping lips. Philip would have given double: he had expected a bargain.

"You can have them tonight."

He found words, and said, "It is too late."

"But why?"

"Because--" His voice broke. Philip watched his face,--a face without
refinement perhaps, but not without expression,--watched it quiver and
re-form and dissolve from emotion into emotion. There was avarice at one
moment, and insolence, and politeness, and stupidity, and cunning--and
let us hope that sometimes there was love. But gradually one emotion
dominated, the most unexpected of all; for his chest began to heave and
his eyes to wink and his mouth to twitch, and suddenly he stood erect
and roared forth his whole being in one tremendous laugh.

Philip sprang up, and Gino, who had flung wide his arms to let the
glorious creature go, took him by the shoulders and shook him, and said,
"Because we are married--married--married as soon as I knew you were,
coming. There was no time to tell you. Oh. oh! You have come all the way
for nothing. Oh! And oh, your generosity!" Suddenly he became grave, and
said, "Please pardon me; I am rude. I am no better than a peasant, and
I--" Here he saw Philip's face, and it was too much for him. He gasped
and expl