im, though he was a good many yards
distant on the links, we could see the moonlight glitter on his eyes.

He opened his lips again, and spoke for some minutes on end, in a key
so loud that he might have been heard in every corner of the pavilion,
and as far away as the borders of the wood. It was the same voice that
had already shouted "_Traditore!_" through the shutters of the
dining-room; this time it made a complete and clear statement. If the
traitor "Oddlestone" were given up, all others should be spared; if not,
no one should escape to tell the tale.

"Well, Huddlestone, what do you say to that?" asked Northmour, turning
to the bed.

Up to that moment the banker had given no sign of life, and I, at least,
had supposed him to be still lying in a faint; but he replied at once,
and in such tones as I have never heard elsewhere, save from a delirious
patient, adjured and besought us not to desert him. It was the most
hideous and abject performance that my imagination can conceive.

"Enough," cried Northmour; and then he threw open the window, leaned out
into the night, and in a tone of exultation, and with a total
forgetfulness of what was due to the presence of a lady, poured out upon
the ambassador a string of the most abominable raillery both in English
and Italian, and bade him be gone where he had come from. I believe that
nothing so delighted Northmour at that moment as the thought that we
must all infallibly perish before the night was out.

Meantime the Italian put his flag of truce into his pocket, and
disappeared, at a leisurely pace, among the sand-hills.

"They make honourable war," said Northmour. "They are all gentlemen and
soldiers. For the credit of the thing, I wish we could change sides--you
and I, Frank, and you too, Missy my darling--and leave that being on the
bed to some one else. Tut! Don't look shocked! We are all going post to
what they call eternity, and may as well be above-board while there's
time. As far as I'm concerned, if I could first strangle Huddlestone and
then get Clara in my arms, I could die with some pride and satisfaction.
And as it is, by God, I'll have a kiss!"

Before I could do anything to interfere, he had rudely embraced and
repeatedly kissed the resisting girl. Next moment I had pulled him away
with fury, and flung him heavily against the wall. He laughed loud and
long, and I feared his wits had given way under the strain; for even in
the best of days he had been