and gave a visiting-card into the youth's hand.

He took it without a word; indeed, he was too deeply engaged in his own
thoughts to pay much attention to the request.

"The sergeant will accompany you, my good youth, to your lodgings, and
verify what you have stated as to your companion. To-morrow you will
appear here again, to answer certain questions we shall put to you as to
your subsistence, and the means by which you live."

"Is it a crime to have wherewithal to subsist upon?" asked the boy.

"He whose means of living are disproportionate to his evident station
may well be an object of suspicion," said the other, with a sneer.

"And who is to say what is my station, or what becomes it? Will _you_
take upon you to pronounce upon the question?" cried the boy, boldly.

"Mayhap it is what I shall do very soon!" was the calm answer.

"Then let me have done with this. I'll leave the place as soon as my
friend be able to bear removal."

"Even that I 'll not promise for."

"Why, you 'll not detain me here by force?" exclaimed the youth. \

A cold, ambiguous smile was the only reply he received to this speech.

"Well, let us see when this restraint is to begin," cried the boy,
passionately, as he moved towards the door; but no impediment was
offered to his departure. On the contrary, the servant, at a signal
from the Prefect, threw wide the two sides of the folding-doors, and the
youth passed out, down the stairs, and into the street.

His mind obscured by passion, his heart bursting with indignation, he
threaded his way through many a narrow lane and alley, till he reached a
small rustic bridge, crossing over which he ascended a narrow flight of
steps cut in the solid rock, and gained a little terrace, on which stood
a small cottage of the humblest kind.

As usual in Italy, during the summer-time, the glass sashes of the
windows had been removed, and the shutters closed. Opening one of these
gently with his hand, he peeped in, and as suddenly a voice cried out,
"Are you come back? Oh, how my heart was aching to see you here again!
Come in quickly, and let me touch your hand."

The next moment the boy was seated by the bed, where lay a man greatly
emaciated by sickness, and bearing in his worn features the traces of a
severe tertian.

"It's going off now," said he, "but the fit was a long one. This morning
it began at eight o'clock; but I 'm throwing it off now, and I 'll soon
be better."

"My poor fello