Minister in these rags! I
suppose you have got your captaincy by this time?'

'Six months ago!'

They talked on, and Ugo explained that he was to be taken to the
hospital of the White Sisters soon after eight o'clock.

'I shall go with you,' Giovanni answered, 'and see you installed in your
room. The Minister does not want me till twelve o'clock.'

They agreed to tell Pica, when he returned, that Giovanni was an
artillery officer and a relative who had just arrived from a long
journey without any luggage. As the orderly had known that the Captain
expected a visitor before long, he would not be surprised, and the
relationship would account for Giovanni's name.

The latter selected an undress uniform from his brother's well-stocked
wardrobe and proceeded to scrub and dress in the adjoining
dressing-room, talking to Ugo through the open door and asking him
questions about old friends and comrades. Ugo told him of the Princess
Chiaromonte's visit and of her kindness in coming with Doctor Pieri on
the previous evening. Giovanni appeared at the door, half dressed.

'Did you tell her that I am alive?' he asked.

'No. The Ministry has made an official secret of it, so I have told no
one.'

'And you say that she will be at the hospital this morning! We shall
meet, then. I wonder whether she will know me.'

'It is impossible, I should say,' Ugo answered, looking at his brother's
lean face and heavy beard. 'I hardly recognise you even now!'

Giovanni finished dressing and came out at last, looking very smart in
Ugo's clothes. He had asked no questions about Angela, for he felt
tolerably sure that Ugo had never known her, and it was his intention to
go directly from the hospital to Madame Bernard's lodgings, where he
hoped to find them both as he had left them. He could not bring himself
to make vague and roundabout inquiries just then, and he was still less
inclined to confide his love story to this brother whom he hardly felt
that he knew. So he kept his own counsel and waited, as he had learned
to do in five years of slavery.

The Minister sent back a line by Pica to say that Giovanni was to come
to him at noon, and would then receive his instructions as to a change
of lodging, if any should seem advisable. There was a word of sympathy
also for Ugo.

In less than an hour more, Giovanni had helped Pica to carry Ugo down to
the Princess's motor, which had appeared punctually, bringing Doctor
Pieri, and the wounded