- (
 
 Espiritu Santo 
 
 H 
 
 By 
 
 Henrietta Dana Skinner 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "A Queen at School" " Pancho's Happy Family' 
 " Love Songs of the Tuscan Peasantry " etc. 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
 
 1900
 
 Copyright, 1899, by HARPER & BROTHERS. 
 
 All rights rtstrveJ.
 
 THIS STORY OF A LOVE, FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH 
 
 1$ Unscribefc to tbe ffliemorg ot 
 
 MERCEDES 
 QUEEN OF SPAIN 
 
 BORN JUNE 24, i860; DIED JUNE 26, 1878 
 " Fidelis usque ad mortem" 
 
 2072235
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 "Veni, lumen cordium." Whitsuntide Prose. 
 
 IT was the feast of Pentecost. Paris was flooded 
 with June sunshine, and its streets were gay with life. 
 The city on a holiday is like one great family fathers, 
 mothers, and children, sisters, brothers, and lovers in 
 happy groups sauntering through the Champs-Elyse'es 
 and the Cours la Reine, or walking merrily off to the 
 more distant parks and promenades of the suburbs. 
 The Whitsunday church-going had by many been done 
 early in the morning at one of the low Masses, and 
 now the whole, beautiful, bright day was before them 
 for their out-of-door holiday-making. The boulevards 
 were thronged and the late breakfast was being taken, 
 French fashion, on the broad sidewalks, at tiny tables 
 in front of the numerous cafes, and the air was full of 
 the hum of gay conversation. 
 
 Not for all, however, had the church-going been dis- 
 posed of early. At eleven o'clock the pomp and cere- 
 mony of High Mass began in those edifices that are 
 the glory of Christian Paris. The fashionable churches 
 of the Champs-Elyse'es and the boulevards the grand 
 Metropolitan church, and innumerable others, ancient
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 and modern, all were crowded to their utmost capaci- 
 ty. If one had been tempted to say a moment before, 
 "All Paris is in the streets," now, on entering the cool 
 precincts of the sacred buildings, one might well ex- 
 claim, "All Paris is at High Mass !" 
 
 St. Thomas d'Aquin, the parish church of the his- 
 toric Faubourg Saint-Germain, is neither among the 
 largest nor the most beautiful of the churches of the 
 capital. But even for those who prefer the Gothic out- 
 lines of the older structures, or the sumptuous basilica 
 style popular with modern ecclesiastical builders, St. 
 Thomas has its charm, as representative of seventeenth- 
 century architecture, and full of the atmosphere of 
 courtly tradition. The ritual of Whit-Sunday was be- 
 ing carried out there in all the accustomed festal 
 splendor of the place the clergy in the sanctuary 
 clothed in red vestments, the altar boys in lace cot- 
 tas and silk sashes, the gentlemen of the fabrique in 
 full-dress at their stalls, the gigantic Swiss guards at 
 the doors in scarlet coats, white breeches and stock- 
 ings, cocked hats on their heads, swords at their sides, 
 and great battle-axes over their shoulders. The 
 beadles, in black small-clothes, laced hats, silver chains 
 and silver - headed maces, paced the aisles in solemn 
 dignity, while the purple - robed acolytes flung their 
 censers high into the air, catching them on the return 
 swing in the manner peculiar to the traditions of St. 
 Thomas. 
 
 Among the congregation on this festival one noticed 
 a number of musicians and amateurs who were not in 
 the habit of frequenting this church, and whose faces 
 wore an air of alert attention during certain musical 
 portions of the service, which showed that although 
 the spirit of worship might not be absent from their
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 hearts, yet the motive that prompted them to satisfy 
 this spirit at St. Thomas, rather than at any of the 
 more famous churches of Paris, lay in some unusual 
 musical attraction ; for it was known that two phenom- 
 enal voices were to be heard publicly to-day for the 
 first time in Paris one a young barytone from the 
 Royal Opera at Milan, who had already won a remark- 
 able reputation in the north of Italy and in Austria, 
 the other that of his young brother, still a mere child, 
 but said to be gifted with a voice such as only the 
 angels in heaven are supposed to possess. The broth- 
 ers were sons of an Italo-Austrian nobleman, an officer 
 of the Papal Zouaves, who had been killed at Mentana. 
 Many of his companions in arms the noblest blood 
 of France were glad to welcome the sons of their old 
 commander, and young Daretti, opera -singer as he 
 was, had been received with open arms into the most 
 exclusive salons of the Legitimist nobility. 
 
 The Introit, the Kyrie Eleison, the Gloria in Excelsis 
 were beautifully rendered by the invisible choir. The 
 lesson had been intoned, the choir had chanted the 
 " Emitte spiritum tuum," and then there came a solemn 
 pause. Amid deep silence the clergy prostrated them- 
 selves on the altar steps, the vicars knelt at their 
 stalls, the gentlemen of the fabrique at their benches, 
 the acolytes within the chancel, and the whole vast 
 congregation at their prie-dieu. Sweetly piercing 
 the stillness, arose the exquisite tones of a boy- 
 soprano in the Prose of the festival. "Veni, Sancte 
 Spiritus," sang the angelic voice. "Veni, Sancte 
 Spiritus," arose from the choir in answering petition, 
 " et emitte coelitus, lucis tui radium." Then again, in 
 the pure, high tones, upward soaring like a bird, free 
 and strong, " Veni, pater pauperum. Veni, lumen cor- 
 
 3
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 dium." " Come, O father of the poor ! Come, O giver 
 of good gifts ! Come, O light of loving hearts !" 
 "Veni, Veni !" answered the choir. 
 
 There is a strange pathos in the beautiful voice of a 
 boy, so soon to pass away, to change into we know not 
 what. Hardly has the soul of the child developed to 
 use its gift intelligently, feelingly, when it passes from 
 him forever, and we hear it no more. 
 
 The last " Veni " died away, there was a moment's 
 hush, and then the rich, full tones of a noble barytone 
 thrilled upon the air, glorious in power and sonority, 
 and charged with that indefinable, sympathetic some- 
 thing that seems to magnetize the hearts of its hearers. 
 " Consolator optime," it sang, tenderly, " Dulces hospes 
 animae, dulce refrigerium ! In labore requies, in aestu 
 temperies, in fletu solatium." " Veni, Veni !" pleaded 
 the answering choir. " Sweetest comforter, Sweet 
 guest of the soul, Rest in midst of toil, Shade amid the 
 heat, Solace of our tears, oh, come !" and above the 
 manly voices arose again the high, pathetic tones of 
 the boy-soprano, " O Lux beatissima !" it prayed " O 
 Light most blessed, fill the inmost hearts of thy faith- 
 ful people, for without thy light and thy grace there is 
 naught but evil in man." "Veni, Veni," responded 
 the deep-toned choir, and then the two voices, the soar- 
 ing, ringing treble of the boy and the deep, rich sweet- 
 ness of the man's, blended in exquisite harmony. 
 " Lava quod est sordidum, rege quod est devium." 
 " Cleanse our guilty stains, guide our erring footsteps, 
 drop down dew upon the dry land, bend our stubborn 
 wills, warm our frozen hearts. Be our strength, the 
 support of our exile, till thou art our joy in Paradise 
 forever, Alleluia, Amen, O Veni, Veni !" 
 
 Joyously, triumphantly rang out the alleluias, the 
 
 4
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 dramatic intensity of the man's voice, the gay jubila- 
 tion of the child's, piercing, it would seem, the very 
 heavens to unite with the voices of the heavenly choir 
 before the Crystal Throne. 
 
 And those who had come, perhaps in curiosity, per- 
 haps in incredulity, felt themselves stirred to long- 
 hidden depths, their eyes full of tears and their hearts 
 repeating : " O sweetest Comforter, immortal Light, 
 guide us through this weary exile to the joys of Para- 
 dise, Amen !" 
 
 It was another hour before the Mass, with the sermon 
 of the eloquent Friar Preacher, the elaborate music, 
 and the stately ceremonial, was over, and still the tones 
 of the " Veni, Sancte Spiritus " lingered in every heart. 
 The vast congregation turned slowly and reverently to 
 depart. 
 
 Two figures stepped aside into one of the many 
 chapels of the aisle to let the crowd pass out before 
 them. The man, of middle age and height, olive- 
 skinned and black-eyed, leaned against the sculptured 
 tomb of a great cardinal-statesman and watched the 
 retreating multitude with lazy interest. He held by 
 the hand a little girl with shining hair and star-like 
 eyes, who carried on her arm a tiny basket of flowers. 
 The child, tired of watching the stream of passing 
 figures, began to grow restless and pull at her little 
 basket. 
 
 " Well, my little girl, you have had a beautiful feast- 
 day and the very angels of heaven seemed to be sing- 
 ing to you of the Holy Spirit whose name you bear. 
 Have the angels wearied you, my Espiritu Santo ?" 
 
 He spoke in Spanish, and the child, clinging to his 
 hand, answered in the same language. 
 
 " Oh no, papa, it isn't that I'm tired, but I have an 
 
 5
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 idea," and she peeped into her basket and then looked 
 up eagerly. " Oh, papa, I should so love to give one 
 of my flowers, the flowers of the Holy Ghost, to the 
 dear little boy who sang so beautifully. Papa, may I 
 not give it to him, give him the Espiritu Santo ?" 
 
 The father took the basket from the child's hands 
 and glanced at the flowers lying there, white and pure 
 as if cut in wax, and enclosing in their petals the dove- 
 shaped figure from which they take their name. 
 
 " Well, well, child, there can be no harm in your giv- 
 ing it to him, but where do you expect to find this 
 angel ? Do you think he lives perched up by the altar 
 there, like one of the carved cherubs in the choir, or 
 will you address it to him in a note Paradise, Poste 
 Restante ?" 
 
 " Do not tease me, papa ! I thought you would 
 know where to find him. You know everything !" 
 
 "Not quite," said the Spaniard, modestly. "Life 
 would be dull if there were not always something to 
 find out, and I have not come much in contact with 
 angels hitherto. But you must not be crossed on your 
 feast-day, Espiritu. Let us ask the Swiss if he can 
 tell us where this particular angel hangs up his 
 wings." 
 
 "The Swiss?" faltered the child, glancing in alarm 
 towards the gigantic figure in its scarlet uniform, pac- 
 ing the aisle, battle-axe on shoulder. " The Swiss ? But, 
 papa, can he can he talk ?" 
 
 " Why not ?" laughed the father. " Pray, what do 
 you think he is? A great, stuffed, peripatetic doll, 
 perhaps? Ask him, and see if he cannot talk !" 
 
 They approached the gorgeous figure, the child hold- 
 ing back a little in awe-struck solemnity. As they 
 came near to him the Swiss turned towards them and 
 
 6
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 smiled yes, actually smiled, just as any every -day 
 human being might smile in looking down at a sweet 
 little child. 
 
 " Speak to him, Espiritu ! Tell him what it is you 
 want to know," urged the Spaniard, and the scarlet 
 giant bent his head, cocked hat and all, to listen, and 
 smiled on in the most encouraging way. 
 
 "Oh. please, sir," stammered the child in French, 
 " I should like to ask you a question, if it would not be 
 too much." 
 
 "Oh no," he said, affably. "Imagine if I am not 
 used to answering questions ! Why, I have four little 
 girls of my own at home !" And he laughed at the 
 thought as loud as one likes to laugh in a church. 
 
 " Four little girls of your own !" she echoed, in aston- 
 ishment. Why, then, indeed, she need not in the least 
 fear to ask him questions ; he might well say he was 
 used to it ! She grew very confidential at once. 
 
 " So you want to find the young gentleman that 
 sang the Prose this morning. Well, he will probably 
 not be hard to find. I think there are some ladies and 
 gentlemen talking to him now in the sacristy. We 
 will go and see," and he tucked the battle-axe under his 
 arm in the most familiar way and took her by the 
 hand. The little maiden glanced timidly over her 
 shoulder. Her father was close behind, following her 
 smilingly. Thus encouraged, she paced along by the 
 side of her formidable protector, looking very solemn 
 and taking as long strides as she possibly could. What 
 would they say at home if they could see her walking 
 up the aisle with all this magnificence ! 
 
 They turned off and entered the sacristy. Within 
 the room stood an eager group the music critic of a 
 famous journal, the great contralto of the opera, the 
 
 7
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 director of the Conservatoire, and two or three other 
 well-known musicians. 
 
 " I told you so !" Madame Delepoule was saying, 
 triumphantly. " I told you so, gentlemen ! I have 
 known that young man since he took his very first 
 singing-lesson six years ago in Florence, and I have al- 
 ways said that he had a voice that would rule the 
 world. But wait till you hear him in opera ! I have 
 sung with him myself at La Scala, at Vienna, at Nice, 
 and I know whereof I speak. Ah, Senor Disdier !" she 
 broke off, catching sight of the Spaniards. " Then 
 you took my advice and came here to-day instead of 
 going to La Madeleine. Well, do you feel rewarded ?" 
 
 " It was as one would imagine the archangel Michael 
 singing, ' Who is like unto God ?' " replied Disdier, 
 courteously. " But it is not the archangel that we 
 have come to pay homage to, but to the lesser angel. 
 My little girl, whose birthday this is, wishes to thank 
 the lad who sang so beautifully of the Holy Spirit, to 
 whom she is dedicated." 
 
 " It is all the same ; they are brothers, and they are 
 both wonderful," said Madame Delepoule. " The man 
 sings like the archangel Michael, but the boy has the 
 voice of the angel Israfel, the sweetest singer of heaven. 
 Theodore !" she called, " Theodore, my child, come 
 here !" 
 
 " I have this moment sent Theodore home," said a 
 young man, coming forward from a group of gentlemen. 
 
 He was a tall, broad-shouldered young man, erect 
 and shapely. He held his head well thrown back, look- 
 ing down at the shorter world beneath him with eyes 
 that glanced pleasantly and merrily out from under 
 their long, shading lashes. He did not wear a scarlet 
 uniform, neither did he carry a battle-axe, yet even in 
 
 8
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the presence of the massive Swiss he held his own 
 bravely, and looked quite big and imposing. 
 
 Senor Disdier led his little daughter forward. " That 
 is a pity," he said, " for this little admirer of his wishes 
 to pay her tribute to his beautiful singing." 
 
 The young man looked down at the child, and his 
 handsome mouth parted in a charming, cordial smile. 
 Kneeling on one knee before her, to bring himself 
 nearer her level, he took her small hand kindly and 
 said, " Can I not take Theodore some message from 
 you ? What would you like to say to him ?" 
 
 She opened her hand and showed him the flower 
 within. " Take this to him," she said, simply. " It is 
 the Holy Ghost, the Comforter." 
 
 The young man looked puzzled for a moment, as 
 well he might. Then he examined the flower more 
 closely and his face lighted up sympathetically. "Ah," 
 he said, gently, " I understand. It is the little flower 
 of the Holy Ghost, el Espiritu Santo." He smiled ten- 
 derly into the soft, eager eyes. " Do not fear ; Theo- 
 dore will understand, too, all that you want to say." 
 
 And the child clasped her hands in delight and 
 laughed ; then turning to her father, nestled against 
 him in sudden shyness. 
 
 The young man rose to his feet, and Disdier, bowing 
 politely right and left, turned away from the group 
 and led his little daughter off. As they passed the 
 Swiss, Espiritu looked up to thank him, and Disdier 
 slipped a coin into the big hand. 
 
 " I, too, have four little girls," said the Spaniard ; and 
 the Swiss smiled back gratefully, and watched father 
 and child as they disappeared through the side-door 
 of the church into the Rue du Bac, turning towards 
 the river. 
 
 9
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Ramon Eugenic Disdier had been for many years 
 in the Spanish consular service, but had lately entered 
 the firm of a large mercantile house in Paris which 
 carried on an important trade with the Spanish colo- 
 nies, Mexico, and South America. On coming to re- 
 side in this city he had invested a portion of his prop- 
 erty in the ownership of a house in the Boulevard 
 Malesherbes, which contained five apartments. The 
 ground-floor was occupied by the legation of one of 
 the South American States. A broad, central stair- 
 case of stone, with windows looking out on to a large 
 paved court-yard, led to the upper apartments. The 
 one on the first floor had been for many years the 
 home of the great contralto singer of the generation 
 that is passing away, Hortense Delepoule. The famous 
 Belgian had settled in Paris to teach, but though her 
 voice was beginning to show signs of age and wear, 
 she appeared from time to time in some of her most 
 famous roles at the Ope'ra, where she still swayed her 
 audiences to frenzies of enthusiasm. A woman of ad- 
 mirable character, devoted to her profession, full of 
 kindness towards struggling young artists, and with 
 exceptional gifts as a teacher, she had a devoted circle 
 of personal friends and admirers, and her salon was a 
 favorite centre for the musical dilettanti of fashion- 
 able Paris as well as more Bohemian circles. 
 
 The second-floor apartment had lately been taken 
 by the family of Don Gaspar Montufer, a Spanish gen- 
 tleman of noble birth and Carlist principles who had 
 joined the Spanish colony in Paris, where so many po- 
 litical refugees had found a home before him ; while on 
 the third floor lived Disdier himself with his four young 
 daughters and their grandmother, Madame Valorge. 
 
 The fourth floor had lately been vacated, and as yet 
 10
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 no desirable tenants had been found. It was with 
 some elation, therefore, that Disdier received a pro- 
 posal from Madame Delepoule that it should be taken 
 by the young Darettis for bachelor house-keeping, in 
 which two friends would join them one a violinist 
 from the Conservatory orchestra, the other a professor 
 of mathematics at the Lycee Louis le Grand. 
 
 " Four young men, Bohemians from the Opera, and 
 I with four motherless girls under my charge !" ex- 
 claimed Madame Valorge, in consternation. 
 
