t afford to draw back.'

And again:

'Remember that these uprisings are the manifested pulsations of the
heart of your country, so that none shall say she is a corpse, and
knowing that she lives, none shall say that she deserves not freedom. It
is the protest of her immortal being against her impious violator.'

Evidently the Chief had heard nothing of the counterstroke of Barto
Rizzo, and of Count Medole's miserable weakness: but how, thought
Carlo, how can a mind like Vittoria's find matter to suit her in such
sentences? He asked himself the question, forgetting that a little time
gone by, while he was aloof from the tumult and dreaming of it, this
airy cloudy language and every symbolism, had been strong sustaining
food, a vital atmosphere, to him. He did not for the moment (though by
degrees he recovered his last night's conception of her) understand that
among the noble order of women there is, when they plunge into strife,
a craving for idealistic truths, which men are apt, under the heat and
hurry of their energies, to put aside as stars that are meant merely for
shining.

His mother perused the letter--holding it out at arm's length--and laid
it by; Luciano likewise. Countess Ammiani was an aristocrat: the tone
and style of the writing were distasteful to her. She allowed her son's
judgement of the writer to stand for her own, feeling that she could
surrender little prejudices in favour of one who appeared to hate the
Austrians so mortally. On the other hand, she defended Count Medole.
Her soul shrank at the thought of the revolution being yielded up to
theorists and men calling themselves men of the people--a class of men
to whom Paolo her soldier-husband's aversion had always been formidably
pronounced. It was an old and a wearisome task for Carlo to explain
to her that the times were changed and the necessities of the hour
different since the day when his father conspired and fought for
freedom. Yet he could not gainsay her when she urged that the nobles
should be elected to lead, if they consented to lead; for if they did
not lead, were they not excluded from the movement?

'I fancy you have defined their patriotism,' said Carlo.

'Nay, my son; but you are one of them.'

'Indeed, my dearest mother, that is not what they will tell you.'

'Because you have chosen to throw yourself into the opposite ranks.'

'You perceive that you divide our camp, madame my mother. For me there
is no natural oppositio