and then I was desolate. Under these
circumstances, is it surprising that when my
cousin one day (I was little more than sixteen
years old) announced his intention of sending
me to the university at Vienna, I hailed the
prospect as an escape from the dreary round of
my daily life? I did not fully understand why
he should send me to Germany. But I now
conjecture that it may have been with a hope of
denationalising me as much as possible. For he
designed me for the law, and it was my
ambition to become a soldier in my country's
glorious cause. Well, I went to Vienna, and
warmth and light were shed into my loveless
life by the friendship of Gustav von Hildesheim,
a fellow-student. He was to me friend,
companion, brother. The truest, noblest, dearest!"

Bertani paused, and covered his eyes with his
hand. I sat silent, not venturing to break in
upon that sacred grief, even by a word.
Presently he resumed, having thanked me for my
silent sympathy by holding out his hand with a
gesture full of grace and sympathy:

"If I could describe to you what Gustav
was!" he said. " It was not merely my boyish
love and admiration which invested him with
heroic qualities. He was beloved by all who
knew him. My elder by four years, the
relations between us were, on his side, tender
protecting friendship; on mine, gratitude and
devotion almost amounting to idolatry. He shone
in all studies and accomplishments; surmounting
difficulties with an ease which appeared
marvellous to my duller brain. And he was
ever ready to help me over rough places that I
could never have surmounted without his aid.
Gustav von Hildesheim belonged to a high and
influential family, holding the most orthodox
opinions in politics and religion. But the Abbé
Walddorf, my priestly Mentor at the university,
would have been aghast could he have heard the
theories held by this scion of a noble Catholic
house. Gustav had caught the infection of
liberalism, which was then rife among the youth
of Germany, and he had an especial
sympathy and admiration for Italy. We used to
sit and talk for hours of the future of my beloved
Venice, and he confirmed and encouraged
all the patriotic hopes and aspirations
bequeathed to me by my father. Notice this
especially:—he had a peculiar habit of passing
his fingers through my hair, so as to raise up
the thick curls from my forehead, as he listened
to my stories of my father's career, and of our
life at home.

"But we talked also of other and higher
things. Gustav had a tendency to mysticism,
and a national love for the marvellous. I used
to listen, awe-struck, to his strange dreamy
speculations about a future state, and whether the
spirits of the dead were permitted to hold
communion with those they had loved while living.

"Nearly three years passed without my once
revisiting Italy. I took counsel with Gustav,
and, with his concurrence, I wrote explicitly to
Rosai, confessing my dislike of, and unfitness
for, the profession to which he had destined me,
and begging him to permit me to follow that to
which all my inclinations pointed. We awaited
his reply anxiously, and meanwhile I had a
serious trouble in the prospect of soon parting
from Gustav. He had completed his course of
study, and was about to leave Vienna for a
distant part of the country.

"'I hope, my dear exile,' he said, smilingly,
'that I shall not be called away before your
destiny is determined on. What will you do if
Rosai should be inflexible?'

"'I have made up my mind what to do,' I
answered. 'I shall run away and enlist in the
army of the King of Sardinia. If my father were
alive, it is what he would counsel.'

"'Enlist, Angelo mio, as a common soldier?'
cried Gustav, stroking my hair in his
accustomed manner.

"'Yes,' I answered; 'in that way I shall at
least not disgrace myself, either as a man or an
Italian.'

"The letter from Vienna came at last, and
was more harsh than I had believed possible.
Gustav and I held counsel together, deep into
the night. On the morrow he was to leave
Vienna. Finding my main determination not to
be shaken or changed, 'At least,' said he, 'you
will not refuse to share my purse for the present.
You have told me I am as a brother to you. Do
not deny me a brother's right to aid you now.'
I hastily considered what was the smallest sum
that would take me across the Alps, and then
told my friend that I would thankfully accept that
sum from him as a loan. We agreed to write to
each other, and formed many plans for a speedy
meeting. All the manly dignity I tried to
summon up, could not repress the tears that
gushed forth when Gustav took me in his arms
for one last brotherly embrace, and passed his
hand through my hair in the old caressing way. I
clung to him as a child might cling, and sobbed
upon his faithful breast. He cheered and
soothed me with high words of hope, and noble
aspiration, for the future. 'Heaven bless you,
my Angelo! Courage, faith, patience!
Remember my prophecy. You will live to see your
Venice free and Italian. And we shall meet
again—here or hereafter.'

"I never saw him more.

"Next morning, at daybreak, I left Vienna for
ever. I reached Turin, and there enlisted in
a line regiment as a private soldier. I first
saw service in the Crimea. Fortune favoured
me, and I was promoted from the ranks.

"I kept up a constant correspondence with
Gustav; and, at one time, had great hopes
of seeing him, for he wrote me word that
he had been recommended to pass a winter
in Italy. In the joy of looking forward to
having him with me once more, I paid less
heed than I should otherwise have done to
the hint of ill health which such a recommendation
conveyed. He had looked strong, and
bright, and blooming; the very incarnation
of youthful health. But consumption lurked
in his rosy cheek and bright blue eye, and
soon the tidings came that a voyage to Egypt