 "What indiscretion can there be?" asked Disdier, 
 coolly. " It is not as if we were taking them into our 
 family. They will occupy the fourth floor, we occupy 
 the third, and our girls, who never go out unattended, 
 may occasionally pass them on the public stairway. 
 But so they may pass a dozen young men in the street. 
 Can I blindfold them or lock them up within four walls 
 of a tower, like the father of Santa Barbara ? No other 
 tenants are forthcoming, I need the rent, and Madame 
 Delepoule vouches for these young men in every re- 
 spect. What else can I do than let her friends have it ?" 
 
 But Madame Valorge had misgivings, and Madame 
 Delepoule felt that she must plead with her personally 
 if she wished to secure the lease for her young friends. 
 The two ladies were near of an age, both being turned 
 of fifty, but nothing could have been in greater con- 
 trast than the personal appearance of each the black- 
 eyed, black -haired Frenchwoman, slender in figure, 
 dainty in dress, with the type of feature that is called 
 aristocratic, an air of high-breeding and refinement in 
 every movement and expression, and the large, portly 
 Belgian, her reddish -brown hair streaked with gray, 
 her heavy -featured countenance plain and common- 
 place in repose. One read in it few signs of the superb 
 
 ii
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 artistic intelligence, the noble vocalism and extraor- 
 dinary histrionic power that had electrified two gener- 
 ations of opera-lovers. 
 
 In her blunt, straightforward, open-hearted manner, 
 Madame Delepoule plunged at once into the subject 
 of the proposed tenancy. With equal frankness Ma- 
 dame Valorge urged her objections in her well-bred, 
 pleasantly modulated tones. 
 
 " I do not think you have anything to fear," explain- 
 ed Hortense Delepoule. " These young men are busy 
 fellows, and they will come and go so quietly you will 
 know little of their presence in the house. Young 
 Daretti is to sing at the OpeYa this coming year, and 
 he wishes to educate and make a home for his young 
 orphan brother. I have known and loved these lads 
 from childhood, and their mother before them. I may 
 be stupid and conceited, perhaps, but I hope to have 
 some little influence with the young fellows, alone in 
 a big, wicked city, if I can succeed in making them 
 feel at home with me, can make them come to me as 
 to a friend and mother. You know what young men 
 are. If they are in the same house with me and pass 
 my door every day they will drop in as a matter of 
 course. But if they are just across the street, and 
 must put on hat and coat and fetch their stick, and 
 make a special errand of it, I might as well be in New 
 Caledonia for all I shall see of them, for all I can hope 
 to do for them. Madame Valorge, you are a mother, 
 and have brought up motherless children; help me 
 then to be kind to another mother's orphan lads." 
 
 Hortense Delepoule's face was/eloquent enough now, 
 her eyes darkening with tears of emotion. Madame 
 Valorge responded to her appeal with a warm pressure 
 of the hand. 
 
 12
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 " Ah, Madame, you are an able strategist and have 
 attacked me at my weakest point. Indeed, indeed, 
 they shall come ! I only wish that I might join with 
 you in trying to give them sweet home influences in 
 their lonely lives. With the little boy I will gladly do 
 it, but you understand that with the older one I must 
 be more circumspect. My Catalina is devoted to music 
 and is just at a susceptible age. It would be a pity to 
 have any sentimental notions enter into her head just 
 when she should be doing her most earnest work." 
 
 " If you are able to keep sentimental notions out of 
 the head of a seventeen-year-old girl, you will be one 
 of the first to succeed !" 
 
 Madame Valorge laughed good-naturedly. " Indeed, 
 if I were to bring into my house a young musician of 
 the personal charm of young Daretti, as Ramon de- 
 scribes him to me, I admit I should be very hopeless 
 of success. But, seriously, they may come, with the 
 assurance that I welcome them and shall be glad to do 
 all that I and Ramon can do to make it homelike for 
 them." 
 
 Hortense Delepoule took both Madame Valorge's 
 hands in hers and pressed them warmly. There were 
 tears in her honest eyes. " I thank you a thousand 
 times for your kind heart, and, allow me to add, your 
 good sense. And, dear friend, let us know each other 
 even better after this. Let me see more of you and 
 of your little charges, the sweet little one that I saw- 
 yesterday, especially. Has she, too, a talent for music, 
 and how did she come by her unusual name ?" 
 
 " She has no special talent," replied Madame Valorge, 
 with a smile of fond recollection, "except it be a talent 
 for making herself our little comfort and sunshine, 
 our dove and flower. I suppose her name has a 
 
 13
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 strange sound to Northern ears, but the Spanish name 
 their children often for feasts of our Lord and the 
 saints. Our little girl's name is very precious to us. 
 She was born on Whitsunday morning, the feast of the 
 Holy Spirit, in the City of Mexico. She was a frail 
 little flower, and we did not think we could keep her. 
 As soon as the mother saw the child she asked that 
 the priest might be sent for at once to baptize it. Just 
 before he came the nuns from a neighboring convent 
 sent over a flower, a little white flower that the Mexi- 
 cans call El Espiritu Santo. It had bloomed that 
 morning, and they sent it to the new-born infant that 
 had come into the world with it on the joyful feast of 
 Pentecost. We laid it in her tiny hand. She was 
 scarce breathing. The priest came hurriedly, and as 
 he entered the room we could hear through the open 
 window the nuns chanting the 'Veni, Sancte Spir- 
 itus.' He glanced at the little, pale, almost lifeless 
 figure, holding in its hand the white flower of the 
 Holy Ghost, and, without asking us to name the child, 
 he took it up at once, and pouring the water on its 
 brow, said, ' Espiritu Santo, I baptize thee in the name 
 of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,' 
 and as he pronounced the baptismal words the tiny 
 creature opened its eyes and smiled, and the color 
 crept into its cheeks and lips. He laid it by its moth- 
 er's side and said, ' Fear not, the child will live.' It 
 did live and flourish," continued Madame Valorge, 
 with a sob, " but that night its mother, my only child, 
 lay dead !" 
 
 With an exclamation of sorrow and sympathy, 
 Madame Delepoule held out her arms to the afflicted 
 woman and drew her to her breast. " Forgive me ! I 
 did not know what I was calling up when I asked you 
 
 14
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 to tell me of the child," she said, low and soothingly. 
 " I understand that her name is precious to you, and 
 that God has made her to be the comfort and solace 
 of your hearts." 
 
 " She is indeed a benediction to us, God bless her, 
 our little dove, our Holy Ghost flower, our Espiritu 
 Santo !"
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 "He wears the rose of youth upon him." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 MADAME VALORGE was most sincere in promising 
 Madame Delepoule that the young Italians should be 
 welcome in her house, yet they had been established 
 many weeks on the fourth floor before she even knew 
 them by sight. " They would not care for the society 
 of an old woman like me," she said to herself, " and it 
 is as well they should not be falling in love with Cata- 
 lina or she with them. They are at home with Ma- 
 dame Delepoule, and the society of her salon is just 
 what would be congenial to them. When the children 
 come home from their summer in the country it will 
 be time enough to do something for the little boy." 
 
 In the meanwhile the new tenants came and went 
 quietly about their different occupations, and so solid- 
 ly are the Parisian houses built that she was hardly 
 aware that the apartment above was occupied, al- 
 though between the grand-piano, the violin, and robust 
 men's voices, the fourth floor was ringing with music 
 from morning till night. She passed the young men 
 occasionally on the staircase, and they were certainly 
 well - mannered. They always stood still with bared 
 heads while she passed them, flattening themselves 
 against the wall and holding their hats in their hands. 
 She fancied that the burly, brown-bearded one with 
 
 16
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the kind, brown eyes, was the Swiss professor of math- 
 ematics. The slender, blond lad with the poetic face 
 was probably the violinist, and the tall, broad-shoul- 
 dered young man, with erect, spirited bearing and 
 laughing, coquettish eyes, the young opera - singer. 
 Other figures passed, but she had never seen among 
 them the little boy Madame Delepoule had spoken of. 
 He was apparently non-existent. In the autumn, how- 
 ever, the fates, which seemed at first to have set them- 
 selves against any intimacy, began to relent. 
 
 One evening sounds of a highly hilarious character 
 were floated through the air from the fourth floor to 
 the occupants of the third. They penetrated even the 
 solid brick and cement walls and tiled floors of as well 
 built a house as that in the Boulevard Malesherbes. 
 The sounds of laughter, shouting, and singing, and 
 other sounds that seemed to betoken the tramp of 
 manly feet and the circulation of heavy pieces of 
 furniture made Madame Valorge sit in anxious trem- 
 bling until the small hours of the morning. Disdier 
 was out late that night, and on his return he found 
 Madame Valorge still up, looking very white and dis- 
 turbed. The noise, however, ceased at that moment, 
 and they decided to do nothing till morning, when 
 they would investigate into its cause. At an early 
 hour the next morning, while they were still over their 
 coffee, there was a ring at the door and the maid 
 brought in two visiting-cards for Madame Valorge and 
 Senor Disdier. The gentlemen were waiting in the 
 anteroom, she said. The cards announced Adriano 
 dei Conti Daretti-Mannsfeld, and Saverio Agostini, 
 member of the Conservatory orchestra. The young 
 men were invited into the salon, where, with some 
 severity of manner, Madame Valorge and her son-in- 
 B 17
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 law awaited them. It was impossible, however, not to 
 be disarmed by the manly courtesy of bearing and the 
 look of boyish sincerity in the faces of the two youths. 
 They entered, hat and gloves in hand, made deep, po- 
 lite bows, and, standing up together, began their apol- 
 ogy at once. 
 
 " We feel deeply ashamed, Madame Valorge," with 
 a bow, "and you, Senor Disdier," another bow, "to 
 think how much we must have disturbed you last 
 evening. We were most inexcusably thoughtless, and 
 beg you will forgive us." 
 
 " Pray be seated, gentlemen, and lay down your 
 hats," said Madame Valorge, graciously, already mol- 
 lified by their appearance. "We do not often hear 
 from you, but last evening seems to have been a merry 
 one." 
 
 " It was, indeed," explained Daretti, " but there was 
 nothing amiss, I beg you to believe ; nothing that you 
 would not have wished your own sons to do. You see," 
 moving his chair a little nearer to Madame Valorge 
 and looking confidentially at her out of irresistible 
 eyes, " Agostini and I had both yesterday signed con- 
 tracts which assure us a fortune and a future. The 
 first barytone of the Ope'ra is to retire after Easter and 
 make a concert tour through England and the United 
 States. Agostini will go with him as solo violinist, 
 and will get the chance of making an international 
 reputation, while I have been engaged to take the first 
 barytone roles at the highest salary they have ever 
 paid. Isn't it delightful, and do you wonder that our 
 heads were turned ?" 
 
 " I do not wonder, and, indeed, I congratulate you 
 with all my heart, both of you, although I regret," 
 turning politely to Agostini, " that your good fortune 
 
 18
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 should call you away from Paris. But I fear there 
 was something else turned besides your heads. Will 
 you, pray, explain to me what happened to the fur- 
 niture ?" 
 
 Daretti glanced at his companion and laughed a shy 
 laugh, and blushed a charming blush. " Dear Madame 
 Valorge," he asked, " did you ever have boys of your 
 own ?" 
 
 " I am sorry to say, no," she answered ; " my only 
 child was a daughter, and my grandchildren are all 
 little girls." 
 
 " Then I fear you will not understand," he sighed. 
 
 " Try me," she said, smiling and beginning to wish 
 she had had boys of her own. 
 
 "Well, then, if you will excuse me, I will declare 
 the whole truth to you." His facile French had the 
 charm of a slight foreign accent. " But, remember, it 
 is no girl's story that I have to tell. First, then, we 
 cleared the floor and danced, but they were not the 
 dances that your young ladies dance in the drawing- 
 room. Then we began to play leap-frog over the fur- 
 niture. But you look grave, madame. I will spare you 
 the rest." 
 
 "And yet you tell me," laughed Madame Valorge, 
 glancing in pretended consternation at the pretty fur- 
 niture of her salon, " that this is nothing but what I 
 should wish my own sons to do !" 
 
 "Madame," said Daretti, gayly, " I see that you have 
 already adopted us and that all is forgiven. I need 
 go no further with my story. From this moment we 
 are your sons, and I trust you will not fail to call upon 
 us for any filial service that we may do you." 
 
 " Especially in case of annoyance from unruly neigh- 
 bors, I suppose you mean to add," she said, smiling. 
 
 '9
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Madame Valorge, where there is such perfect sym- 
 pathy of soul as exists between us it is needless to be 
 explicit." 
 
 Ramon Disdier looked at his bright - faced young 
 neighbors with a sense of pleasure. It was many 
 years since he had been a boy, his life had been dull 
 and anxious of late years, and now he felt as if he 
 should enjoy renewing his youth in the companion- 
 ship of these healthy, lively young fellows that fate 
 had made his tenants. " Decidedly," he said to him- 
 self, " I must see more of these boys I must spend 
 an evening with them once in awhile and have them 
 come here sometimes. We have a fine piano, and why 
 might we not pass many pleasant hours together ?" 
 
 "Decidedly," Madame Valorge was thinking, "these 
 young men are dangerous. They appeal even to my 
 withered heart, and, for Catalina's sake, it will not 
 do to have them here often, unless young girls' hearts 
 are made of different stuff from what they were when 
 I was eighteen." 
 
 " Decidedly," the two young men were saying to 
 themselves. "We must make friends here. Our land- 
 lord is a gentleman, and his mother is delightful, so 
 bright and kindly. We must lose no time in becom- 
 ing better acquainted." 
 
 So the conspirators were three against one, and that 
 one a hospitable, tender-hearted woman. It ended, as 
 one might have foreseen, in the exchange of cordial 
 invitations and ready promises of acceptance. 
 
 "And you must really bring that little brother of 
 yours to see me," Madame Valorge was saying. " He 
 must be good friends with our little girls and feel that 
 this is a home for him. I have not even seen him 
 yet." 
 
 20
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Perhaps you have overlooked him," said Agostini. 
 "At school they call him 'the little one,' 'le Petit,' he 
 is so tiny." 
 
 " I shall be more than glad to put him under your 
 protection," said Daretti, with a melancholy smile. 
 " It is a great responsibility for me. I try to make a 
 home for the child, but it isn't as if we had our moth- 
 er," and there was a tremulous lowering of the voice. 
 " Life is very different for poor Teodoro from what it 
 was for me as a school-boy." 
 
 " Bring your brother to see me this very day," cried 
 Madame Valorge, impulsively. " I reproach myself 
 that I have not asked him here before. To-day is our 
 Lolita's feast-day. The children will be at home this 
 afternoon and have a few friends with them from four 
 o'clock to seven. There will be about a dozen boys and 
 girls, and it will be bright and pleasant for the little 
 fellow to meet them." 
 
 "Thank you for your kindness to him. I always 
 stop for him when his school is over at three o'clock, 
 and we usually take long rambles all over the city. 
 But I shall be delighted to bring him here to-day and 
 introduce him to you. I only fear the young people 
 will find him very shy." 
 
 " Ah, that will wear off quickly, no doubt. We shall 
 soon make him feel at home." And Madame Valorge 
 and Disdier both accompanied their new friends to the 
 door with many hospitable words. 
 
 Once outside of the apartment the young men 
 bounded up the staircase to their own rooms. 
 
 " Charming people !" said Agostini, enthusiastically. 
 
 " Yes, charming people ! So intelligent, so discrimi- 
 nating. No doubt you observed the fancy they seemed 
 to take to me ? Such powers of discernment !" 
 
 21
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " They said a great deal to you, but you should have 
 seen the looks that were given to me." 
 
 " Oh, the jealous man !" cried Daretti, pushing open 
 the salon door. The brown-bearded Swiss was playing 
 away at the grand-piano, too absorbed to notice their 
 entrance until they made a rush at him and dragged 
 him off the chair. 
 
 "Well, children, have you made your peace?" he 
 asked, placidly. 
 
 "We have," said Agostini, "and been adopted as 
 long-lost sons." 
 
 " They hung about our necks and wept, in this 
 wise," said Daretti, hurling his stalwart form tumultu- 
 ously into the burly professor's arms and clinging 
 round his neck. " Carissimo Casimiro, my dearest 
 Casimir," heaving a long, theatrical sigh and planting 
 his head firmly on his friend's broad shoulder. " Ca- 
 rissimo Casimiro, give me your sympathy, I am in 
 love." 
 
 " I know. So you told me yesterday." 
 
 " Ah, but this is another !" 
 
 " Already ?" 
 
 " What ! Is my heart not large enough for two, or 
 twenty even, could there be twenty such ?" 
 
 " May I inquire the age of your latest fancy ?" asked 
 Casimir, delicately. " Your beloved of yesterday is, I 
 believe, sixty." 
 
 " This one is about the same age," sighed Daretti, 
 with comic gravity. " It is the only age for me ! What 
 is the good of your young things of sixteen and twen- 
 ty, and even twenty-six, I should like to know ? No 
 experience of life, their character unformed, there is 
 no knowing what they may develop into. It is all a 
 terrible risk. But at sixty you have some idea what a 
 
 22
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 woman is like, what sort of things you can expect of 
 her. Then you can begin life with her with some 
 confidence for the future. Now I shall be quite con- 
 verted to matrimony if I can only persuade Mesdames 
 Delepoule and Valorge to enter into the estate with 
 me." 
 
 " For Heaven's sake don't begin by committing big- 
 amy !" cried Casimir, shaking himself loose and re- 
 turning to the piano-stool. " Stop talking nonsense 
 and look over this score with me. You never heard 
 such a thing drama and music all together. There 
 hasn't been such a tragedy since the old Greeks." 
 
 " There'll be another tragedy if we stay to hear your 
 'Tristan and Isolde,' " said Daretti. "Agostini here has 
 led a decent life so far, and I don't want him contami- 
 nated. Come, Saverino mio," laying violent hands on 
 Agostini's slender frame, " off with you to rehearsal ! 
 Will you walk, or be driven ?" And, gayly chaffing 
 one another, they put on their hats, and, one taking 
 his music, the other his violin, they set out for their 
 morning's work.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 " Her angel's face 
 
 As the great eye of heaven shyned bright 
 And made a sunshine in the shady place." 
 
