constructed in the thickness of the wall, just
opposite to the staircase, which opened in the
doorway between the front and back shop. Carlo
turned on them the massive key of the safe, and
put it in his pocket, thus exercising the first act
of mastership of the house.

"Godfather, thirty-seven; dower, twenty-five;
marriage, twenty-eight," cried Laudadio, rising
from his old arm-chair in great and evident
excitement. "The very numbers! The numbers
I—-" He checked himself, looking round on
his three auditors with a sharp glance, half timid,
and half suspicious; but continued, as he paced
to and fro the few steps to which the limits of
the little shop confined him, muttering to himself,
"Was there ever a clearer indication? It
satisfies all the rules. All, all! This at least is
clear. At last! at last! And yet—- Friends,"
continued the old man, reaching his hat from the
peg on which it hung, "I must go out for a short
time. I shall not be long. I will be with you in
half an hour. Cavaliere, I shall find you here
when I come back?"

Old Sestini and the young couple glanced at
each other as the old man left the shop, and the
former was the first to speak.

"They did come pat enough, the three numbers,
it must be owned; didn't they, now? and
all on the same subject, too, as one may say:
godfather, dower, and marriage! Well, that is
remarkable! Who knows, who knows!"

Carlo shrugged his shoulders, with an expression
which consideration for Laura barely sufficed
to keep half way between contempt and pity.

"Has he any money in his pocket, Laura?"
asked he; for the errand on which old Laudadio
was gone was evident enough to them all.

"Not more than a paul or two, dear Carlo, I
know for certain," replied Laura; "and to-night,
you know, for the last time, you won't
object—- "

"Nay, Laura mia, I say nothing," rejoined
Carlo, rather sadly; "but as for the last time, I
hope your father has some years of life before
him yet; for a lottery player there is no last time
till his own last hour."

"It would be hard on Vanni if he had not a
ticket for to-morrow," remarked the cavaliere.
"The drawing takes place in Florence, and it
must be much pleasanter to see the numbers
come up, one by one, than merely to read them
all in a lump, two or three days afterwards.
Besides, who knows? as my old friend so justly
observed. I have great confidence myself in
Laudadio Vanni's science. Such a head as he
has!"

"But you don't avail yourself of the suggestions
indicated by his science, Signor Cavaliere,"
said Carlo, with a dash of satire in his tone,
which was quite imperceptible to the worthy ex-
clerk.

"I? No, I don't. Why should I? Don't
you see, Signor Carlo, I have got my crust, my
cup of coffee, and my cigar, sure and safe, every
day, as sure as the sun rises. I might lose them
if I were to play ever so wisely. And I could
not make Sunday begin over again, when Sunday
night is come, if I won the biggest terno ever
played for," said the old cavaliere, with more
philosophy than he guessed.

Meantime, Laudadio Vanni did not go at once,
as his friends supposed he would, to the nearest
lottery office, and there empty his pockets of
their little all in exchange for a scrap of paper.
He was in too high a state of nervous excitement
for this. Those three numbers, which he had so
promptly matched with the things to which they
are appended in the cabalistic volume described
in a former chapter, had, as he, correctly or not,
persuaded himself, occurred to him in his dreams.
It was, indeed, likely enough that they might
have done so. The three ideas with which his
"science" connected them had of course naturally
enough been in his thoughts lately. And as his
morbid mind incessantly and habitually fixed
itself upon the numbers suggested by every
incident, every object, and every idea which
presented itself to him, and as these numbers were
the continual subject of all his waking meditations,
it is likely enough that he might have
dreamed of them. At all events, to the old
jeweller's diseased mind, the reiterated suggestion
of these figures appeared to be proof, "plain
as heavenly writ," that these were the fortunate
numbers which, duly backed, would lead him on
to fortune.

To minds in any degree accustomed to observe
or examine the connexion of cause and effect, it
seems altogether impossible that any human
being, not perfectly insane, should imagine that
information of the numbers about to be drawn at
hazard out of a wheel should thus be communicated
to him. And, in truth, the existence of
such a persuasion would be utterly incredible,
did we not see it existing, and actively
influencing, large numbers of persons, in other
respects as sane as the average of mankind. A
moment's consideration of the phenomenon sets
one speculating as to the possible theories of
these lottery devotees respecting the world they
live in, the government, and the eternal and
almighty governor of it; thoughts too large and
serious, maybe, for this light page! Yet they
are such as necessarily and properly rise from
the subject of it; and without them we should
fail to appreciate duly the thick and heavy
darkness of the spiritual night—a darkness surely
equal to that of the "untutored mind" of any
fetish-worshipping Indian—which envelops the
pupils of a "paternal" government and a
dominant orthodox church.

It is difficult to imagine the nature of the
workings of a mind under the hallucination which
possessed poor old Laudadio Vanni. But,
assuredly, doubt had no place among them.
Success, the long-delayed reward of his studies,
patience, and perseverance for long years, was
now within his grasp! But how was he to avail
himself of the great opportunity? Fortune
slighted would assuredly never offer her favours