"Perdition seize the man!" thundered Stephano, now waxing angry. "Yes, the diamonds, I say; and fortunate will it be for you if they are produced without further parley."

Thus speaking the bandit suffered his cloak to fall from over his belt, and the Jew's quick eye recoiled from the sight of those menacing weapons, with which his visitor was armed, as it were, to the teeth.

Then without further remonstrance, but with many profound sighs, Isaachar proceeded to fetch a small iron box from another room; and in a few moments the diamond case, made of sandal wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl, was in the bandit captain's hands.

"Let me convince myself that it is all right!" exclaimed Stephano, examining the lid of the case. "Yes, there are the arms of Arestino, with the ciphers of the Countess, G. A.--Giulia Arestino--a very pretty name, by my troth! Ah, how the stones sparkle!" he cried, as he opened the case. "And the inventory is complete, just as it was described to me by her ladyship. You are a worthy man, Isaachar, a good man; you will have restored tranquillity to the mind of the beautiful countess,"

continued Stephano, in a bantering tone: "and she will be enabled to appear at court to-morrow, with her husband. Good-night, Isaachar; my brave men shall receive orders to the effect that the first who dares to molest you may reckon upon swinging to the highest tree that I can find for his accommodation."

"You violate your compact, Signor Verrina!" exclaimed the Jew, his rage now mastering his fears. "Wherefore should I pay you tribute to protect me, when you enter my house and rob me thus vilely?"

"In this case a lady is concerned, good Isaachar," responded the bandit, calmly; "and you know that with all true cavaliers the ladies are pre-eminent. Once more, a fair night's repose, my much respected friend."

Thus saying, Stephano Verrina rose from the seat on which he had been lounging; and the Jew, knowing that altercation and remonstrance were equally useless, hastened to afford the means of egress to so unwelcome a visitor.

Stephano lingered a moment opposite the house until he heard the door bolted and chained behind him; then crossing the street, he rejoined his follower, Lomellino.

"All right, captain?" said the latter, inquiringly.

"All right!" answered Stephano. "Poor Isaachar is inconsolable, no doubt; but the countess will be consoled at his expense. Thus it is with the world, Lomellino; what is one person's misery is another's happiness."

"Dost grow sentimental, good captain?" exclaimed the man, whose ears were entirely unaccustomed to such language on the part of his chief.

"Lomellino, my friend," answered Verrina, "when a man is smitten in a certain organ, commonly called the heart, he is apt to give utterance to that absurdity which the world denominates sentiment. Such is my case."

"You are, then, in love, captain?" said Lomellino, as they retraced their way through the suburb of Alla Croce.

"Just so," replied the bandit chief. "I will tell you how it happened.

Yesterday morning, when those impertinent sbirri gave me a harder run than I have ever yet experienced, I was fain to take refuge in the garden of that very same Signor Wagner----"

"Who was yesterday arrested for murder?" interrupted Lomellino.

"The identical one," returned Stephano. "I concealed myself so well that I knew I might bid defiance to those bungling sbirri--although their scent was sharpened by the hope of the reward set on my head by the prince. While I thus lay hidden, I beheld a scene that would have done good to the heart of even such a callous fellow as yourself--I mean callous to female qualifications. In a word, I saw one woman stab another as effectually as----"

"But it was Wagner who killed the woman!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lomellino.

"No such thing," said Stephano quietly. "The murderess is of the gentle s.e.x--though she can scarcely be gentle in disposition. And such a splendid creature, Lomellino! I beheld her countenance for a few minutes, as she drew aside her veil that her eyes might glare upon her victim; and I whispered to myself, 'That woman must be mine; she is worthy of me!' Then the blow descended--her victim lay motionless at her feet--and I never took my eyes off the countenance of the murderess.

'She is an incarnate fiend,' I thought, 'and admirably fitted to mate with the bandit captain.' Such was my reflection then; and the lapse of a few hours has only served to strengthen the impression. You may now judge whether I have formed an unworthy attachment!"

"She _is_ worthy of you, captain!" exclaimed Lomellino. "Know you who she is?"