 Spenser. 
 
 THAT afternoon, punctually at three o'clock, the 
 doors of the College St. Ignace opened and poured 
 forth a living stream of boys boys of all ages and 
 sizes fully eight hundred in number, ranging from 
 twelve up to eighteen and twenty years of age. All 
 were clad in the college uniform of dark blue, with 
 military caps and Eton jackets. Some of the lads 
 went off in groups together, but by far the greater 
 number were met by their relatives some by their 
 fathers returning from business, some by their mothers, 
 or by both parents, while the Rue de Madrid was lined 
 with waiting carriages containing the mothers and 
 sisters of the young students, who, on their way to and 
 from their social visiting or shopping, stopped to pick 
 up their sons or brothers. Adriano Daretti, the young 
 opera-singer, had taken his stand among a group of 
 gentlemen near the central door. He was recognized 
 by Don Gaspar Montufer, who came forward and shook 
 him cordially by the hand. 
 
 " My boys had a delightful walk with you and your 
 brother yesterday," he said. "They were full of enthusi- 
 asm when they returned, and said that you had told 
 
 24
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 them most interesting stories about your father's ad- 
 ventures in Mexico with the unfortunate Emperor 
 Max." 
 
 " They were sympathetic listeners, and I enjoyed 
 their company greatly," rejoined Daretti. " I trust you 
 will often allow them to go with us. They are a fine 
 pair of lads." 
 
 " Willingly, if you will promise to rid yourself of them 
 as soon as they become a bore." 
 
 "There is little danger," smiled Adriano, politely; 
 and at the moment a dark, stern - featured but very 
 handsome man of middle age came up. 
 
 " Don Gaspar," he said, " will you do me the favor of 
 an introduction ?" 
 
 "With pleasure, marquis. Chevalier Daretti, this 
 gentleman asks to make your acquaintance. May I 
 present Don Luis de San Roque, Marquis of Palafox ?" 
 
 The two men stood stiffly erect, bared their heads, 
 and exchanged low, formal bows, after the approved 
 French fashion. Then the marquis held out his hand 
 to the younger man. 
 
 " I felt that we should know each other, chevalier," 
 he said. " You bear your father's name. I was one of 
 the Papal Zouaves, and fought by his side in 1867." 
 
 " Surely I ought to remember you !" exclaimed 
 Daretti, taking the offered hand with some emotion. 
 " You held him in your arms when he died, and you 
 came to Trieste afterwards to bring my poor mother 
 his papers." 
 
 " I see you recognize me. It was a sad office, but 
 one I was glad it was my privilege to perform. Your 
 father was a man one could not know without loving, 
 a cultivated gentleman, wide-awake to the movement 
 of the nineteenth century, but with a temperament as 
 
 25
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 romantic and chivalrous as that of a knight of the 
 Middle Ages. And your mother was cast in the same 
 mould. I remember when I told her of your father's 
 heroic, Christian death, and how he had expressed him- 
 self as dying with joy for his country and his religion, 
 she clasped her hands and exclaimed, ' My soul doth 
 magnify the Lord !' " 
 
 The tears rushed to Daretti's eyes and he wrung the 
 marquis's hand. " I had the misfortune to lose her 
 three years ago," he said, in a low tone. " It is good to 
 hear a voice that will speak her praise to me in a 
 strange land !" 
 
 The marquis returned the pressure of his hand with 
 feeling. Just then a lad joined the group shyly, a thin, 
 overgrown lad, who had shot up into unusual height 
 at the expense of his breadth. Long-limbed and nar- 
 row-shouldered, he moved awkwardly, as if conscious 
 of his lanky extremities, and bore the delicate, fragile 
 look of one who has outgrown health and strength. He 
 was not more than fifteen years old, but was already 
 nearly six feet in height. He drew near to Daretti, 
 who threw an affectionate arm round the boy's thin 
 shoulders. 
 
 "Teodoro," he said, "this gentleman knew our 
 mother and was with our father when he died at Men- 
 tana." 
 
 The lad took off his hat and turned his face tow- 
 ards the marquis, whose eyes travelled up the long 
 figure with a sense of amusement till they reached the 
 face, where they rested in astonishment. The boy's 
 face was absolutely beautiful. The exquisitely chiselled 
 features were as perfect in outline as those of a Greek 
 statue ; the rounded chin and curved lips were especially 
 fine. The broad, pure brow was shaded by half-rings 
 
 26
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 of curling, bronze-brown hair, and from under the deli- 
 cately pencilled brows looked forth a pair of bonny blue 
 eyes, gazing at him with winning sweetness and intel- 
 ligence. " Heavens, what a face !" thought the mar- 
 quis. " If only the figure corresponded, we should 
 have an Antinous or Apollo Belvedere." 
 
 He took the ungainly lad by the hand. "I must 
 present you both to my wife," he said. " Not only has 
 she heard me speak of your father, but your brother's 
 wife, the Contessina d'Usseglio, was the daughter of 
 her godmother, and these spiritual relationships are 
 very dear to us Spaniards. You see, I have not lost 
 sight of your father's sons," he added, pleasantly, 
 as he led the way towards one of the coroneted car- 
 riages. Two laughing, girlish faces were thrust out of 
 the window, bewitching Spanish faces, with dainty 
 features, large, lustrous eyes, olive skins, and masses of 
 clustering hair. Little school-maidens in their early 
 teens they were, bubbling over with joy and excite- 
 ment. " Children, where is your mother ?" asked the 
 marquis, with a caress to each upturned face. 
 
 " She has sent us home alone, papa quite alone. Im- 
 agine how reasonable we must be, papa, so discreet ! 
 And we are to fetch you and Jaime home directly, and 
 Jaime is to dress quickly and come with us to Lolita 
 Disdier's fete. Ah, there you are, Jaime ! There is no 
 time to lose," as a black-eyed youth of seventeen made 
 his way towards the carriage, greeting his father and 
 sisters with as much enthusiasm as if they had been 
 separated half a year instead of half a day. 
 
 " I regret, gentlemen," said the marquis, " that my 
 wife is not here as usual to-day. It will be her disap- 
 pointment. But I shall call upon you very soon, and 
 hope to arrange a time to bring you to my house. In 
 
 27
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the meanwhile these very reasonable little maidens 
 whom you see behaving with such exemplary discretion 
 are my daughters, Dona Margarita and Dona Josefa de 
 San Roque." 
 
 The girlish faces grew suddenly grave and impor- 
 tant. They nodded their heads politely, and then 
 glanced furtively at each other for encouragement. 
 They were in a desperate hurry, but thought it would 
 be rude to remind their father of the fact before the 
 strangers. He was a considerate papa, however, and 
 soon bowed himself free from the young men, stepped 
 into the carriage with his son, and signed to the coach- 
 man to drive off. 
 
 " I suppose he must have been the boy, but I should 
 have hardly recognized him," said the marquis, thought- 
 fully, leaning back in his seat. 
 
 " What boy ?" exclaimed the children, eagerly, bend- 
 ing forward and crowding about their father's knees. 
 
 "I have often told you, children, of the victory of 
 Mentana, and the brave boy that crossed the field of 
 battle to carry an order to a company of French Chas- 
 seurs an order that decided the fate of the battle. 
 That boy was the Chevalier Daretti that I just present- 
 ed to you." 
 
 " Theodore's big brother !" exclaimed Jaime. " Why 
 did you not tell us before ?" 
 
 " Because I had not recognized in the tall, elegant, 
 fashionably dressed young man the ragged, dusty, 
 heart-broken, terror-stricken child that I had last seen 
 more than a dozen years ago in the din and smoke of 
 battle." 
 
 "But, papa, why do you call him terror-stricken, 
 when you just said he was so brave ?" 
 
 " It is the highest form of heroism, my children, to 
 
 28
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 do a brave action in spite of one's fears to under- 
 stand the greatness of the danger and yet face it when 
 duty calls. His father, Colonel Mannsfeld, was my 
 superior officer. I was riding near him with General 
 Charette, and noticed his young son, then a tall, thin 
 boy, not more than eleven years of age, who was help- 
 ing his father with great intelligence in watching the 
 movements of both armies. Our men were fighting 
 against fearful odds, and there was but one chance for 
 victory, and the general was about to send an order to 
 the Chasseurs to make a flanking movement when a 
 shell fell in our midst and exploded almost directly 
 under Mannsfeld's horse. The animal was literally 
 blown to pieces, and the colonel fell with him, terribly 
 mangled. The orderly was instantly killed. The poor 
 child gave a fearful scream and fell on his knees by his 
 father's side. We did our best to extricate Mannsfeld, 
 but it was impossible to stanch his wounds, it was 
 only a question of minutes before he would bleed to 
 death. The general called for an orderly, for time was 
 pressing, but there was no one near us. Then the boy 
 rose up from his father's side and said, ' I will go with 
 the order.' It was a fearfully dangerous errand, one 
 chance in ten that he would cross the field alive, for 
 the bullets were falling like rain. The poor father, who 
 understood the danger only too well, murmured, 
 ' Adriano, my boy ! Your poor mother ! Your little 
 brother !' Then reproaching himself for his weakness 
 he raised his voice and cried, ' Go, and God be with 
 you !' We lost sight of the boy in the smoke of the 
 battle, and there were some minutes of terrible suspense, 
 but after awhile we saw the Chasseurs, to our relief, 
 swing about and attack the enemy's flank. The boy 
 had picked his way through the thick of the battle, 
 
 29
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 crawling over the bodies of the dead and wounded, and 
 protecting himself behind trees and broken walls. In 
 spite of his grief and agitation he had not only de- 
 livered the general's order, but had given the com- 
 manding officer so clear an account of the situation 
 that it helped him greatly in executing the manoeuvre 
 that saved the day." 
 
 " Oh, papa, tell us !" cried the children, with tearful 
 eyes fixed on his face. " Did the boy get back to his 
 father, and did the father live?" 
 
 " Dear children, the father died in my arms not ten 
 minutes after the lad left us." 
 
 The children's lips quivered. The marquis almost 
 regretted that he had brought a cloud over those 
 young faces with the sad story of war and death. But 
 at that moment they drove up under the gateway of 
 the Hotel San Roque, and Jenofonte, the tall porter, 
 was opening the carriage door, and their mother's 
 sweet voice was calling to them to make haste and get 
 ready for the party. The children bounded up the 
 stairs to meet her, the stern-featured soldier glancing 
 after them with fatherly pride, for, like many a stern- 
 featured soldier before him, he was a tender and in- 
 dulgent parent. 
 
 The Darettis stood a moment on the pavement after 
 the San Roque carriage drove off. Adriano always 
 felt a strange, homesick feeling at this hour, when he, 
 himself an orphan, and the young brother to whom 
 he stood in the place of father and mother, had to 
 witness daily the joyous reunion of so many parents 
 and children. It seemed to hurt him about the heart 
 to see so much demonstration of family affection, and 
 he was glad when the hour was over. 
 
 Don Gaspar Montufer passed at that moment, a tall 
 
 30
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 boy clinging to either arm with that simple unconcern 
 for appearances characteristic of the Latin races. 
 They were big boys, but it did not occur to them that 
 it was unmanly to show their affection for their father 
 in public. Teodoro stepped shyly forward and asked 
 them if they would walk with him again that after- 
 noon. 
 
 " Not to-day," they answered, over their shoulders. 
 "We are going to Senorita Disdier's fete this after- 
 noon," and they passed happily on. 
 
 Teodoro's face fell. It had taken all the timid boy's 
 courage to address them, and he felt their refusal like 
 a rebuff. 
 
 " Never mind, Tedi," said Adriano, cheerfully. "You 
 shall go to the ball yourself. The fairy godmother 
 has sent for you." 
 
 "And will the princess be there?" asked Teodoro, 
 innocently. 
 
 " To be sure, and she will ask you to dance." 
 
 " How do you know ?" 
 
 " How do I know ? What a boy to ask questions ! 
 Of course, I had it from the fairy godmother herself." 
 
 Teodoro was greatly excited. He could not walk 
 home in the conventional way, but frisked like an un- 
 gainly colt, and had to be called to order a dozen 
 times. He had never been to a party in his life. He 
 knew a great deal about loneliness and poverty and 
 work, about sorrow and war and death, but about fetes 
 and dances, pretty children and gay dresses, he was 
 very ignorant. He had been behind the scenes at the 
 opera sometimes, when they were representing a ball 
 or a fete, but there one saw the powder and paint, saw 
 the faces before the smiles were put on, saw the ma- 
 chinery and makeshifts. There was no illusion, no
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 spontaneity, no sense of joy, of happiness. The poor 
 boy, who had had little of childhood's joys, and had 
 grown too fast into manhood, clung to childish ideas 
 of things he had never known. He liked to read child- 
 ish books, liked to play childish games, and chose the 
 littlest boys in school for his especial friends. 
 
 " And now, Adriano, what shall I wear ?" 
 
 This was a grave question. They had reached their 
 rooms now, and Teodoro had scoured face and hands 
 and mercilessly brushed all the pretty curl out of his 
 hair. 
 
 " You see, Tedi, I never dreamed of your becoming 
 a society man so soon, and I fear I have not provided 
 a suitable outfit for you. Under the circumstances, I 
 think you had best wear your Sunday uniform. In 
 fact, you have nothing else but your travelling-suit, 
 which would look as if you were in a hurry to leave, 
 and that would not be polite." 
 
 So the best blue uniform was brought out and 
 Oreste pressed into the service. Oreste was the Daret- 
 tis' young Italian valet, who had been with them since 
 before their mother's death. It was not a hard service, 
 as the young men were very independent and did 
 much for themselves, but Oreste was always wide- 
 awake and interested, and adored his young masters. 
 He brushed the blue uniform with zealous care, and 
 polished the best looking pair of shoes. 
 
 " Oreste, you careless fellow ! you've laid out three 
 socks." 
 
 " Well, you needn't put on but two," observed 
 Adriano. " Now, Tedi, hold still. How can you ex- 
 pect me to tie your cravat straight when you are 
 dancing jigs with the chairs? No wonder Oreste 
 thought you had an unusual number of legs." 
 
 32
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 At last the blue uniform was safely buttoned on, the 
 stiffest and widest collar picked out, and the white 
 cravat carefully tied. An Eton jacket could hardly 
 be said to be becoming to the lad's figure. It seemed 
 to make his long limbs look longer and thinner than 
 ever. 
 
 " If people would only look at his face first they 
 would not think of his figure," thought Adriano. 
 " Stand up straight and look proud !" he added, aloud. 
 " You will think a great deal of your height some 
 day." 
 
 " I think too much of it already, and so do other 
 people," objected Teodoro. " I wouldn't think so much 
 of it if there wasn't so much of it to think of." 
 
 " It's lucky we have the assurance of Holy Scripture 
 that you cannot add to your stature in that way," re- 
 marked Adriano; " but there is something else for you 
 to employ your mind on, and that is a pretty speech 
 to make in your very best French to the fairy god- 
 mother. Now hold your head back and do credit to 
 your bringing up," and he gave his brother a last criti- 
 cal glance followed by an affectionate hug and kiss, 
 under cover of which he slyly ruffled up the smoothly 
 plastered hair into a more becoming disorder, and then 
 the brothers started down the stairs together. 
 
 It was a pretty scene in Madame Valorge's salon : 
 Disdier's four daughters and some of their intimate 
 friends, the two San Roque girls, Julia and Trinidad 
 Montufer, and other little ladies of the Spanish colony 
 of Paris, ranging from eleven to fifteen years of age, 
 all in bright, pretty dresses. Ther,e were boys, also, 
 chiefly brothers of the different little ladies, about the 
 same in number and years. 
 
 Teodoro felt utterly bewildered as they came on the 
 c 33
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 bright scene. He was conscious that Adriano was 
 leading him up to an elderly lady and introducing him 
 to her as the fairy godmother. That was the signal 
 for his little speech, but he could remember nothing 
 of it. 
 
 " So this is ' le Petit,' the tiny fellow that I have 
 overlooked so long," said the godmother, laughing 
 pleasantly, and she introduced them both to a tall 
 young lady standing at her side, named Catalina, 
 to whom Adriano was soon making pretty speeches 
 enough to make up for any number of delinquent 
 brothers. 
 
 Teodoro was miserable. His eye had fallen upon 
 some of his schoolmates present, Roque and Jaime de 
 San Roque, Diego and Ignacio Montufer, and Blaise 
 Oeglaire, and he quickly noticed that not one of them 
 was wearing the school uniform. All were clad in 
 broadcloth suits, and the tallest ones, Blaise Oeglaire 
 and Roque de San Roque, even wore cutaway coats. 
 Poor Teodoro felt wretchedly out of place and wanted 
 to run away. 
 
 " He ! Petit ! how did you come here ?" called out 
 Blaise Oeglaire. It sounded rude and patronizing, and 
 Teodoro's cheeks burned. He would have liked to 
 knock Blaise down on the spot, but he felt that this 
 was neither the time nor the place. 
 
 " Is the young man in buttons a gendarme or a 
 lackey?" asked one of the little Spaniards in her 
 own language. 
 
 " Are you sure it is a man ? It has a girl's face," 
 said another. 
 
 " And the figure of a giraffe," added a third. 
 
 They all laughed. They were talking carelessly to 
 each other in Spanish, a language they took for granted 
 
 34
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the blond stranger would not understand. But, unfort- 
 unately, Teodoro understood. He had been born in 
 Mexico, when his father was aide-de-camp to the Em- 
 peror Max. Spanish had been the first language 
 of his childhood, and he understood the careless lit- 
 tle girls only too well. He could hardly choke back 
 the tears, and looked agonizedly round for Adriano. 
 But Adriano had slipped out of the room with the tall 
 girl called Catalina and had cruelly left him to his 
 fate. The sound of music struck up now. The other 
 boys went forward and asked the young girls to dance. 
 Teodoro, left alone, slipped forlornly back and edged 
 into the farthest corner. No one seemed to notice 
 him, and he hoped they would forget his presence. He 
 had supposed that parties would be all gayety and 
 happiness, but he did not know when he had been so 
 unhappy and gloomy. " If this is a party, I don't like 
 parties," he muttered, cynically. 
 
