ered, closing her fingers over some small
object, "this is my pledge that when you call me I will keep the tryst."

He passed me a moment later, but so great was his preoccupation that he
did not see me. I knew by the exalted look upon his face that I had
played and lost. Raphael had awakened from his dreams to love. That
instant of mutual enlightenment for two such natures was not alone an
ineffaceable memory but a sacred though wordless betrothal.

Through my pain I vaguely heard Chigi calling and returned to the villa.
Neither he nor his friends had understood the full significance of what
had just happened, and Bernardo Dovizio was demanding of his niece an
explanation of the scene.

"He thought me one of the muses," she said, "and begged me to beseech
for him the favour of Apollo."

"But he gave you something," said Dovizio. "Show it to me," and he
wrenched open his niece's fingers.

For one instant he gazed wonder-stricken at the token, and as I pressed
close with the others I also recognised the famous Apollo intaglio, the
gem of the collection of Lorenzo the Magnificent, of which for a few
hours I had been the unlawful possessor.

Exclamations of wonder and admiration arose on all sides. But Dovizio,
recovering his power of speech, seized Chigi by the arm, exclaiming: "We
have the thief! Look you Agostino, I have had my suspicions all along.
It was Raphael who played the bandit, and robbed me of my jewels. I
demand that you arrest the villain."

Maria's look of anguish cut me to the heart. "Nay, listen to me," I
cried; "it was not Raphael but I who stole your gems. You shall not
burst in upon him and kill him with the shock of your accusations.
Listen while I confess the truth." And then and there I did confess it,
to the wonder but not to the satisfaction of Dovizio.

"But where are the other gems?" he insisted. "You are a pair of rogues,
the two of you. Come with me to your confederate and disgorge your
booty."

"Give o'er, my good Dovizio," said Chigi. "I will sift this matter; come
with me but keep silence, for I believe in my soul that Bazzi speaks the
truth. I will hear Raphael's version of how he came by this intaglio;
since a portion of your lost property has been returned, perchance the
remainder is on the way."

And so indeed it proved. Raphael had not returned to the studio, but as
we opened the door we heard a scampering and chattering, and caught a
glimpse of Ciacco leaping to the top of