hat hours had elapsed before they saw lights in the valley below
them. Their plan had been to avoid the towns on their way, and Fulvia,
the night before, had contented herself with a half-hour's rest by the
roadside; but a heavy rain was now falling, and she at once assented to
Odo's tentative proposal that they should take shelter till the storm
was over.

They dismounted at an inn on the outskirts of the village. The sleepy
landlord stared as he unbarred the door and led them into the kitchen;
but he offered no comment beyond remarking that it was a good night to
be under cover.

Fulvia sank down on the wooden settle near the chimney, where a fire had
been hastily kindled. She took no notice of Odo when he removed the
dripping cloak from her shoulders, but sat gazing before her in a kind
of apathy.

"I cannot eat," she said, as Odo pressed her to take her place at the
table.

The innkeeper turned to him with a confidential nod. "Your lady looks
fairly beaten," he said. "I've a notion that one of my good beds would
be more to her taste than the best supper in the land. Shall I have a
room made ready for your excellencies?"

"No, no," said Fulvia, starting up. "We must set out again as soon as we
have supped."

She approached the table and hastily emptied the glass of country wine
that Odo had poured out for her.

The innkeeper seemed a simple unsuspicious fellow, but at this he put
down the plate of cheese he was carrying and looked at her curiously.

"Start out again at this hour of the night?" he exclaimed. "By the
saints, your excellencies must be running a race with the sun! Or do you
doubt my being able to provide you with decent lodgings, that you prefer
mud and rain to my good sheets and pillows?"

"Indeed, no," Odo amicably interposed; "but we are hurrying to meet a
friend who is to rejoin us tomorrow at Peschiera."

"Ah--at Peschiera," said the other, as though the name had struck him.
He took a dish of eggs from the fire and set it before Fulvia. "Well,"
he went on with a shrug, "it is written that none of my beds shall be
slept in tonight. Not two hours since I had a gentleman here that gave
the very same excuse for hurrying forward; though his horses were so
spent that I had to provide him with another pair before he could
continue his journey." He laughed and uncorked a second bottle.

"That reminds me," he went on, pausing suddenly before Fulvia, "that the
other gentleman was travelling to m