 They were all dancing now, a graceful quadrille. 
 Blaise Oeglaire was leading the dance with pretty Lo- 
 lita Disdier. Blaise looked very successful and smiling 
 and self-conscious, and all Teodoro's bitterness of spirit 
 centred on him. 
 
 " He is my enemy ; he began it ; he put them all up 
 to mocking me," thought the sensitive lad. " He is 
 my enemy, and I hate him !" 
 
 The gay music made him feel more gloomy and bitter 
 than ever. He slipped farther back into his corner, 
 feeling homesick and sore, and watching the dancers 
 with eyes half wistful, half vengeful. 
 
 " We ought to pray for our enemies and those who 
 despitef ully use us," he thought. " Oh, I want to go 
 home ! I want Adriano ! I want Oreste ! I can't bear 
 these wicked people. Please, God," he added, desper- 
 
 35
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 ately "please, God, take Blaise Oeglaire to heaven 
 when he dies I hate him so !" 
 
 Oh, what if he should be so childish and unmanly as 
 to cry he, fifteen years old and nearly six feet high ! 
 The tears were very near and it began to hurt him to 
 swallow. Perhaps he might slip out, now that all were 
 busy, and steal home unobserved. He had just made 
 a movement to start when a soft little hand was thrust 
 into his, and he heard a soft voice say, "Will you dance 
 with me ?" 
 
 He looked down. He liked little things and children, 
 and this was a little child, and her brown eyes were 
 sweet and friendly. 
 
 " Are you the princess ?" he asked, simply. 
 
 She looked delighted. She loved fairy-tales, and re- 
 sponded with enthusiasm. 
 
 "Yes, I am the princess. You have just found me, 
 after many trials and perils. This is my enchanted 
 castle, and my name is Espiritu Santo !"
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 " Graceful and slender, 
 
 Light as a fawn, 
 Loving and tender, 
 Bright as the dawn." 
 
 From the German. 
 
 " WHERE is your brother ? I do not find him any- 
 where," asked Madame Valorge of Daretti, half an 
 hour later. " I want him to join in some games." 
 
 Adriano had en joyed his share of the party very much. 
 He had made himself agreeable to the mammas of the 
 young people, and he had danced with tall, dreamy- 
 eyed Catalina Disdier, who glanced with awe and rever- 
 ence at the distinguished opera-singer at her side ; he 
 had carried on humorous love-passages with Madame 
 Delepoule, whose particular pet he was, and he had 
 made his very best manners to the beautiful Mar- 
 chioness of Palafox, telling her of his meeting with her 
 husband, whose kind remembrance of his parents had 
 left such an impression on Adriano's heart. 
 
 " Teodoro missing !" And Adriano looked troubled. 
 "" Then I fear he has run away in a fit of shyness." 
 
 "Margara," called Madame Valorge, to a young girl 
 who was passing by, " do you know where the young 
 Count Daretti is the tall youth in the blue uniform ?" 
 
 " He is probably being well entertained," replied the 
 young girl, gayly, " for Espiritu is missing, too. We 
 had better hunt for them both together," and she 
 
 37
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 opened an adjoining door and peeped slyly in. " Look !" 
 she cried, turning to them a bright, picturesque face, 
 which Daretti recognized as one he had seen in the 
 carriage-window that afternoon. 
 
 They looked into the room, Senor Disdier's den, and 
 there were the culprits, Teodoro seated on a low otto- 
 man, his elbows supported on his knees, his chin rest- 
 ing on his hands, his face turned upward towards the 
 pretty child, who sat curled up on the table looking 
 down at him, while she glibly rattled off a thrilling 
 tale of knights in armor, of wizards and dragons, of 
 lovely ladies riding through the forest, and terrible en- 
 counters with the powers of evil. She was evidently 
 nearing the crisis of the story, for her cheeks were pink 
 with excitement and her eyes as big as saucers. 
 
 " And Orlando raised his sword and dealt him a 
 mighty blow which hurled him to the ground, where he 
 foamed with rage, and the blood gushed from his side 
 and formed living serpents that twisted round and 
 reared their heads at Orlando. But he was nothing 
 afraid, for God was with him, and he slew the serpents, 
 cutting off their heads with a single stroke of his en- 
 chanted sword !" 
 
 " Heavens ! Who would have thought so fair a creat- 
 ure could be so blood-thirsty !" whispered Adriano. 
 
 " Hush ! Let us leave them alone to finish the story 
 in peace. They seem so perfectly happy it would be a 
 pity to disturb them." 
 
 Adriano looked lovingly after Teodoro as he softly 
 closed the door. " I do verily believe he has found his 
 princess," he thought. " Poor, dear boy, how glad I am 
 to see that happy look on his face ! It must be very 
 nice to have a princess. Who knows but I, too, might 
 find one, if I only knew where to look for her." 
 
 38
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 He glanced across the room to where Catalina Dis- 
 dier had been standing, but she had moved away, and 
 his eyes sought her in vain. 
 
 "Are you looking for any one? Can I help you?" 
 asked a pleasant young voice by his side. He started. 
 He had quite forgotten the presence of the bright-faced 
 maiden who had found Teodoro for them. He looked 
 down at her with an amused smile. It would be rather 
 hard to explain exactly who it was he was looking for ! 
 
 " No doubt you could help me, Dona Margarita, you 
 who are so discreet, so reasonable ! I was looking for 
 some one whose kind heart would prompt her to ask 
 me to dance !" 
 
 "It was so evidently not myself that you sought," 
 said the young girl, with a mischievous flash in her 
 merry eyes, "that my discretion overcomes my natural 
 kind-heartedness and I leave you to your search," and 
 dropping him a formal little courtesy, she was gone 
 before he could find a rejoinder. 
 
 " I am afraid MargaYa San Roque is more than a 
 match for you, Adrien," said Madame Delepoule, laugh- 
 ing at his discomfiture. " But now you must hear my 
 pupil, Catalina, sing. She is a born artist, and I have 
 just succeeded in overcoming her grandmother's 
 scruples, and am beginning to prepare her for the 
 stage." 
 
 Catalina Disdier now stood by the piano, tall, dreamy- 
 eyed, with a face of irregular but picturesque beauty. 
 Her voice rose, full, rich, and sweet, a dramatic mezzo- 
 soprano of unusual compass and power. The musical 
 nature of the girl and her fine dramatic instinct show- 
 ed plainly in the intelligence and grace of phrasing 
 and shading, the fire and truth of accent. She had 
 caught something of Hortense Delepoule's own nobil- 
 
 39
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 ity and breadth of style. There were splendid possi- 
 bilities open to such a voice guided by such a teacher. 
 The young audience was full of enthusiasm. 
 
 After the song, a lad of fourteen, Ignacio Montufer 
 by name, stood up in the middle of the floor, his young 
 companions gathering in a circle around him, and, bow- 
 ing ceremoniously right and left, he began to declaim 
 a selection from the Spanish of Calderon de la Barca 
 with considerable spirit and confidence. At the end 
 he was loudly applauded, but yielded the floor to Roque 
 and Pepilla de San Roque, who spoke very intelligent- 
 ly in French the dialogue from " Athalie " between 
 Mathan and the little Joas. This delighted the audi- 
 ence immensely, and then the tall, good-looking French 
 youth, Blaise Oeglaire, by name, gave them a comic 
 recitation. There was some danger that this enter- 
 tainment might go on indefinitely, as the young peo- 
 ple all seemed proficient and willing, but just then re- 
 freshments were announced, and occupied young and 
 old till the hour for dispersing struck, when there was 
 a general call for a farewell dance. 
 
 "Where are the children, Pepilla San Roque and 
 Espiritu Disdier ? They must dance for us ! Margara, 
 play the jota; the children must dance." 
 
 Teodoro and his small companion had stolen back 
 into the room at the first note of Catalina's singing, 
 for Teodoro had a very musical nature and always 
 drifted towards the piano sooner or later. Espiritu 
 had not left his side from the first moment she had 
 thrust her small hand into his. She looked up into 
 his face now. 
 
 "They want me to dance the jota with Josefa de 
 San Roque. If I leave you, will you wait here till I 
 come back ?" 
 
 40
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Teodoro promised readily enough. His happiness 
 shone on every feature of his beautiful, delicate face. 
 " Too beautiful for a boy," thought Madame Valorge 
 "too beautiful and sensitive. He does not look as if 
 he were long for this earth." And she gazed with some 
 anxiety into the light-blue eyes with their fringe of 
 upward curling lashes. But the eyes were bright and 
 healthy, and they smiled at her gratefully. She beck- 
 oned to him to sit beside her on the sofa. 
 
 "You have given my little girl great pleasure to- 
 day," she said, kindly. " She is delighted to have so 
 tall a companion, and one who can tell her such nice 
 stories, and who will listen so well to hers." 
 
 Teodoro blushed like a rose, and his blue eyes smiled 
 at her more gratefully and tenderly than ever. " We 
 have so much to say to each other," he said, enthusi- 
 astically. " We should always find something more to 
 say if we saw each other every day for years and years 
 and years," and he looked radiant at the thought of a 
 future of such companionship. 
 
 " You shall see each other as often as you like," said 
 Madame Valorge, warmly. " You must feel that this 
 is your home and that you are one of us. The chil- 
 dren have never had a brother, so you see there is an 
 empty place among us waiting for you to fill it !" 
 
 Teodoro took her hand, and bending his blond head 
 over it kissed it with reverent courtesy, for, however 
 awkward in his movements generally, the lad was al- 
 ways graceful and chivalrous in his manners. 
 
 And now the bright-faced MargaYa was at the piano, 
 playing one of the national dances with immense vi- 
 vacity and swing. The floor was cleared of obstruc- 
 tions, and the pretty children, one blond and one 
 brunette, but both plump, well -formed, and graceful, 
 
 41
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 began the slow, stately dance. The children took their 
 dainty steps, gesturing and posturing after the fashion 
 of national dances. As the dance grew more animated 
 and the figures more complicated the accompaniment 
 entered into its spirit. The young pianist marked 
 the rhythm with sure touch, throwing in a number 
 of brilliant embellishments with ready inventive- 
 ness. 
 
 " She has certainly extraordinary facility," thought 
 Daretti, and he moved nearer the piano, to where he 
 could watch both the key-board and the young musi- 
 cian. The spirit of fun had got into her, and there 
 was such fantastic humor in one of the variations that 
 Adriano laughed outright. She glanced up, laugh- 
 ing and dimpling, then, with a mischievous twitch in 
 the corners of her pretty mouth, the music suddenly 
 dropped into a plaintive, mysterious minor. 
 
 " The witch !" thought Daretti. " What will she do 
 next ?" And he drew smilingly yet nearer. 
 
 " Come, wake up there, orchestra !" called out Jaime 
 San Roque with brotherly familiarity, and the girl mod- 
 ulated into a gayer measure. The movements of the 
 little dancers became quicker, the audience clapped 
 loudly, there was a vigorous rattle of castanets in the 
 accompaniment, then the music closed and the children 
 made their courtesies. Dona Margarita rose from the 
 piano to follow them. 
 
 " Good-night, princess," said Adriano, with a courtly 
 bow. 
 
 " Why do you call me princess ?" she asked, turning 
 her head towards him to await the answer. 
 
 " Ah, you are curious. But that is the privilege of 
 your sex, and I, as a man, can keep a secret," he an- 
 swered, teasingly. " Will you do me the honor to try 
 
 42
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 to guess it, or," tenderly, " shall I and my secrets be 
 quite forgotten before we meet again ?" 
 
 " How can I tell ?" she replied, demurely. " That will 
 be something for you to guess. I, too," with an arch 
 look, "sometimes have secrets." 
 
 There was a happy lad that night in the fourth story 
 of the house in the Boulevard Malesherbes. There 
 was little studying for Teodoro. He brought his les- 
 sons into the salon as usual, and spread his books and 
 papers out on the table, but he could not fix his mind 
 on anything. His thoughts kept wandering off into 
 fairy-land, and happy smiles would chase across his 
 face. Then he would glance over towards the piano 
 where Casimir Choulex and Adriano were studying 
 some new opera, and he would catch Adriano's eye 
 fixed on him with tender amusement, and the boy 
 would blush and laugh and hide his face in the pages 
 of his Latin grammar, then peep over the top, and 
 hide again in delighted confusion. Once Adriano left 
 the piano and crossed over to the table and shook him 
 and pulled his hair and ears, and called him an idle, bad 
 boy, and said fairy godmothers didn't approve of idle 
 boys, and wouldn't let them come to any more balls ; 
 but Teodoro was not much alarmed, for did not Adri- 
 ano end by hugging him very tight and calling him 
 the very sweetest laddie in all the world ? However, 
 he made one more effort to study. He gathered up 
 his books, leaving the salon resounding to Adriano's 
 gloriously rich and sympathetic voice and to the 
 magic of Casimir's touch, and betook himself to the 
 kitchen, where dwelt Oreste, the young man -of -all- 
 work to their little establishment. 
 
 " Oreste, I have come to read my history lesson with 
 you," he explained, as the black -eyed young valet 
 
 43
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 sprang up, bowed delightedly, and set a chair for him. 
 "You haven't heard any for three days, so I will 
 question you and see how much you remember about 
 Turenne and the Rhine campaign." 
 
 The lesson was satisfactory, for Oreste remembered 
 very well everything except a few dates and the name 
 of the German commander, which no Christian could 
 be expected to remember. He listened with close at- 
 tention and interest while his young master read and 
 expounded to him for three-quarters of an hour, when 
 Adriano's voice was heard calling them. 
 
 " You must finish your reading in my room, Tedi, 
 for Oreste has got to help me now. It is nine o'clock, 
 and I must get into my dress-suit and pumps and be 
 
 at the Countess de B 's musicale on the other side 
 
 of the river, where I am booked to sing at 10.15." 
 
 " There is no use trying to read while you are dress- 
 ing. You do nothing but whisper to Oreste, so that 
 he can't listen at all." 
 
 " I do it because I worry about his head. I fear it is 
 expanding too rapidly under your instruction. I bought 
 him a new hat only last week and I cannot afford an- 
 other soon. It is a terrible strain on a fellow to pro- 
 vide for a growing family, and I shall break down 
 under it if I have to keep up with Oreste's head as 
 well as your legs. It is time you went to bed, Tedi, to 
 sleep off some of your wisdom. Oreste, now, could 
 stay awake all night without danger of becoming too 
 wise !" 
 
 "Will you come and bid me good-bye before you go?" 
 
 " Do I ever forget to do so, baby-boy ?" 
 
 So Teodoro went off contentedly, and when Adriano 
 came into his room fifteen minutes later the boy was 
 already lying in his narrow iron bed. He gave a joy- 
 
 44
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 cms kick to the bedclothes and sat up. " Turn up the 
 light, brother, and let us see how you look ! Oh, but I 
 like you in your black dress-coat ! I think you look 
 handsomer in black than in your stage dress, for it is 
 more like other gentlemen, so that when you look finer 
 and handsomer than they, one knows that it really is 
 so, and not because of your dress. Those are nice 
 studs, so quiet one hardly sees them. Are you going 
 to wear that diamond ring?" 
 
 "I meant to, Tedi. Most of the young men wear 
 rings, and the King of Bavaria gave me this. Don't 
 you like it?" 
 
 " It is so large, I thought it was a little too much in 
 evidence ; but if you like to wear it for the king's sake, 
 I suppose it is all right." 
 
 " I will not wear anything that does not meet with 
 your full and instant approval. Is there anything else 
 to criticise before I go ?" 
 
 " No, brother." And Teodoro held out his arms for 
 a good-bye hug. 
 
 Adriano came and sat by him on the bed. " Said 
 your prayers, baby-boy ?" he asked. 
 
 " Yes, brother." 
 
 " And put your clothes to air and your boots to be 
 blacked ?" 
 
 " Yes, yes ; everything." 
 
 " Then good-night, sleep well, and have lovely dreams 
 about balls and princesses. Ah ! don't hug me so tight 
 or you will spoil my shirt-front and the beautiful tie 
 Oreste took such pains with. There now, lie down, like 
 a good boy, and let me tuck you up !" 
 
 But Teodoro's head did not rest easily on the pillow. 
 He evidently had something to confide. Adriano bent 
 over him. 
 
 45
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Adriano, do you think do you think " he whis- 
 pered. 
 
 " Very rarely," replied Adriano, solemnly. 
 
 " Oh, don't tease me ! Say, dear, don't you think it 
 is a beautiful name, Espiritu Santo ?"
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ' ' Fight to the last to prevent him being exposed to this greatest of 
 dangers. There is here a power, which I may call irresistible, to thrust 
 men headlong into the abyss, and a torrent of bad examples and evil 
 customs to overwhelm and sweep them away." Letter of St. Francis 
 Xavier, from Paris. 
 
