same stubborn pride must be
rooted out, how these false, deceitful visions of a stand and a
station that I am never to attain must give place to nobler and
higher aspirations; and you, my dearest friend, must aid me in all
this,--unceasingly, unwearyingly reminding me that to myself alone must
I look for anything; and that if I would have a country, a name, or a
home, it is by the toil of this head and these hands they are to be won.
My plan is this," said he, eagerly seizing the other's arm, and speaking
with immense rapidity: "A life not alone of labor, but of the simplest;
not a luxury, not an indulgence; our daily meals the humblest, our
dress the commonest, nothing that to provide shall demand a moment's
forethought or care; no wants that shall turn our thoughts from this
great object, no care for the requirements that others need. Thus
mastering small ambitions and petty desires, we shall concentrate all
our faculties on our art; and even the humblest may thus outstrip those
whose higher gifts reject such discipline."

"You 'll not live longer under the Duke's patronage, then?" said
Traynor.

"Not an hour. I return to that garden no more. There's a cottage on the
mountain road to Serravezza will suit us well: it stands alone and on an
eminence, with a view over the plain and the sea beyond. You can see it
from the door,--there, to the left of the olive wood, lower down than
the old ruin. We 'll live there, Billy, and we 'll make of that mean
spot a hallowed one, where young enthusiasts in art will come, years
hence, when we have passed away, to see the humble home Sebastian lived
in,--to sit upon the grassy seat where he once sat, when dreaming of the
mighty triumphs that have made him glorious." A wild burst of mocking
laughter rung from the boy's lips as he said this; but its accents were
less in derision of the boast than a species of hysterical ecstasy at
the vision he had conjured up.

"And why would n't it be so?" exclaimed Billy, ardently,--"why would n't
you be great and illustrious?"

The moment of excitement was now over, and the youth stood pale, silent,
and almost sickly in appearance; great drops of perspiration, too, stood
on his forehead, and his quivering lips were bloodless.

"These visions are like meteor streaks," said he, falteringly; "they
leave the sky blacker than they found it! But come along, let us to
work, and we 'll soon forget mere speculation."

Of the life they now led each da