orina?"

"Agreed!" said she. "And I'm to have the country seat?"

"Agreed!" said I. "And the colonel's to be President and to have the
Golden House and all that therein is."

"Agreed! agreed! agreed!" chanted the signorina; "and that's quite
enough business, and it's very late for me to be entertaining
gentlemen. One toast, and then good-night. Success to the Revolution!
To be drunk in blood-red wine!"

As there was no red wine, except claret, and that lies cold on the
stomach at three in the morning, we drank it in French brandy. I had
risen to go, when a sudden thought struck me:

"By Jupiter! where's Johnny Carr? I say, colonel, how drunk was he
last night? Do you think he remembers telling you about it?"

"Yes," said the colonel, "I expect he does by now. He didn't when I
left him this morning."

"Will he confess to the President? If he does, it might make the old
man keep an unpleasantly sharp eye on you. He knows you don't love
him."

"Well, he hasn't seen the President yet. He was to stay at my house
over to-day. He was uncommon seedy this morning, and I persuaded the
doctor to give him a composing draught. Fact is, I wanted him quiet
till I'd had time to think! You know I don't believe he would own
up--the President would drop on him so; but he might, and it's better
they shouldn't meet."

"There's somebody else he oughtn't to meet," said the signorina.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Donna Antonia," she replied. "He's getting very fond of her, and
depend upon it, if he's in trouble he'll go and tell her the first
thing. Mr. Carr is very confidential to his friends."

We recognized the value of this suggestion. If Donna Antonia knew, the
President would soon know.

"Quite right," said the colonel. "It won't do to have them rushing
about letting out that we know all about it. He's all right up to
now."

"Yes, but if he gets restive to-morrow morning?" said I. "And then you
don't want him at the Golden House on Friday evening, and I don't want
him at the barracks."

"No, he'd show fight, Carr would," said the colonel. "Look here, we're
in for this thing, and I'm going through with it. I shall keep Carr at
my house till it's all over."

"How?" asked the signorina.

"By love, if possible!" said the colonel, with a grin--"that is,
by drink. Failing that, by force. It's essential that the old man
shouldn't get wind of anything being up; and if Carr told him about
last night he'd prick up his wicked o