 AND they were happy days that followed. Madame 
 Valorge submitted to the evident hand of destiny and 
 the impulses of her own hospitable nature, and be- 
 fore long the foreign youths were as completely at 
 home in her salon as in their own. At first she intend- 
 ed to admit only the boy Teodoro to the intimacy. It 
 was soon an established custom that he should dine 
 with them every evening that Adriano had engage- 
 ments, and that he should study his lessons with the 
 children round the lamp on the table in the music- 
 room, and join in their games afterwards till bedtime. 
 It was better for the boy than picking up a nondescript 
 meal at the mercy of the porter's wife and spending 
 lonely evenings. Regular meals and cheerful young 
 society were doing him good. His appetite improved, 
 he held himself straighter, and his laugh rang out 
 merrily in a way that did Madame Valorge's heart 
 good to hear. Teodoro's intimacy established, Adri- 
 ano's soon followed. It was very natural that he 
 should drop in to say good-night to Teodoro on his 
 way to the Op6ra or to sing at musicales, and it was per- 
 haps natural also that he should drop in fully an hour 
 
 47
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 before it was necessary to start, for the littfe circle was 
 cosey and home-like, and the younger children had found 
 out that he could tell delightful stories and welcomed 
 him with enthusiasm, clinging about him rapturously, 
 while Teodoro, who worshipped his big brother, would 
 sit by with dancing eyes, holding Espiritu's soft little 
 hand in his and exchanging sympathetic glances with 
 her at critical moments in the tale. Sometimes Ma- 
 dame Delepoule appeared on the scene, for she had 
 grown very fond of the little family up-stairs, and she 
 would bring a new song for Catalina to try, or would 
 suggest a duet or a trio with herself and Daretti. 
 What more natural than that Agostini should be asked 
 to accompany them with a violin obbligato, and so de- 
 lightful did the little concert prove that this also soon 
 grew to be an established thing. Of course, after this, 
 Choulex could not be left out, especially when he 
 played such a beautiful accompaniment and could read 
 the most difficult and intricate scores at sight and 
 transpose the most complicated arrangements to any 
 desired key. No, the intimacy could not be prevent- 
 ed ; and why should it be, since the young people were 
 discreet and well-behaved and the older ladies as well 
 as the children were always present ? Besides, it was 
 good for Disdier to have pleasant company in his home. 
 He said that his business worried him, and of late he 
 had not spent as much time at home as he used to in 
 the early years of his widowerhood. 
 
 " He ought to marry again, I suppose," sighed Ma- 
 dame Valorge. " It would be unreasonable to demand 
 that he should grieve forever for the loss of my daugh- 
 ter. He is in the prime of life, and if he wishes to 
 bring a young wife into his home I would gladly retire 
 from it. I have my own modest income, and if any of 
 
 48
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the children should prefer living with me to a step- 
 mother, Ramon knows how my life is bound up with 
 theirs, and that it would be my happiness to shelter 
 and provide for them." 
 
 But if Madame Valorge had her anxieties and her 
 doubts, Madame Delepoule had none. She felt that 
 Divine Providence was behaving to perfection. What 
 could be better than that two gifted natures like those 
 of . Adriano Daretti and Catalina Disdier, with the 
 same talents, the same interests, the same career be- 
 fore them, should meet and be brought in constant 
 contact, should learn thus naturally to turn to each 
 other for sympathy ? She chuckled to herself as she 
 saw how affairs were drifting. Yes, there were still 
 some marriages made in heaven. It gave her no anx- 
 iety that there seemed to be a certain shyness and re- 
 serve between the young couple. They had been well 
 brought up, and were too sensible and self-respecting 
 to fall into each other's arms at once before every- 
 body's eyes. Of course, Catalina would wait to be 
 wooed in the usual formal French fashion, and Adriano 
 was too much of a gentleman to indulge in surrepti- 
 tious love-making, but would in due time present 
 himself before the father and ask his permission to 
 court the daughter, and then things would be very 
 different between the young people. 
 
 In the mean while life was going on busily and 
 cheerfully on the fourth floor. It was an immense 
 weight off Adriano's mind to have Teodoro so happily 
 provided for, and he felt ten years younger to have it 
 lifted. Teodoro now walked to school mornings with 
 the Montufer lads and their father, and in the after- 
 noon went on his long tramps with them, or with the 
 Marquis of Palafox and his boys. And now his even- 
 D 49
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 ings were comfortably arranged with the Disdiers. 
 As Adriano's engagements increased, and he had less 
 time to devote to his brother, it was a relief to feel that 
 Teodoro was in excellent care and making friends. 
 He drew a long sigh of satisfaction. He had felt old 
 beyond his years, with the cares that had been so early 
 thrust upon him, and, to tell the truth, had lately 
 sometimes longed for a little more independence, that 
 he might stretch his wings and be a little more as 
 other young men are. But it was an unworthy 
 wish, and disloyal to his dear "baby -boy," and he 
 hardly admitted to himself that it even crossed his 
 mind. 
 
 Teodoro was inclined to be hurt that Adriano was 
 never invited to join the long Sunday afternoon ram- 
 bles that he enjoyed with the Disdiers and the young 
 people of the San Roque and Montufer families and 
 their parents. Adriano tried to explain the situation 
 to him. 
 
 " You see, Teodoro mio, you and I belong to a noble 
 family, and the San Roques know our history and 
 family connections and are very polite to both of us, 
 but to each in a different way. At fifteen, you may 
 walk with a young damsel, accompanied by her gov- 
 erness or her parents, and the world will have nothing 
 to say ; but at twenty-four, if I should walk with one 
 of the demoiselles de San Roque, who are almost 
 grown, you know, I must either be her betrothed, or 
 people will say her parents are very indiscreet. Now 
 the parents of the demoiselles de San Roque are not 
 indiscreet, neither would they like their daughter to 
 be the betrothed of an opera-singer ; therefore, while 
 they treat you almost like a son, they only recognize 
 my existence in the most formal manner. These dis- 
 
 50
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 tinctions may not always seem reasonable, but they 
 exist, and it is time you should learn them." 
 
 Teodoro listened attentively. " I suppose I under- 
 stand," he said, " but still I wish you could go with us, 
 Adriano, and I should not object at all to your being 
 betrothed to one of the demoiselles de San Roque." 
 
 " My dear Teodoro, go your own way and be happy, 
 and do not waste your valuable time building castles 
 in Spain for me. If it is my destiny, Providence will 
 arrange it without you." 
 
 God's ways are not our ways, and, no doubt, Provi- 
 dence had its wise design in the matter, but, humanly 
 speaking, it seemed a strange mistake that two young 
 hearts, so sorely in need of each other, should be kept 
 apart. Ah, Margara ! bright little maiden, full of 
 happy illusions and destined to cruel awakenings, near 
 you, though you meet him no more, is a young heart 
 as yet without reproach. You might lay your inno- 
 cent hand in his with reverence and trust ; he would 
 be faithful and your future would be safe. And you, 
 Adriano, have you no need of her? Hitherto you 
 have been carefully guarded a noble, chivalrous fa- 
 ther to shape your first boyish ideals ; a devoted, Chris- 
 tian mother to be your confidante and guide in early 
 manhood ; sorrow, poverty, and the necessity of work 
 to hedge you round in the straight and narrow road. 
 These safeguards have been taken from you. Success, 
 applause, flattery, wealth, indolence and ease, the 
 smiles, the adulation, the courtship of fair women, the 
 refined profligacy of a brilliant city, the jovial good- 
 fellowship of a Bohemia that is irresponsible to God 
 or man all these are closing about you insinuatingly, 
 and can you stand alone to resist the tide ? 
 
 But you are not yet alone, and your angel still looks 
 
 5'
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 upon the face of God ! Sunday is a fatiguing day, for 
 you sing at the High Mass in the morning, and it is 
 gala night ?it the OpeVa in the evening. So you sleep 
 through those long Sunday afternoons, and just be- 
 fore dark a figure creeps into your room, a long, 
 queer figure, crowned by a beautiful boyish face. Re- 
 moving his dusty boots, Teodoro stretches himself on 
 the bed by your side, lays his curly blond head on the 
 pillow beside your smooth brown one, and giving your 
 broad shoulders a loving shake puts his lips close to 
 your cheek and murmurs sweet, foolish words fond, 
 tender things that he used to whisper to his mother 
 when he was little and had a mother to love. And you 
 turn and throw your strong arms round him and hold 
 him very tight for a moment. Then he sits up on the 
 bed, clasping his hands round his knees, and tells you 
 all his afternoon's adventures with happy, boyish en- 
 thusiasm. You listen and are glad for him, and out of 
 your very gladness you tease him for you would not 
 tease him if he were sorrowful till Teodoro grows red 
 in the face and takes up a pillow to throw at you. 
 Shots fly back and forth, and you roll together in a 
 regular tussle till you suddenly discover that it is time 
 to dress for the Opera, and Teodoro picks up his dusty 
 boots and goes off to make himself fine for his Sunday- 
 evening dinner with Madame Delepoule. 
 
 Hortense Delepoule was beginning to grow uneasy 
 as time went by. She was getting out of conceit not 
 with Divine Providence itself, of course, but with the 
 miserable creatures whose free will could thwart its 
 wisest designs. Adriano and Catalina seemed as indif- 
 ferent and self-possessed in each other's company as 
 ever. She was not afraid of the Swiss as a rival. He had 
 a delicious touch on the piano and played accompani- 
 
 52
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 ments marvellously, still he was not dangerous. Every 
 one trusted him and liked him, but there was little in 
 his odd, shy manner, and somewhat rough exterior to 
 fascinate a young girl. But that slender, blond, senti- 
 mental-looking youth, who made his violin sing like an 
 angel, had given her many uneasy moments. Thank 
 Heaven ! he was now off the scene, safe on his way to 
 the United States. As for Adriano, he had so little 
 ambition outside of his art, was so foolishly good- 
 natured, it was just like him to sit idly by and let some- 
 body else take the things that might be his. Such 
 laziness and indifference were absolutely sinful ! She 
 would say something to rouse him at the very first op- 
 portunity. 
 
 It was a hard subject to broach, however. When- 
 ever he came to see her he was absorbed in his music 
 and talked over eagerly the details of his roles the 
 phrasing of such a passage, the proper intonation of 
 another, the suitability of a certain gesture. Perhaps 
 he had had an inspiration overnight touching a new 
 part he was learning, and she must hear him render it 
 and give her criticism. It was not enough that his con- 
 ception was clear to himself, he must be able to make 
 it clear to others. That was why he was an artist, 
 otherwise he would be only a dreamer. 
 
 "You know,madame, since I have come to manhood I 
 have been too busy and at times too sad to indulge in 
 day-dreams, and have had too much responsibility to 
 think of marrying," he said, when she at last brought 
 the conversation to the question of matrimony in 
 general. 
 
 " But you are freer now," urged Madame Delepoule. 
 " Your position is assured, you are making money fast, 
 and Tedi has his own little patrimony. Remember 
 
 53
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 what it meant to you in your boyhood to have a woman 
 in your home. You cannot give Teodoro the mother 
 you have both lost, but at least you can give him a 
 sweet sister." 
 
 Adriano shook his head. " You forget that he has a 
 sister already. My brother Bindo is married to a very 
 sweet and gifted young woman, and they have a lovely 
 home in Turin." 
 
 " But that is no advantage to Teodoro, who is living 
 with you and not with Bindo." 
 
 " That is the very question," said Adriano, sadly. 
 " Bindo wants to take my boy away from me. He says 
 that I have supported Tedi long enough, and he com- 
 plains that I am making a milksop of the boy. He 
 would like to put him through a course of sprouts. 
 Bindo is a great athlete, you know. I suppose it would 
 make a man of Tedi, but how I shall miss my baby-boy!" 
 
 " Miss him ! You don't mean to say that you would 
 consent to anything of the sort ?" 
 
 " I fear that I ought to, for Tedi's own sake," 
 sighed Adriano. 
 
 Madame Delepoule drew a long breath and was si- 
 lent a moment. Then she burst out : "Adrien Daretti, 
 are you mad ? What ! send away that child who is 
 your guardian angel, though you may not know it? 
 What ! break up the little home you have made for 
 him that has brought such blessings on your own head 
 in return ? Boy, you're crazy ! It is fortunate you 
 have such a steady friend as Choulex to fall back 
 upon, or you would go all to pieces alone in this wick- 
 ed city." 
 
 Adriano looked grave. " But I am to lose Casimir 
 also," he said. 
 
 " No ! You don't mean it ! Lose Casimir ?" 
 
 54
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " He goes to Milan this spring to accept a professor- 
 ship in the Polytechnic." 
 
 Madame Delepoule stood up in her amazement. 
 " Choulex leaves Paris. Choulex goes to Milan !" she 
 exclaimed. " It is bad enough to let Tedi go, but this 
 friend too, this sturdy mentor ! Oh, Adrien Daretti, 
 are you blind, blind, blind ?" 
 
 He led her to a seat and knelt before her gallantly. 
 " But shall I not have you, my dear godmother ?" he 
 said. " May I not come to you when I need a little 
 scolding ? Will you not let me dine with you on Sun- 
 days in Tedi's place, or is your love all for him ?" 
 
 ''Adrien, how can I tell you?" she replied, in great 
 distress. "My dear boy, I too am to leave Paris in 
 the spring." 
 
 Now it was his turn to start to his feet in dismay. 
 He stared at her, thoroughly appalled. 
 
 " Don't !" he exclaimed, pleadingly. " Don't go ! 
 You are my mother's friend ; you are the only tie that 
 binds me to that holy past ; the only one that has a 
 right to scold me. Oh, don't go ! I shall be alone, 
 indeed !" 
 
 " What can I do ?" she almost wept. " I never 
 dreamed that the movements of a solitary old woman 
 like myself would make any difference to any one. I 
 meant to slip off quietly some day, and thought that 
 you would be safely settled with a nice little wife, and 
 that no one, except perhaps poor little Teodoro, would 
 miss me. I have my plans arranged and contracts 
 signed to teach in Brussels and London for the next 
 five years." 
 
 " Five years !" he murmured. His breath seemed 
 to have been taken away. Until now it had seemed 
 to him that he should rather enjoy being alone. It 
 
 55
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 was disloyal to Tedi and to Casimir to indulge in the 
 thought, and he had suppressed it as far as possible, 
 but at times he had a frantic longing for indepen- 
 dence. He had always been responsible for some one, 
 always more or less accountable to some one, and he 
 had secretly sighed to be his own master for a while, 
 to be more as other young men are. But now this 
 independence suddenly seemed less desirable. How 
 horribly lonely he should be ! He had not thought of 
 that side of it before. 
 
 " Adrien," said Madame Delepoule, gently, beckon- 
 ing him to take a low seat at her feet, " I proposed to 
 you the idea of marriage to some sweet young girl 
 when I was only thinking of a home for Teodoro. But 
 now it is a question of yourself. My child, my child, 
 if you have any concern for your own welfare you will 
 do the most sensible thing in the world by marrying 
 and settling down to home ties and new responsibili- 
 ties. Believe an old woman who has had a long ex- 
 perience in your profession," she went on, terribly in 
 earnest, her light eyes dark with emotion as they some- 
 times looked on the stage. " I know well the ordeals 
 that a popular idol, such as you are fast becoming, 
 must pass through. They are almost more than poor 
 human nature can go through unscathed." 
 
 " My dear Mamma Hortense," said Daretti, lightly, 
 " do not take my loneliness so much to heart. I shall 
 only be going through what almost every young man 
 has to go through who comes to a great city to seek 
 his fortune. If I have been a good boy so far, why 
 should I not remain so to the end of the chapter ? Is 
 my case so desperate that there is nothing for it but 
 to plunge into loveless matrimony with such unseem- 
 ly haste ?" 
 
 56
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Loveless ? My dear Adriano, you couldn't be mar- 
 ried a week to a worthy young wife without becoming 
 tenderly attached to her, I don't care who she is ! I 
 have seen enough of your romances and love-matches ! 
 Five out of every six love-matches turn out miserably, 
 while five out of every six arranged matches turn out 
 excellently. That is my experience. Tell me, Adriano, 
 was your mother's marriage that ideal union a love- 
 match ? And your brother Bindo's marriage ?" she 
 pursued, relentlessly. " Another happy union." 
 
 " You drive me into a corner,'" he answered, smiling. 
 "They were both arranged matches. But what shall I 
 say ? I do not feel, as you do, that immediate marriage 
 is necessary for my salvation. It is rather heroic treat- 
 ment, you see, and I am not so far gone yet that I wish 
 to resort to it. Besides, unfortunately, the maiden I 
 would choose is already bespoke." 
 
 Madame Delepoule looked startled. 
 
 " I could not step in and cut out poor Teodoro !" 
 
 " Gracious ! What a fright you gave me ! I thought 
 you were in earnest and had met with some repulse. 
 Dear little Espiritu, she will make a charming little 
 wife some day ! But you need not seek much farther, 
 Adrien ; you are burning, as the children say." 
 
 Adriano reddened a little. "Espiritu would suit me 
 to a T," he said, and then, hesitatingly, " As I cannot 
 get her, what do you think of one who is not unlike 
 her, her intimate friend, Mademoiselle de San Roque?" 
 He was conscious of having taken a somewhat tender 
 fancy to that gifted, bright-faced maiden in the few 
 glimpses he had had of her. 
 
 Madame Delepoule frowned. " She is rather young 
 yet," she said, coldly. " And are you not aiming rather 
 high ? Oh, I know you are her match by birth and all 
 
 57
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 that, but, for Heaven's sake ! Adrien, don't get mixed 
 up with fashionable amateurs. It would just destroy 
 your career. They would look down on your profes- 
 sion and probably scorn you altogether ; and even if 
 you won the young lady's affection, and made a love- 
 match of it, you would neither of you be happy. You 
 could never get from her the co-operation and sym- 
 pathy you would from one who was educated to a pro- 
 fessional life herself ; neither would your fine lady be 
 happy in accommodating herself to your surroundings. 
 Believe me, it would be a big, big mistake." 
 
 How provoking men are when they will persist in 
 overlooking the one thing that every one else sees is 
 for their good ! Madame Delepoule could have shaken 
 Adriano. 
 
 He, meanwhile, looked flushed and thoughtful. He 
 knew well enough who she had in mind. " I will not 
 affect to misunderstand you," he said, gravely, "and I 
 promise to think over well what you have said." He 
 kissed her hand and bid her adieu, still grave and 
 thoughtful. 
 
