nd, soon
recovered her wonted self-composure, and seated herself on the cushion
to which Nina pointed, while the young visitor remained standing, and
spell-bound by childish wonder, in the centre of the apartment. Nina
recognised him with a smile.

"Ah, my pretty boy, whose quick eye and bold air caught my fancy
yesterday! Have you come to accept my offer? Is it you, madam, who claim
this fair child?"

"Lady," replied Ursula, "my business here is brief: by a train of
events, needless to weary you with narrating, this boy from his infancy
fell to my charge--a weighty and anxious trust to one whose thoughts
are beyond the barrier of life. I have reared him as became a youth of
gentle blood; for on both sides, lady, he is noble, though an orphan,
motherless and sireless."

"Poor child!" said Nina, compassionately.

"Growing now," continued Ursula, "oppressed by years, and desirous only
to make my peace with Heaven, I journeyed hither some months since, in
the design to place the boy with a relation of mine; and, that trust
fulfilled, to take the vows in the City of the Apostle. Alas! I found my
kinsman dead, and a baron of wild and dissolute character was his heir.
Here remaining, perplexed and anxious, it seemed to me the voice of
Providence when, yester-evening, the child told me you had been pleased
to honour him with your notice. Like the rest of Rome, he has already
learned enthusiasm for the Tribune--devotion to the Tribune's bride.
Will you, in truth, admit him of your household? He will not dishonour
your protection by his blood, nor, I trust, by his bearing."

"I would take his face for his guarantee, madam, even without so
distinguished a recommendation as your own. Is he Roman? His name then
must be known to me."

"Pardon me, lady," replied Ursula: "He bears the name of Angelo
Villani--not that of his sire or mother. The honour of a noble house for
ever condemns his parentage to rest unknown. He is the offspring of a
love unsanctioned by the church."

"He is the more to be loved, then, and to be pitied--victim of sin not
his own!" answered Nina, with moistened eyes, as she saw the deep and
burning blush that covered the boy's cheeks. "With the Tribune's reign
commences a new era of nobility, when rank and knighthood shall be won
by a man's own merit--not that of his ancestors. Fear not, madam: in my
house he shall know no slight."

Ursula was moved from her pride by the kindness of Nina: she approached