r Nisida," said he;
"arise, and let us give thanks to the Madonna."

Then all three, kneeling before the sacred image of the Virgin, began to
recite litanies. But at that very instant a noise of arms sounded in the
enclosure, the house was surrounded by soldiers, and a lieutenant of
gendarmes, seizing Gabriel, said in a loud voice, "In the name of the
law, I arrest you for the murder that you have just committed upon the
person of his excellency and illustrious lordship, the Prince of
Brancaleone."

Nisida, struck by these words, remained pale and motionless like a marble
statue kneeling on a tomb; Gabriel was already preparing to make an
unreasoning resistance, when a gesture from his father stopped him.

"Signor tenente," said the old man, addressing himself to the officer,
"my son killed the prince in lawful defence, for the latter had scaled
our house and made his way in at night and with arms in his hand. The
proofs are before your eyes. Here is a ladder set up against the window;
and here," he proceeded, picking up the two pieces of the broken blade,
"is a dagger with the Brancaleone arms. However, we do not refuse to
follow you."

The last words of the fisherman were drowned by cries of "Down with the
sbirri! down with the gendarmes!" which were repeated in every
direction. The whole island was up in arms, and the fisher-folk would
have suffered themselves to be cut up to the last man before allowing a
single hair of Solomon or of his son to be touched; but the old man
appeared upon his threshold, and, stretching out his arm with a calm and
grave movement that quieted the anger of the crowd, he said, "Thanks, my
children; the law must be respected. I shall be able, alone, to defend
the innocence of my son before the judges."

Hardly three months have elapsed since the day upon which we first beheld
the old fisherman of Nisida sitting before the door of his dwelling,
irradiated by all the happiness that he had succeeded in creating around
him, reigning like a king, on his throne of rock, and blessing his two
children, the most beautiful creatures in the island. Now the whole
existence of this man, who was once so happy and so much envied, is
changed. The smiling cottage, that hung over the gulf like a swan over a
transparent lake, is sad and desolate; the little enclosure, with its
hedges of lilac and hawthorn, where joyous groups used to come and sit at
the close of day, is silent and deserted. No h