 When he had gone, Hortense Delepoule threw her- 
 self back in her chair, full of misgivings. What busi- 
 ness had she match-making and giving advice to young 
 bachelors ? After all, would this be the best thing for 
 her favorites ? Had not she, Hortense Delepoule, been 
 an old idiot to try and interfere with the course of 
 events? Had not she, an artist herself, been too de- 
 sirous of bringing two such artistic natures together, 
 and not thought enough of other things that go to 
 make a happy married life? Could Catalina do any 
 justice to her great talents for the stage if she had to 
 meet the requirements of domestic life and create for 
 him such a home as his affectionate nature craved? 
 
 58
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 And Adriano, did he not hate and loathe the publicity, 
 the gossip, the scandals, the intrigues and jealousies 
 of the operatic stage ? Did he not detest some of the 
 companionships that it forced upon him ? How would 
 he like his wife to be mixed up in all the struggles, the 
 meannesses and injustices that he knew too well, the 
 victim of idle talk and jealous schemes? Would he 
 not rather face alone these things, made bearable to 
 him by his exalted love of art and the enthusiasm of 
 his genius, and have his wife live in a higher, purer 
 atmosphere, where he could turn to breathe more freely 
 and find refreshment for his weary spirit ? 
 
 Hortense Delepoule covered her face with her hands. 
 " O God in heaven," she prayed, fervently, " inspire him 
 to do what is for his own best good, and make him 
 forget the foolish advice of an ignorant old woman !"
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 "And I should be her lover forever and a day, 
 And she my faithful sweetheart till the golden hair was gray; 
 And we should be so happy that when cither's lips were dumb 
 They would not smile in heaven till the other's kiss had come." 
 
 Wkitcomb Riley. 
 
 POOR Teodoro received the decree of exile with very 
 dejected looks. Adriano had broken gradually to him 
 its possibility, first reading the letters from Bindo and 
 Elena proposing the plan, then talking it over with all 
 the pros and cons before it was settled. The future 
 looked very gloomy to the boy. He had never spent 
 a night away from Adriano and Oreste since his moth- 
 er died, while he hardly knew Bindo, who had left home 
 when Teodoro was a little toddling youngster in low- 
 necked frocks and long curls. And now Bindo was 
 married and had a little boy of his own in frocks and 
 curls, and a baby-girl besides, who was just learning to 
 walk. And Bindo's wife was very clever and very 
 highly educated, and wrote articles on the literary and 
 social questions of the day in magazines, under a mas- 
 culine nom de guerre, so that Teodoro was quite afraid 
 of her, although she was very pretty and kind and 
 gentle. Then there was Bindo's mother-in-law, the 
 Countess d'Usseglio, who had been a great beauty in 
 her day, and corresponded with crowned heads, for her 
 husband had been in diplomacy as ambassador at the 
 principal European courts. Teodoro stood horribly 
 
 60
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 in awe of her, and her sweet, gracious manners only 
 made him more miserably conscious of the ungainly 
 length of his arms and legs. There was the Contes- 
 sina Clotilda, too, Elena's young sister, who was very 
 gay and fashionable, was maid of honor to Queen Mar- 
 gherita, and visited her every year when the court was 
 at Venice. They all lived together in a big house in 
 Turin in the winter, and had a villa at the Baths of 
 Lucca in the summer, and had carriages and horses, 
 and servants in livery, and fine lady's-maids. Alto- 
 gether it was very formidable and strange, and very 
 different from the simple, easy, happy-go-lucky life 
 with Adriano and Oreste, and Teodoro could see noth- 
 ing but wretchedness ahead. 
 
 But the deepest affliction of all, the crowning misery 
 that threw everything else into comparative insignifi- 
 cance, was the thought of leaving his little princess. 
 The wretched, dull ache at his heart was affecting his 
 health and making him pine and droop, so that Adri- 
 ano nervously hurried the preparations for departure, 
 fearing there would soon be nothing left of the boy to 
 depart. The princess herself did not appear to be half 
 as afflicted at the approaching separation as her young 
 cavalier. He had of course confided everything to her 
 his fears, his hopes, and now the dreadful certainty 
 of the calamity, with all its attendant circumstantial 
 misery. But she was very hopeful, and only looked 
 at the bright side of things. 
 
 " We will write each other once a week," she said, 
 planning all the details with interest and enthusiasm. 
 " We will write a sort of journal, a little bit every day, 
 just as things happen, and then post it once a week. 
 We shall really have a great deal more to tell each 
 other than here where our lives are so much alike. 
 
 6:
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 You must make the countess tell you all about the 
 kings and the queens and the court balls, and then you 
 can write it to me, and it will be as good as a book. 
 And you will see all sorts of new and interesting things 
 to tell me about which I should never hear of in any 
 other way. And I will write you about the things you 
 love here, about Adrien, and how he looks and what he 
 does, and everything that we all do every day." 
 
 " But, Espiritu, it will not be like seeing you and 
 hearing your voice and looking right into your eyes ! 
 And when I tell you things by writing I cannot hear 
 you say, ' Theodore, I am so glad !' or ' Theodore, I am 
 so sorry !' I must wait days and days to see it on pa- 
 per, and then by that time there will be something else 
 I want to tell you," and he looked up disconsolately 
 from his lowly position on the rug. She liked to perch 
 on high, straight-backed chairs, or on tables or arms of 
 sofas, and other eminences, but he preferred to curl 
 his long limbs on humble hassocks and rugs, whence 
 he could gaze up into his little divinity's face. 
 
 " But you will come to see me sometimes," she per- 
 sisted. " You will come to make Adrien visits when 
 you have vacations. I could not bear it if I did not 
 have that to look forward to. But Adrien will send 
 for you, and then we will have beautiful meetings, and 
 do nothing but talk and talk and talk. And oh, how 
 much we shall have to tell ! You know, Theodore," 
 she added, " we should not see much of each other next 
 year even if you stayed in Paris, for grandmamma 
 means to send me to school at the convent at Auteuil 
 and you could only see me twice a week. So we shall 
 not lose so much of each other after all." 
 
 Perhaps this consoled him a little, but he was still 
 very gloomy and very near some unmanly tears. Em- 
 
 62
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 boldened by distress, he rose to his knees and for the 
 first time ventured to put his arms timidly about her, 
 and leaned his forehead against her fat little shoulder. 
 Hitherto he had been more than content if he might 
 give her a shy salutation on parting, hold her soft lit- 
 tle hand in his for a few moments, and he had two or 
 three times kissed a fold of her little frock on the sly. 
 But now the days of separation were getting wofully 
 near and he was in sore need of comfort. She knew 
 how sad his heart was, so she returned his embrace 
 tenderly, resting her pink cheek against his fair curls 
 and saying all the consoling and endearing words she 
 could possibly think of. 
 
 Adriano, for his part, was almost as much in need 
 of consolation as Teodoro himself, and without the 
 princess to turn to. To lose his darling brother, his 
 most intimate friend, and his kind motherly adviser, 
 all three at once, was a severe blow. He had great 
 faith in Madame Delepoule's judgment, and there was 
 much sense in what she said. But his heart died with- 
 in him. Was it worth while to be an opera-singer if 
 it was to shut him out from all that he most prized in 
 social and domestic life? Why should his God-given 
 talents stand in the way of his happiness ? Why could 
 he not be valued at his worth ? Were his birth, breed- 
 ing, talents, character, to count for nothing ? 
 
 But he knew well the exclusiveness of the Latin 
 races in their home life. He was overwhelmed with 
 social attentions, he had plenty of admirers and much 
 silly feminine adulation, but where, among those whom 
 he most respected and revered, could he hope to be 
 received in the intimacy of the family circle as he had 
 been with the Disdiers ? Who had known him and his 
 from childhood as Madame Delepoule had? Where 
 
 63
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 could he find the tried friend of years like Casimir 
 Choulex ? Who would cling to him with the adoring 
 affection of the brother to whom he had been father, 
 mother, everything, from tender infancy ? 
 
 There would indeed be an empty place in his heart, 
 and could he do better than to take the path Madame 
 Delepoule had pointed out to him ? The Senorita 
 Disdier was certainly a gifted, pleasing, and pict- 
 uresque-looking young woman. He liked her very 
 much, and might have tried to win her from the first 
 if he had not been conscious all along that it was ex- 
 actly what Madame Delepoule wished to bring about. 
 What more could he ask for than he could find in her? 
 Some day she would rule the stage even as Hortense 
 Delepoule had. Her splendid voice and rare dramatic 
 intelligence were most satisfying to Daretti's artistic 
 nature, while her simple, unselfish ways in the home 
 circle were attractive to his manly ideals of femininity. 
 
 " I could not do better," he repeated to himself, en- 
 couragingly. "I could not do better." On the whole, 
 he felt light-hearted in making up his mind. It would 
 be a victory over his lawless craving for independence, 
 and it promised him great happiness. He would lose 
 no time, or his resolution might change. He ran down- 
 stairs to confide in Madame Delepoule. " Do not be 
 too much surprised at its suddenness, but I have come 
 to tell you of my entire conversion to your gospel, and 
 to beg you to say a kind word for me to Senor Disdier 
 and Madame Valorge." 
 
 " My dear child, you take my breath away ! Not so 
 fast, if you please ! Mind you, Adrien, I refuse to 
 have anything to do with your affairs ! You must 
 take the whole responsibility of your decision on your- 
 self." 
 
 64
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " But, Mamma Hortense, you surely wish it " 
 " I do not wish anything, I am not going to meddle 
 with anything. Go your own way and manage your 
 own love affairs." 
 
 Adriano was taken aback. He sauntered up the 
 Boulevard Malesherbes to think over the situation. 
 What could he do ? Most young men had relatives or 
 family friends to arrange their matrimonial affairs for 
 them, but he seemed to be singularly alone, now that 
 Madame Delepoule had failed him. Apparently, he 
 had got to propose for the young lady's hand himself. 
 It seemed to him a very trying and awkward thing to 
 do. It was always so much better to have a third per- 
 son take the preliminary steps for the suitor, because 
 the parents were always sure to have so many ques- 
 tions to ask, so many things to ascertain about a 
 young man before they would feel like intrusting 
 their daughter's future to his hands. It was right and 
 best that it should be so, as it prevented many unde- 
 sirable attachments and unfortunate marriages ; still, 
 in his own case, it was hardly necessary, since the 
 Disdiers already knew the state of his affairs pretty 
 thoroughly, and were probably satisfied as to his char- 
 acter, or they would not have encouraged the intimacy 
 of the past few months. Altogether he had every 
 reason to hope that his suit would be accepted without 
 delay. His spirits rose. He walked cheerfully along 
 the boulevards, with a graceful bow and merry smile 
 for his many acquaintances. He was conscious of his 
 popularity and good looks, his shapely form and fine 
 bearing, the perfection of his dress in its simplicity 
 and quiet good taste. He was conscious of admiring 
 eyes turned upon him, conscious of the flutter in femi- 
 nine circles as he passed, conscious of the respectful 
 E 65
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 adulation of the gilded youth of Paris, who tried 
 in vain to catch something of the careless grace 
 and manly dignity of his inimitable step. It was 
 not in human nature that he should be indiffer- 
 ent to all this silent flattery. The air was fresh 
 and sweet that late May afternoon, and life had 
 never looked brighter to him or fuller of sweet 
 hopes. 
 
 As he entered the gates of the Pare Monceaux, a fa- 
 miliar voice, with a strong Spanish accent, greeted 
 him. It was Senor Disdier. In an instant his mind 
 was made up. He would seize this opportunity Heaven 
 had given him, and formally offer himself as a suitor 
 for Catalina's hand. 
 
 "Will you take a turn in the park, senor, this fine 
 afternoon ?" 
 
 " I am very glad to do so," said the Spaniard, hearti- 
 ly. " I was turning homeward, but your company 
 tempts me farther." 
 
 Disdier was in a genial mood, and Adriano's gay 
 spirits increased as the two promenaded the beautiful 
 paths in the bright spring sunshine. It surprised 
 Adriano to see how happy this sudden encounter with 
 evident destiny made him. The idea of the friend- 
 ship, the companionship of a congenial marriage grew 
 more beautiful, more desirable with every step. He 
 felt that he was falling in love, not exactly with Cata- 
 lina, but with some rather indistinct feminine creation 
 of his own mind who was to become all things to him. 
 He began to take more interest in women in general, 
 to notice them as they passed, to speculate upon their 
 characteristics, to wonder what sort of wives they 
 would make. 
 
 At length they turned to go homeward, and, with a 
 
 66
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 beating heart, Adriano recognized that the moment to 
 speak had come. 
 
 He stated his case in a manly, straightforward fash- 
 ion. He could not exactly say, " I love your daugh- 
 ter," but he said, with great sincerity, that he earnestly 
 desired to make her his wife, and hoped for permission 
 to try and win her affection. To his surprise, Disdier 
 seemed greatly disturbed. Adriano had expected, in- 
 deed, that Catalina herself would need to be persever- 
 ingly wooed and tenderly persuaded, but it had never 
 for an instant occurred to him that he should meet with 
 any difficulties from her father or grandmother, and 
 he had presented himself before Senor Disdier without 
 a single misgiving. 
 
 " Daretti," said Disdier, gravely, " I am very sorry 
 for this truly sorry for this. It is a complete surprise 
 to me, and I cannot give you any encouragement. 
 Catalina is very young, and she has just started on a 
 career for which she is well fitted and in which she is 
 ambitious to excel. I do not wish her to marry at 
 present." 
 
 " I should not interfere with her career," interrupt- 
 ed Adriano. " On the contrary, I could aid her in it." 
 
 " You could not aid her. I have seen enough of 
 operatic marriages," said Disdier, roughly. " The artis- 
 tic temperament is not one that shines in domestic 
 life ; the musical nature, which lives on emotion and 
 nerves, does not permit it. It is a sad and speaking 
 fact that the operatic stage shows us more scandals 
 and domestic unhappiness than any of the professions." 
 
 Astonished, and not a little irate at this tirade 
 against opera-singers, Adriano drew himself up to his 
 full height and folded his arms in a very theatrical 
 manner. 
 
 6?
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " That is, such scandals as there are become public 
 property sooner, as the actors are public characters 
 and the world allows them no privacy in their affairs," 
 he corrected, rather haughtily. " But excuse me, Senor 
 Disdier, if I say that these are generalizations. To come 
 to individuals both your child and I are Christians and 
 of good breeding, and if the operatic stage has given 
 some scandals, I trust that in this instance it may hold 
 up a good example to the world. You know your daugh- 
 ter's character, and you have professed to like me." 
 
 " Yes, I do," said Disdier, more gently, " and it is for 
 both your sakes that I advise you to keep apart. If 
 you wish to live your artistic career unhampered and 
 enjoy domestic life at the same time, marry outside of 
 your profession. And if Catalina is to fulfil her am- 
 bitions and she will never be satisfied until she has 
 made the effort to do so she had best not marry at all 
 till she is at least twenty-five years old. Art is a severe 
 task -master she cannot serve art worthily and do 
 her duty to her husband at the same time. She is 
 earnestly bent on her studies, and has fine prospects, 
 and I do not wish to disturb her mind with questions 
 of matrimony at present. Neither do I think that my 
 answer will cause you great suffering, though it may 
 disappoint you for the moment. If I understand men 
 at all, Daretti, you are not in love with my daughter." 
 
 Adriano started and flushed uncomfortably. " I do 
 not love any one else, for good or for evil, senor," he 
 replied. " I find myself for the first time in a position 
 to marry. I desire to establish myself, to have a wife 
 and a home. Your lovely and gifted daughter is the 
 one woman I would choose. I reverence and admire 
 her, we are congenial in our tastes, and she would 
 have my undivided allegiance. I trust that in time 
 
 68
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 she would learn to find her happiness and love in her 
 husband, as I am confident of finding mine in her." 
 
 They were approaching the busy streets now and both 
 men stood still for a moment. Disdier held out his 
 hand to Daretti. " The world has not yet spoiled 
 you," he said, " though it is trying its best to do so. 
 Your wife will be a happy woman. I appreciate the 
 compliment to my Catalina that you should 'choose her 
 from among so many others, for if report speaks true 
 you have many opportunities of choosing far more 
 favorably from a worldly point of view. I have told you 
 what my strong feeling is in the matter that it had 
 best end here. It is not for her good at the present. 
 We will let the future take care of itself." He glanced 
 curiously at Adriano a moment as they were parting, 
 then added, hesitatingly : " I had not expected this 
 from you, but I had thought it possible of your friend." 
 
 " Not Choulex !" exclaimed Adriano. 
 
 " Perfectly," replied the other. " He has given me 
 to understand, however, that he has a mother to sup- 
 port and two younger brothers to educate, and it will 
 be many years before he is in a position to marry. 
 But I wish him well. He is a fine, substantial fellow, 
 with all his rough exterior." 
 
 Adriano returned homeward thoroughly out of sorts 
 with the world and with himself. As usual, Choulex 
 was at the piano. Adriano could not but reproach him- 
 self for his lack of observation. Here was Casimir, 
 who cared more than he could for Catalina, and ought 
 to have had the first chance. How blind and stupid 
 and selfish he had been towards this dear, faithful 
 friend. 
 
 " Adriano, come here and try this aria from the 
 ' Queen of Sheba.' " 
 
 69
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " I cannot sing," said Adriano, crossly. It jarred on 
 his feelings that Casimir could think of operas at such 
 a juncture. 
 
 "Just try it over to please me !" 
 
 " But it is a tenor aria !" 
 
 " I will transpose it for you." 
 
 " That would ruin it. It needs the tenor timbre. 
 Good heavens, man ! Do you think I feel like singing 
 at such a moment ?" and Adriano gave the footstool 
 an angry kick that sent it flying across the room. 
 Then he fell to pacing the floor in irritable, gloomy si- 
 lence. One must feel well and free from care to sing. 
 
 Choulex played the noble aria softly, and began im- 
 provising in tender minor from the theme. The heart 
 weariness of the lover, who recognizes in the wom- 
 an he loves the betrothed bride of his king, sighed 
 through every harmony. Adriano was touched, his 
 spirit grew quieter, and his eyes filled with tears. Was 
 there ever anything so delicious, so soulful, as Casimir's 
 divine touch ? 
 