"Not a whit," replied Stephano Verrina. "I should have followed her when she left the garden, and complimented her on her proficiency in handling a poniard, but I was not so foolhardy as to stand the chance of meeting the sbirri. Moreover, I shall speedily adopt measures to discover who and what she is; and when I present myself to her, and we compare qualifications, I do not think there can arise any obstacle to our happiness--as lovers are accustomed to say."

"Then it was _she_ who murdered the Lady Agnes?" said Lomellino.

"Have I not told you so? Signor Wagner is as innocent of that deed as the babe unborn; but it is not for me to step forward in his behalf, and thereby criminate a lady on whom I have set my affections."

"That were hardly to be expected captain," returned Lomellino.

"And all that I have now told thee thou wilt keep to thyself," added Stephano; "for to none else of the band do I speak so freely as to thee."

"Because no one is so devoted to his captain as I," rejoined Lomellino.

"And now that we are about to separate," added the man, as they reached the verge of the suburb, which was then divided by a wide, open s.p.a.ce from the city itself, and might even be termed a detached village--"now that we are about to separate, captain, allow me to ask whether the affair of Monday night still holds good?"

"The little business at the Riverola Palace, you mean?" said Stephano.

"Most a.s.suredly! You and Piero will accompany me. There is little danger to be apprehended; and Antonio has given me the necessary information.

Count Francisco sleeps at a great distance from the point where we must enter; and as for his sister--she is as deaf as if she had her ears sealed up."

"But what about the pages, the lackeys----"

"Antonio will give them all a sleeping draught. Everything," added the robber-chief, "is settled as cleverly as can be."

"Antonio is your cousin, if I err not?" said Lomellino.

"Something of the kind," replied Stephano; "but what is better and more binding--we are friends. And yet, strange to say, I never was within the precincts of the Riverola mansion until the night before last, and--more singular still--I have never, to my knowledge, seen any members of the family in whose service Antonio has been so long."

"Why, Florence is not much honored with your presence during the day-time," observed Lomellino; "and at night the great lords and high-born ladies who happen to be abroad, are so m.u.f.fled up--the former in their cloaks, the latter in their veils----"

"True--true; I understand all you would say, Lomellino," interrupted the captain; "but you know how to be rather tedious at times. Here we separate, I repair to the Arestino Palace, and you----"

"To the cavern," replied Lomellino: "where I hope to sleep better than I did last night," he added.

"What! a renewal of those infernal shriekings and screamings, that seem to come from the bowels of the earth?" exclaimed the captain.

"Worse than ever," answered Lomellino. "If they continue much longer, I must abandon my office of treasure-keeper, which compels me to sleep in the innermost room----"

"That cannot be allowed, my worthy friend," interrupted the captain; "for I should not know whom to appoint in your place. If it were not that we should not betray our own stronghold," continued Stephano, emphatically, "we would force our way into the nest of our noisy neighbors, and levy such a tribute upon them as would put them on their good behavior for the future."

"The scheme is really worth consideration," remarked Lomellino.

"We will talk more of it another time," said the captain. "Good-night, Lomellino. I shall not return to the cavern until very late."

The two banditti then separated--Lomellino striking off to the right, and Stephano Verrina pursuing his way toward the most aristocratic quarter of Florence.

Upon entering the sphere of marble palaces, brilliantly lighted villas, and gay mansions, the robber chief covered his face with a black mask--a mode of disguise so common at that period, not only amongst ladies, but also with cavaliers and n.o.bles, that it was not considered at all suspicious, save as a proof of amatory intrigue, with which the sbirri had no right of interference.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE COUNTESS OF ARESTINO.

We must now introduce our readers to a splendid apartment in the Arestino Palace.

This room was tastefully decorated and elegantly furnished. The tapestry was of pale blue; and the ottomans, ranged round the walls in Oriental style, were of rich crimson satin embroidered with gold. In the middle stood a table covered with ornaments and rich trinkets lately arrived from Paris--for France already began to exercise the influence of its superior civilization and refinement over the south of Europe.

The ceiling of that room was a master-piece of the united arts of sculpture and painting. First, the hand of the sculptor had carved it into numerous medallions, on which the pencil of the painter had then delineated the most remarkable scenes in early Florentine history. Round the sides, or cornices, were beautifully sculptured in marble the heads of the princ.i.p.al ancestors of the Count of Arestino.