Olympic games, and proudly rode the course with
his glittering shield of ivory and gold, and his waving locks
all perfumed. I thought of him in his gorgeous panoply, and his
voluptuousness; lion-hearted and danger-seeking, pampering the very
flesh he offered to the spears of the enemy. I pictured him to my
mind, embellishing life with every charm, and daring death in every
shape,--beautiful as Apollo, graceful as the bounding Mercury, bold as
Achilles, the lion's whelp, as AEschylus calls him. This," added he, in
a tone of depression,--"this is but a sorry version of what my mind had
conceived."

"I arrest you, Sebastiano Greppi," said a voice from behind; and
suddenly three gendarmes surrounded the youth, who stood still and
speechless with terror, while a mean-looking man in shabby black
gathered up the printed proclamations that lay about, and commenced a
search for others throughout the studio.

"Ask them will they take our bail for his appearance, Baynton," said my
lord, eagerly.

"No use,--they 'd only laugh at us," was the reply.

"Can we be of any service to you? Is there anything we can do?" asked
his Lordship of the boy.

"You must not communicate with the prisoner, signore," cried the
brigadier, "if you don't wish to share his arrest."

"And this, doubtless," said the man in black, standing, and holding up
the lantern to view the statue,--"this is the figure of Liberty we have
heard of, pierced by the deadly arrow of Tyranny!"

"You hear them!" cried the boy, in wild indignation, addressing
the Englishmen; "you hear how these wretches draw their infamous
allegations! But this shall not serve them as a witness." And with a
spring he seized a large wooden mallet from the floor, and dashed the
model in pieces.

A cry of horror and rage burst from the bystanders, and as the
Englishmen stooped in sorrow over the broken statue, the gendarmes
secured the boy's wrists with a stout cord, and led him away.

"Go after them, Baynton; tell them he is an Englishman, and that if he
comes to harm they 'll hear of it!" cried my lord, eagerly; while he
muttered in a lower tone, "I think we might knock these fellows over and
liberate him at once, eh, Baynton?"

"No use if we did," replied the other; "they'd overpower us afterwards.
Come along to the inn; we'll see about it in the morning."

CHAPTER XXIX. A COUNCIL OF STATE

It was a fine mellow evening of the late autumn as two men sat in a
large and handsom