 Choulex wandered on, playing his heart out in ex- 
 quisite modulations. Then he felt a pair of strong 
 arms round his shoulders. 
 
 " Adriano ! Let me go ! You are a very bear for 
 hugging, and my ribs are not made of iron !" 
 
 " Carissimo Casimiro, transpose that just half a tone 
 lower. It goes no higher than A, and I ought to be 
 able at a pinch to take G sharp." 
 
 The willing accompanist bent his skilful fingers to 
 the task. Adriano roused himself to his utmost and 
 threw his whole imagination and sympathy and artistic 
 resource into the heart-breaking song. Choulex could 
 hardly play for emotion. His eyes were blinded with 
 tears. Surely the world had never heard such singing 
 
 70
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 so manly, so thrillingly tender, so gloriously rich, so 
 grandly sorrowful ! Was there ever any one like Adri- 
 ano so gifted, so lovable, so loving ? As the song 
 ceased, Choulex threw his arms across the music- 
 desk and bent his head over them. 
 
 Adriano stooped tenderly over him. " Casimir," he 
 whispered, " I suspect we have both of us had some- 
 thing to make our hearts feel a little despondent and 
 lonely !" 
 
 Choulex straightened up and looked sadly into his 
 face. Then the two men put their arms round one 
 another and each held the other very close. And that 
 was all the confidence that passed between them. 
 
 The moment of separation came at last, as such mo- 
 ments must. Teodoro faced it with sullen desperation. 
 It was all a terrible blank beyond, a dull, hopeless blank, 
 and no promises of future meeting brought him any 
 consolation. 
 
 " It never can be the same," he predicted, gloomily. 
 
 For once in her life her tongue failed her, and Es- 
 piritu had nothing to say. She was suddenly dumb. 
 It was too dreadful for words. 
 
 Madame Valorge and Adriano moved a little aside 
 that the children might say to each other all that was 
 in their hearts without being overheard, but they sim- 
 ply stood and looked at each other in silent misery, the 
 tall thin lad and the little plump fairy of a girl. The 
 blue eyes met the brown, and there was no hope in 
 either gaze. 
 
 " I trust I am doing right, I trust it is for the best," 
 murmured Adriano, apologetically. 
 
 "I believe you are," responded Madame Valorge. 
 " Life must go on, and we cannot retard everything to
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 keep a little pain from our children, who are them- 
 selves passing on with the world. They will be 
 stronger in the future for what seems so hard now." 
 
 " I hope so I hope so," assented Adriano, and then 
 he stepped towards the children. " We must go now, 
 Tedi. Good-bye, dear Espiritu ; remember your big 
 brother sometimes," and he stooped and kissed her 
 cheeks, from which all the pretty pink color had fled. 
 She was very, very white and still. 
 
 " Now say good-bye to Theodore, and tell him, like 
 the princess in the story, to ask some favor which you 
 will grant, though it were half your kingdom. Come, 
 Tedi, what are you going to ask for ?" 
 
 Madame Valorge drew nearer the little group and 
 smiled indulgently upon them. Adriano listened in 
 some curiosity for Teodoro's last request. 
 
 Teodoro still gazed earnestly at his little princess 
 in silence. Then a light came into his eyes. He knelt 
 before her. 
 
 " Promise me this, Espiritu," he said, and his voice 
 was hushed and low but very clear. " Promise me 
 this : If you die first, take me to heaven with you /" 
 
 It was very still in the little room. The man and 
 woman listening felt themselves grow pale and trem- 
 ble. Why should youth think of death ? 
 
 And Espiritu Santo bent towards him, and whis- 
 pered, " / promise" and kissed him on the forehead. 
 At last he stumbled to his feet. There was no use pro- 
 longing the misery, but even in his misery he did not 
 forget his manners. He bowed low before Madame 
 Valorge and kissed her hand, murmuring in a choked 
 voice words of gratitude and farewell. She embraced 
 him affectionately and tearfully. 
 
 " God preserve and keep you ! God give His angels 
 
 72
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 charge over you to keep you in all your ways !" she 
 said, fervently, and he bent his head to the blessing. 
 Then he moved slowly to the door. On the threshold 
 he turned again and held out his hands to Espiritu. 
 She sprang to his side and their lips met in a last kiss. 
 
 " I have done the child injustice," thought Adriano. 
 " I feared she did not care for him as deeply as he 
 cared for her, for she always seemed equally self-pos- 
 sessed and joyous whether he came or went. But now 
 she has been absolutely dumb for full five minutes, and 
 I recognize that it can be no ordinary emotion that 
 would produce such an effect !" 
 
 And now Teodoro had groped his way to the door 
 and through the anteroom. Adriano, with a hasty 
 adieu to Madame Valorge, followed, and the orphans 
 closed behind them the door of the home that had been 
 so lovingly opened to them. 
 
 " It will never be just the same again," said Teodoro, 
 lifting sad eyes to his brother's. 
 
 " It will never be just the same again," echoed Adri- 
 ano, gazing into the future with troubled look.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 "He who neglects prayer has no need of devils to lead him into 
 evil ; he goes into it of his own accord." St. Teresa of Avila. 
 
 AFTER an absence of five years, spent chiefly in Lon- 
 don and Brussels, Hortense Delepoule decided to re- 
 turn to Paris and end her days among the scenes of 
 her early triumphs. She had long since given up ap- 
 pearing on the stage, but she would resume her les- 
 sons, her weekly musicales, and her salon. Her Lon- 
 don seasons had been very successful, and she had 
 brought out many pupils, of whom none had done 
 better than Catalina Disdier, whose voice had devel- 
 oped into a mezzo-soprano of great power, richness, 
 and dramatic expressiveness, and whose artistic phras- 
 ing and fine musical perceptions made her singing an 
 enjoyment for the most critical. As an actress she was 
 not yet as great as her instructress, but she had her 
 fine moments, when she aroused great enthusiasm. 
 Her first appearance on the operatic stage had been 
 made two years before in Brussels, and previous to 
 that she achieved great success in London at salons 
 and concerts, where her picturesque beauty and refine- 
 ment of manner made her an attractive figure. The 
 girl had not yet sung in Paris, her short stage career 
 having been confined till now to England, Belgium, 
 and St. Petersburg. It entered into Madame Dele- 
 poule's designs to bring out her favorite pupil on the 
 
 74
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Paris stage under her own auspices, and to that end 
 she carried on a long correspondence with the manage- 
 ment of the Ope"ra. She also wrote to the now ac- 
 knowledged king of operatic art, Adrien Daretti, to 
 secure his co-operation in her efforts. His reply was 
 cordial and friendly, and he offered to sing the bary- 
 tone role in any opera Catalina might choose for her 
 debut, adding : " Let me know if you have any trouble 
 with the management. I can perhaps bring them to 
 terms. It is time I showed the traditional opera- 
 singer claws they have felt nothing but the velvet so 
 far. Our grand new tenor, Lennartsen, has promised 
 to join me in the fray, so we are sure to pull the new 
 prima donna through in triumph." This was the vic- 
 tory half gained. With the royal Daretti and the he- 
 roic Lennartsen to support her, Catalina could hardly 
 fail of success. But there is an immense amount of 
 red tape at the Opera, and Madame Delepoule felt that 
 she must be on the spot to make the final contract. 
 She wrote to Madame Valorge to know if Disdier still 
 had control of the dear old house in the Boulevard 
 Malesherbes, and could let her have her former apart- 
 ment there, and in reply to her many inquiries re- 
 ceived a long, full letter, written evidently at dicta- 
 tion : 
 
 " You have heard, no doubt, through Catalina, of my failing eye- 
 sight. I am now practically blind. I can distinguish light from dark, 
 I can discern a moving figure if close at hand ; that is all. But I have 
 the great blessing of devoted grandchildren. We have been spending 
 these five years in great retirement at Passy. Ramon has been greatly 
 embarrassed in his affairs, and lives almost altogether in Paris, that he 
 may devote more time to his business. My own income has suffered 
 through the losses of the firm, but the dear girls have bravely done 
 their part, and Catalina's generosity has enabled her younger sisters to 
 finish their education. Lolita graduated last year at Notre-Dame-de- 
 
 75
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Zion, and is now tutoring some young South American girls who are 
 taking courses at the College of France. Little Rafaela is becoming 
 a prodigy at the piano, as every one predicted. She made her debut 
 last spring at the Salle Erard with great success, and is much in de- 
 mand now at musicales and private concerts, where she sometimes im- 
 provises, her talent in that direction seeming to make the greatest im- 
 pression of all. 
 
 " Espiritu Santo is now sixteen, and is the same sweet spirit as ever. 
 Her education has had to be neglected in a measure, for she is needed 
 at home to look after her blind old grandmother, to keep house, and to 
 be a companion for her father when he is with us, and she accepts the 
 situation with her usual sunny cheerfulness. She is, of course, lacking 
 in much that forms the ordinary routine of school instruction, but I 
 have tried to form her taste in literature, and for the last three years 
 she has been reading aloud to me daily from the French, Spanish, and 
 Italian classics, also the standard essayists in literature and art. She 
 also reads much by herself in history, biography, and travel. She sews 
 and embroiders exquisitely, and is a most practical, tidy little house- 
 wife. Heaven only knows the blessing -she is to us all ! 
 
 " Ramon has written you about the apartment. The house passed 
 out of his hands some time ago, but he has ascertained that the tenants 
 who took your apartment on a long lease are ready to underlet it, so 
 that you can move in without delay. How delightful to think of you 
 as installed in the old quarters ! We have often sighed for those happy 
 days in the Boulevard Malesherbes, although we are in many respects 
 better off here, where we have a tiny house and a little garden of our 
 own. 
 
 "You ask me if we ever see anything of Adrien Daretti nowadays. 
 The first year that we were out here he came to see us quite frequently 
 early in the season, but he was tremendously lionized in Paris, and it 
 was only natural that his visits should gradually grow less and less fre- 
 quent, and after the first year cease altogether. I hear that he has 
 become somewhat of a sportsman, and drives fine horses, that he en- 
 tertains handsomely at his apartments in the Champs-Elysees, and that 
 he is the idol of the young men, who imitate him in everything he does. 
 The women, I am told, make fools of themselves over him, but he is 
 said to behave with much discretion, although he does not wholly es- 
 cape the breath of scandaL I suppose that could not be expected of so 
 prominent a personage, even if he were as confirmed in grace as were the 
 
 76
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Apostles. These bits of gossip I pick up through Lolita's Americans, 
 who are very musical, and share the universal craze over Daretti's 
 genius." 
 
 Hortense Delepoule laid down the letter with a sigh. 
 " Ah, Adrien ! I do not like the idea of this gay living 
 and love of fashion and sport. Adversity is certainly 
 a healthier school for most of us than prosperity ! All 
 I can say is, that if you have joined the great majority 
 who are promenading down the broad and pleasant 
 way, your old godmother will be a much disappointed 
 woman. Ah, you had better have taken the old lady's 
 advice to marry and settle young !" 
 
 With another sigh she resumed her reading : 
 
 "As for Theodore" [wrote Madame Valorge], "he and Espiritu 
 kept up a vigorous correspondence for a while, but I felt obliged to 
 discourage it gradually, and at last stop it altogether. The children 
 were good and submissive, and I believe I was right. Now we hear 
 that Theodore is coming to Paris to study singing with his brother. I 
 suppose the young people will soon meet again, and Espiritu can 
 think of nothing else. She forgets the years that have passed, and 
 speaks of him as if he were still a shy school-boy. I own I feel some 
 anxiety in my foolish, grandmotherly heart." 
 
 Hortense Delepoule hurried on to Paris to complete 
 her arrangements. Catalina accompanied her, as her 
 presence might be required at any moment for re- 
 hearsal. The opera chosen was " Ai'da," and the cast 
 was to be a magnificent one, with Lennartsen as Rha- 
 dames, Daretti as Amonasro, Maxime Collas as Ramfis, 
 and Therese Vibault as Amneris. Such support ought 
 to be an inspiration to Catalina, and would be sure to 
 draw a distinguished audience. The morning after 
 their arrival, Madame Delepoule received a note from 
 Daretti, saying that he would call early in the after 
 
 77
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 noon to pay his respects to her and to Senorita 
 Disdier. 
 
 " With your permission," he wrote, " I will bring 
 with me the two, in my humble opinion, greatest of 
 living tenors the one heroic, the other lyric. They 
 are both most desirous of meeting you." 
 
 " The heroic tenor is, of course, Lennartsen," said 
 Madame Delepoule, " but I am racking my brains to 
 think who the other can be." 
 
 She was conscious of a certain nervous excitement 
 as the time fixed for the interview drew near. She 
 had known and loved Adrien Daretti so well, had 
 taken such a warm, motherly interest in his affairs, 
 and now for five years they had not met, and she 
 dreaded to see a change in him. Her old heart 
 stood still for an instant as she heard his name an- 
 nounced, and when she looked up it was in some trep- 
 idation. 
 
 What she saw did not wholly reassure her. The 
 merry glance, the frank, ingenuous manner, the tender, 
 winning smile of an endearing, boyish personality, were 
 gone. This was a mature man that she saw before 
 her now ; a polished man of the world, with a hand- 
 some, impassive countenance, a look of cool indiffer- 
 ence in the fine eyes, a certain indolent dignity of 
 bearing, the evidences of a fastidious taste in his sur- 
 roundings, and a smile, half-cynical, half-amused, on 
 his well-curved lips. After all, she could not expect 
 that he would remain a boy forever. He was a man 
 now, in the plenitude of vigorous development, enter- 
 ing upon the full glory of his early prime, swimming 
 upon the top wave of a phenomenal artistic and social 
 success. It was unavoidable but that he should show 
 in some way the traces of wider experience. What 
 
 78
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 did Hortense Delepoule expect ? It was true the boy 
 was gone forever, but was the man less worthy of a 
 place in her heart ? Alas ! with a good woman's un- 
 erring instinct she knew that he was ! 
 
 But she was too much the woman of the world to 
 show what was passing within her ; neither did he be- 
 tray it if he felt that anything was lacking in her wel- 
 come. He presented the massive Swedish tenor, and 
 then both turned to pay their respects to Senorita 
 Disdier, and Hortense Delepoule was left to face the 
 third young man without an introduction. She bowed 
 rather distantly. 
 
 " Surely you have a warmer greeting for our new 
 lyric tenor," suggested Daretti, turning towards the 
 new-comer with an amused smile. 
 
 Madame Delepoule raised her astonished eyes. 
 
 " I told you he would turn out well under Bindo's 
 care," said Daretti, laughing at the expression of 
 amazed inquiry she turned on him. As he laughed 
 the dimple came into his cheek as it used to in the 
 old days, and recalled so much of his boyish look that 
 Madame Delepoule felt her heart soften a little towards 
 him. But if she had been disappointed in Adrien, at 
 least Theodore more than answered her wildest expec- 
 tations. 
 
 " You have the same dear face, God bless you !" she 
 cried, taking Theodore warmly by both hands. " But 
 I can hardly believe it, to see you so big and straight 
 and strong. What have you done to yourself?" 
 
 " I have been in training under a brother who is a 
 famous athlete. I climb mountains and ride and shoot 
 all summer, and I fence and take athletic exercises all 
 winter, and I have just come from serving eighteen 
 months in the army like a good citizen ; so you see that 
 
 79
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 I was bound to make something of myself," and Teo- 
 doro drew his straight, vigorous young frame to his 
 fullest height and smiled down on her. 
 
 She was right in saying that he had the same face. 
 The blue eyes had the same bright, sweet look, the pro- 
 file the same statuesque regularity, the features the 
 same delicacy of outline, the mouth the same gentle, 
 boyish smile. It was true that the cheeks were some- 
 what thinner and the jaw somewhat squarer than of 
 yore, and there was a slight mustache on the upper 
 lip, but that only gave the necessary touch of manly 
 strength to the face without detracting from its classic 
 beauty and refinement. 
 
 Madame Delepoule felt the tears coming to her eyes. 
 She had foolish moments, the childless woman with 
 her big, motherly heart, and this was one of them. It 
 could hardly have brought to his own mother more joy 
 than it did to her to see this lad in the splendor of a 
 bright, brave young manhood of virtue and health and 
 strength. She could have hung on his neck and cried 
 for the joy that came to her. She squeezed his hands, 
 she turned her face aside for a moment to con- 
 ceal the rebellious tears, then she could resist no 
 longer, but drawing his face down to hers, held it 
 between her two hands and kissed him on both 
 cheeks. 
 
 " I could not help it ; I am your grandmother, you 
 know," she apologized, sitting down hastily on the 
 nearest chair and fumbling for her handkerchief. 
 "And your own mother isn't here to do it !" 
 
 And Theodore stooped and kissed her hand and 
 looked at her gratefully and delightedly. Then he 
 drew her fichu about her, for it was a little awry, and 
 pulling up a chair sat down by her, and leaned towards 
 
 80
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 her so affectionately and protectingly that she grew 
 more helplessly tearful than ever. 
 
 " I am an old fool," she said, severely, mopping her 
 eyes with one hand and patting him on the shoulder 
 with the other. " Talk to me, Tedi, as fast as you can. 
 What is this about your singing ? Well, well ! to think 
 of your growing so straight and strong ! Why have I 
 not heard about your voice ? And here we are together 
 again we three, in my old salon, looking just as it 
 used to !" 
 
 Daretti, who had moved towards the window for a 
 moment, now sauntered up to them again. 
 
 " We might imagine there had been no change, and 
 that we were going right on just as we were before," 
 he said. 
 
 " Perhaps we are not changed, perhaps we are all ex- 
 actly as in the old days," she said, looking up at him 
 with intent, questioning gaze. He returned her look 
 with polite seriousness, but there was nothing to be 
 read in his calm eyes. They were not as telltale as in 
 the old days. He had learned the world's lessons too 
 well to let every passer-by read as he ran. 
 
