involuntary glance at the little blue horseshoes
besprinkling the bosom of that garment in
which his person happened to be adorned.
"What do you mean?"

"I mean, that you have not gone over to
Garibaldi."

Garibaldi again! It seemed as if the air was
full of the names of Garibaldi and Italy to-day!

"What you, too, Miss Hatherton!" he said.
"I have heard more about Italian affairs since
I have been in town this morning, than I
ever hear at Castletowers. The men at the
Erectheum would talk of nothing else."

"I dare say not," replied the heiress. "The
lookers-on have always more to say than the
workers. But has not Miss Colonna enlisted
you?"

"Indeed, no."

"You amaze me. I could not have believed
that she would show such incredible forbearance
towards a man of your inches. But perhaps
you are intending to join in any case?"

"I have no intention, one way or the other,"
said Saxon; "but if any of our fellows were
going, I should like to join them."

"There is nothing I should enjoy so much,
if I were a man," said Miss Hatherton. "Do
you know how the fund is getting on? I heard
they were sorely in want of money the other
day, and I sent them something—not much, but
as much as I could spare."

"Oh, I believe the fund is getting on pretty
well," replied Saxon, with some embarrassment.

"You are a subscriber, of course?"

"Yes—I have given something."

Miss Hatherton looked at him keenly.

"I should like to know what that something
was," said she. "I heard a strange rumour
to-day . . . . but I suppose you would not tell me
if I were to ask you?"

Saxon laughed, and shook his head.

"A rumour is generally nothing but a polite
name for a lie," replied he; "you should never
believe in one."

"Perhaps not," said Miss Hatherton, gravely.
"I should be sorry to believe all . . . ."

She checked herself, and added:

"If you do go to Italy, Mr. Trefalden, you
must be sure to let me know. I only marvel
that Miss Colonna's eloquence has not been
brought to bear upon you long since."

"Well, I'm not an Italian."

Miss Hatherton smiled compassionately.

"My dear sir," said she, "if you were a
Thug, and willing to make your roomal useful
to the cause, the Colonnas would enlist you.
Nation is nothing to them. All they want is a
volunteer or a subscriber. Besides, plenty of your
countrymen have gone over the Alps already."

"Are you sure of that?" asked Saxon,
eagerly.

"As sure as that you never read the papers."

"You are quite right there," laughed he, "I
never do."

"An English volunteer company is already
formed," continued Miss Hatherton, "at
Genoa."

"Yes—I know that."

"There will also, I hear, be a German corps;
and both Swiss and Hungarian corps are talked
about."

Saxon nearly bounded off his seat.

"A Swiss corps!" he shouted. "A Swiss
corps, and nobody ever breathed a word of this
to me!"

"It's very odd," said Miss Hatherton.

"And Miss Colonna was talking to me so
much about Italy yesterday morning!"

"Perhaps they do not care to make a soldier
of you, Mr. Trefalden," said the heiress.

"But they want soldiers!"

"True; but . . . ."

"But what?"

"Perhaps they stand more in need of the
sinews of war just now, than of your individual
muscles."

"The sinews of war!" stammered Saxon.

"You might get killed, you see."

"Of course I might get killed; but every
volunteer risks that. Vaughan may get killed."

"He may; but then Major Vaughan has not
ever so many millions of money."

Saxon looked blankly in Miss Hatherton's
face.

"I—I really don't understand," said he.

"Do you wish me to explain my meaning?"

"Undoubtedly."

"There—excuse the illustration—it might
not be politic to kill the goose that lays the
golden eggs."

Saxon's face flamed with rage and
mortification.

"Oh, Miss Hatherton!" he exclaimed, "how
can you be so unjust and so uncharitable?"

Miss Hatherton smiled good temperedly.

"I am a plain speaker, Mr. Trefalden," said
she, "and plain speakers must expect to be
called uncharitable sometimes. You need not
be angry with me because I speak the truth."

"But indeed you're mistaken. It's not the
truth, nor anything like the truth."

"Nay," she replied, "I know the Colonnas
better than you know them. Giulio Colonna is
insatiable where Italy is concerned. I do not
deny that he is personally disinterested. He
would give the coat off his back to buy powder
and shot for the cause; but he would strip the
coat from his neighbour's back for the same
purpose without scruple."

"But, indeed . . . ."

"But, indeed, Mr. Trefalden, you may believe
me when I tell you that he would regard it as a
sacred duty to fling every farthing of your
fortune into this coming war, if he could get the
handling of it. You will do well to beware of
him."

"Then I am sure that Miss Colonna is
not . . . ."

"Miss Colonna is utterly dominated by her
own enthusiasm and her father's influence. You
must beware of her, too."

"You will tell me to beware of yourself next,
Miss Hatherton," said Saxon, petulantly.

"No, my dear sir, I shall do nothing of the