 "You seem to me as unchanged, madame," he re- 
 plied, gallantly, "as if five days had passed instead of 
 five years. And that your heart is the same your 
 favorite grandson will testify," and he smiled towards 
 the petted boy whose hand she still held in hers. 
 
 " Oh, hearts do not change !" broke in Theodore, im- 
 petuously. " If fifty years had passed instead of five it 
 would bring me the same joy to meet you all again. 
 But circumstances are not the same. We are not liv- 
 ing up-stairs now. We cannot drop in to say good- 
 morning and good-evening every time we come in and 
 out of the house. And our other home, too, is broken 
 F 81
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 up," he added, with a bright blush and a conscious 
 look towards Catalina, who was eagerly discussing 
 Bayreuth with Lennartsen. He had been the Tristan 
 of the preceding season and was the hero of the hour. 
 
 Madame Delepoule and Catalina were eager to hear 
 about "Cordelia," Federici's new opera, which had been 
 produced with great splendor in Milan a few weeks be- 
 fore, Daretti having written the libretto and creating 
 the part of King Lear. The opera had made a pro- 
 found impression. The critics all hailed it as Federici's 
 greatest work and Daretti's greatest role. 
 
 " I feel that it was the mistake of my life not to go 
 on to Milan for the production," sighed Madame Dele- 
 poule. "When will it next be brought out?" 
 
 " I am to bring it out in London next June," replied 
 Daretti, "with Madame Hildegarde Strong as Cordelia. 
 But I shall make an effort to have it produced in Paris 
 during Senorita Disdier's engagement. Perhaps we 
 may effect a change and have her for the heroine." 
 
 "The London management have engaged me for 
 three parts," replied Catalina, blushing. " ' Ai'da,' which 
 I sing here ; Desdemona, and Senta in the ' Flying 
 Dutchman.' " 
 
 "I make my first London appearance as Vander- 
 decken," observed Daretti. "So you are to be my 
 heroine ! I am fortunate." 
 
 " Perhaps not," said Catalina. " I am not sure that 
 that is a part where I am at my best." 
 
 " Then I will take my revenge in ' Otello,' " laughed 
 Daretti ; " I will promptly have you smothered." 
 
 " I have never heard you in a Wagner role, Adrien," 
 said Madame Delepoule. 
 
 " They do not give me the chance in Paris, but I am 
 now preparing Hans Sachs for Covent Garden. It is a 
 
 82
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 little low for me, but it is a delightful part, and my 
 heart is set on Tedi's bounding into the operatic fir- 
 mament as Walther von Stolzing, the most poetic of 
 tenor roles, so we are learning the opera together." 
 
 " Ah, Theodore, when am I to hear that voice of 
 yours ?" 
 
 "Now," said Teodoro with alacrity. "There is no 
 time like the present." 
 
 "Ah!" suggested Adriano, softly. "And we shall 
 give up going out to Passy this afternoon, I suppose !" 
 
 Teodoro colored up to his eyes and glanced hesitat- 
 ingly at Madame Delepoule while Adriano gave a 
 wicked chuckle. 
 
 " Passy ! Oh, if it be to Passy, I will not delay you," 
 laughed Madame Delepoule. " I am flattered that you 
 should have come here first." 
 
 "Madame Valorge appointed the very afternoon that 
 we had fixed to come here, or I should not hurry away," 
 explained Teodoro ; " I should rather say Dolores, who 
 wrote in her grandmother's name." 
 
 " Lolita and Espiritu write all of her notes since her 
 blindness," said Catalina. 
 
 " Blindness !" exclaimed Teodoro, startled and grieved. 
 " Blindness ? I had not heard that Madame Valorge 
 was blind !" and he looked reproachfully and inquir- 
 ingly at his brother. 
 
 Adriano was inexpressibly shocked. "I did not 
 know of it myself, Tedi, or I would certainly have told 
 you. It is some time since I have been to Passy." 
 
 "She has been partially blind for three years and 
 wholly so for the past year," said Catalina, a trifle 
 severely. She knew his shortcomings well. 
 
 Daretti seemed very much overcome. " Blind for 
 three years," he repeated, " and I not to know it ! I 
 
 83
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 had not realized how long and how entirely I had 
 neglected my friends." He colored deeply and looked 
 so troubled that Madame Delepoule softened still more 
 towards him. 
 
 " Your heart is still tender, Adrien," she thought. 
 " It has been your undoing, but, please God, it shall be 
 your doing again !" 
 
 Adrien Daretti turned away from the Boulevard 
 Malesherbes with a sensation of unrest and discomfort, 
 and remained thoughtful and absorbed during the 
 whole of the drive to Passy. Teodoro wondered some- 
 what at his brother's silence, but was too happy and 
 excited in anticipation of the meeting with his little 
 lady-love to ask any questions. Indeed, if he had, 
 Adriano could hardly have given him a reason. He 
 had found life very agreeable during these past years, 
 with its alternations of congenial occupations and 
 splendid triumphs, of hard but interesting work and 
 idle pleasures. It had not been hard for him to fall 
 into the worldly ways and easy morality of the gay 
 capital. But now Theodore's arrival upon the scene 
 was spoiling things Theodore, so simply, happily, un- 
 affectedly good, full of reverence for and confidence in 
 his elder brother. Adriano was nervously uneasy lest 
 the young fellow should discover anything that would 
 disturb this confidence, but he seemed thoroughly un- 
 suspicious and went his own way, doubting not that 
 the way of others lay equally straight and fair. In 
 spite of this the elder man was conscious of a change 
 in the atmosphere, things that he had long ceased to 
 trouble himself about seemed to take on a different 
 aspect when there was any danger of their meeting 
 Tedi's clear gaze. He had felt uncomfortable, too, in 
 facing Madame Delepoule again, as it came vividly to 
 
 84
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 his mind how she had prophesied that he would yield to 
 the temptations of his life even as he had yielded. He 
 felt that she read him in a glance. Catalina, whom he 
 had once wooed in days when he was more worthy of 
 her than now, also stirred up recollections that were 
 not exactly comfortable. And, above all, his truly kind 
 heart was smitten with acute remorse to think that he 
 should have neglected in her blindness and straitened 
 circumstances the dear old friend whose house had 
 been a true home to him and his forlorn little brother 
 in the days when she was prosperous and they were 
 the ones in need. It was time he pulled himself up 
 short if he could be guilty of such ingratitude. He 
 had sometimes dreamed of making a new beginning, 
 and why was this not as good a time as any ? Theo- 
 dore must never find him out. Why not, then, make 
 the break now and let the past vanish like an ugly 
 dream ? Oreste would tell no tales, and he was the 
 only one among Theodore's small circle in Paris who 
 knew Adriano as he really was. Oreste had been his 
 valet now for nine years. There was something mag- 
 netic in Daretti's personality that seemed to attach 
 closely to him all who came into relation with him. 
 The faithful Florentine felt the charm. He adored 
 his master, although not blind to the shortcomings in 
 his conduct. He had indeed changed from the young 
 master with whom Oreste had first taken service, whose 
 life was so unspotted from the world, and whose piety, 
 the valet declared, would have edified the very angels 
 in paradise. Oreste saw the change, but he told him- 
 self that it was only a phase. " He is not himself," he 
 said, " but it will pass. Some day he will be himself 
 again." And every night the devoted fellow said his 
 simple prayer for the master he worshipped. "O 
 
 85
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 blessed God, who made him so good and lovable, you 
 cannot wish him to be lost ! Holy Madonna and dear 
 saints of Paradise, what would heaven be if he were 
 not there with you ! Oh, bring him back to be himself 
 again !"
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 "O God of heaven, who madest her so fair, 
 How shall I win her, how to woo her dare ? 
 How speak to her who stands in silence bound, 
 Her downcast eyes ne'er raising from the ground ?" 
 
 Songs of the Tuscan Peasantry. 
 
 THE phaeton drew up at the gate of the little house 
 at Passy, the brothers alighted, and, passing through 
 the garden, were shown into the modest salon. It 
 seemed to be the ladies' reception afternoon, for there 
 was a sound of voices from the large inner room where 
 Madame Valorge was sitting. The little maid took 
 the gentlemen's cards within, and soon the door open- 
 ed and two young girls entered side by side. Dolores, 
 as the eldest, stepped forward to greet Daretti. The*- 
 odore had been standing a little behind his brother, 
 but now he moved eagerly towards the other figure. 
 
 With joyous, out - stretched hands Espiritu Santo 
 sprang to meet him, then stood suddenly still with 
 blushing cheeks and downcast eyes. Who was this 
 gallant - looking young man, erect and soldierly, with 
 close - clipped hair and blond mustache ? Where was 
 the shy, awkward, long- limbed, curly- haired school- 
 boy who had never been absent from her dreams or 
 her prayers these five long years ? 
 
 Theodore, too, stood still in sudden embarrassment. 
 He had forgotten that he should not see again the 
 chubby, rosy child who had been sister and friend and 
 
 87
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 playmate to the boy. He had expected to take her 
 in his arms the happy, gentle little girl with the 
 same fondness with which he had bidden her farewell 
 five years before. But this tall, slender, soft-eyed maid 
 of sixteen, with her long frock and her braids of sunny 
 hair, how should he greet her as she stood before him 
 in lovely confusion, the silent lips trembling, the shy 
 eyes lowered, the delicate color coming and going in her 
 cheeks ? He felt that Adriano and Lolita were looking 
 at him, and something desperate must be done they 
 could not stand forever gazing at the carpet ! Should 
 he take her hand stiffly and say, " Mademoiselle, I am 
 happy to see you again ;" or should he bow politely and 
 leave the burden of the conversation to her ? Oh no ! 
 Surely the bond between them was deeper than the 
 changeful surface ; surely she was the same sweet spirit 
 still, even as he knew himself to be the same in truth of 
 heart. With infinite reverence he took her two hands 
 in his and stooped his head to the level of her cheek. 
 Did she turn the sweet face ever so little towards him ? 
 He could not tell ; he only knew that her lips met his 
 in one shy kiss, and instantly they parted hands and 
 stood aside from each other. Then Adriano, seeing 
 their embarrassment, came to the rescue, taking her 
 hand in gay, teasing fashion, and calling her " child," 
 as if she were indeed only a little girl still, and must, 
 of course, be treated as in the old days. And Lolita 
 was giving Theodore her hand to kiss, and begging 
 them both to come into the inner room to see Madame 
 Valorge, who was awaiting them impatiently. So they 
 all passed in together, and the other guests present 
 drew aside a little that the young men might ap- 
 proach the blind woman who sat in her arm-chair at 
 the farther end of the room. 
 
 88
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 The meeting was an affecting one. First Teodoro, 
 then Adriano knelt by her side, while she laid her 
 hands on their heads in affectionate benediction and 
 welcome. Adriano said little. He felt that there was 
 no excuse for his long neglect, and was deeply touched 
 by the affliction and changed circumstances in which 
 he found this kind friend. Sweet, refined, distinguish- 
 ed as ever, Madame Valorge was the embodiment of 
 one's ideal of old age, and he felt once more that ele- 
 vation above the mere routine interests of a worldly 
 life that had often come to him in her presence in the 
 past. He drew a sharp breath of sudden regret that 
 he had not let this gentle influence play more part 
 in his life of late. As he followed Teodoro's example 
 and knelt by her side, he did not kiss her hand, but, 
 stooping his head low before her, raised a fold of her 
 dress to his lips with a murmured " Forgive me !" 
 Low as it was she heard him, and bent tenderly tow- 
 ards him. 
 
 "Adrien," she whispered, "is all well with thee, my 
 son ?" 
 
 It was long since any one had called him " my son," 
 and the words struck to his very heart. He had so 
 loved his mother, their intercourse had been so tender 
 and joyous, their confidence so complete throughout 
 his boyhood and early manhood ! Until the day of 
 her death he had come to her every night to kneel be- 
 fore her and ask her blessing, and she would lay her 
 hand on his head and look deep into his eyes, and say 
 to him, " Adriano, is it well with thee, my son ?" and 
 he would look up to her, smiling, in his fearless inno- 
 cence, and say, " Mother, it is well." And when she 
 lay dying, her last words were, not to her first-born 
 son, her Bindo, not to the tender child, her little Teo- 
 
 89
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 doro, that she was leaving motherless, but to him, 
 Adriano. Her feeble hands stretched for his, her dark- 
 ening eyes sought his, her pale lips whispered faint in 
 death, "Adriano, is it well with thee?" The strong 
 man trembled from head to foot. Did this mother see 
 him now? Was she looking into his eyes from the 
 holy spirit-world, seeing into the depths of his soul 
 with all its defilements? Could he raise his eyes to 
 meet hers, could he answer to her, " It is well " ? 
 
 His head sunk lower yet. The deep, burning blush 
 of shame surged into his cheeks and forced two scald- 
 ing tears from under his closed lashes. He, the brill- 
 iant, self-complacent favorite of fortune, was humili- 
 ated, confused, ashamed, knowing not how to reply, 
 stammering uncertainly, " I do not know I hope oh, 
 pray for me !" 
 
 But he had already remained too noticeably long on 
 his knee beside his hostess, and she herself was signing 
 to him to rise. He controlled himself with a severe 
 effort and obeyed. 
 
 Lolita, piquant and saucy, was standing near him 
 when he turned. As a relief to his feelings he began 
 to tease her mercilessly. 
 
 " You are your old self," she said, making up a little 
 face. " You have not changed a particle." 
 
 " You are the only one that does not find me 
 changed," he returned. "And you recognize me by 
 my bad qualities !" 
 
 Poor Teodoro was being lionized, much against his 
 will, for some of the ladies present considered them- 
 selves musical and had heard of him as the coming 
 tenor. Once he found an opportunity to steal to the 
 side of the gentle girl whose acquaintance he must 
 now make all over again, but he felt strangely quiet 
 
 90
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 in her presence. He could think of little to say 
 though he knew there was everything to be said and 
 her timid responses gave him little encouragement. 
 As for her, his presence only embarrassed her. Five 
 years ago they could not talk fast enough, but now 
 she was happier away from him, happier to stand by 
 and watch him, content in the consciousness of his 
 presence. By-and-by she stole down-stairs to the gar- 
 den, where she filled a little basket full of the late au- 
 tumn flowers. She felt gay and happy to know that 
 he was in the house, but, oh, so much happier to have 
 run away from him ! But her little basket was filled 
 now, and just as she turned to enter the house the 
 two brothers came out from it. 
 
 " Good-bye, Espiritu," said Teodoro, baring his head, 
 and for reply she looked up and handed him a flower. 
 
 " You gave me a flower once before," he said, " but 
 then it was the Espiritu Santo. Why may I not have 
 it now ?" 
 
 " It is too early yet. You must wait a while before 
 the Espiritu Santo is ready to be picked." 
 
 " You left the room, I could not find you again," he 
 said, in reproachful tones. 
 
 " But I must take these flowers over to the church 
 to dress the altar," she explained. " I fear I am late 
 already." 
 
 Adriano had considerately loitered behind as long as 
 he reasonably could, and now he sauntered up to them, 
 hat in hand. She offered him also a flower, but he did 
 not wish to take away from the freshness of Teo- 
 doro's. 
 
 " Did I not hear you say they were for the altar ?" 
 he asked. " Let me put this with the others that it 
 may pray for me there, and so be doing a better ser-
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 vice than adorning my button-hole," and he smiled at 
 the pretty conceit. 
 
 " They shall all pray for you," she answered, delight- 
 edly. " In less than half an hour there will be as many 
 prayers going up for you as there are flowers in the 
 basket." 
 
 Teodoro was uneasy. " Will you forget me ?" he 
 said, in a low tone. " Will there be no prayer for me, 
 too ?" 
 
 " Ah, Theodore," she whispered, low, " I pray for 
 you, not once, but always and everywhere," and he 
 went away silent, but with a great happiness at his 
 heart. 
 
 She lingered at the foot of the steps, and, as they 
 turned at the gate to give a last salute, she waved her 
 hand to them. 
 
 " Remember !" she said, holding up the flowers tow- 
 ards Adriano. " In one half-hour from now !" and 
 he laid his hand on his heart and made her his most 
 magnificent bow. 
 
 But if her last word was to the older brother, her 
 last shy, stolen look was towards the younger one, and, 
 when the gate shut behind them, she bounded up the 
 steps, blushing and laughing and hiding her face in 
 the flowers. 
 
 Adriano now found himself once more in the mail- 
 phaeton with Teodoro, driving his slim, swift-trotting 
 grays through the Bois de Boulogne, followed by ad- 
 miring eyes and greeted with charming smiles from 
 many a gay carriage. All this was very congenial and 
 pleasant, and decidedly more reasonable than weeping 
 over his fashionable failings, which no longer seemed 
 very big sins in this worldly atmosphere. 
 
 " Adriano, why do you always drive in the broad 
 
 92
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 avenues ? I should think you would get tired of being 
 stared at, and having to lift your hat and put on your 
 sweetest smile and dimple every five seconds. How 
 many years have you done this sort of thing every 
 pleasant afternoon ? Aren't you bored to death by it?" 
 
 " You see, Tedi, we artists must live for the public," 
 said Adriano, gayly. " They want to see us. Of course 
 it is a little of a bore. So it is a bore to be called a 
 dozen times before the curtain and make the regula- 
 tion bows and scrapes night after night, yet if the 
 applause should fail me some fine day, I imagine I 
 should be a pretty disgusted fellow. However, Tedi, 
 as your unaccustomed arm will soon be stiff from per- 
 petually lifting your hat, I will mercifully turn into 
 this solitary-looking lane." 
 
 After a moment he slackened somewhat the pace of 
 his grays, docile, intelligent, clean-limbed animals. 
 Teodoro expressed his admiration of their swift, steady 
 gait, their apparent tirelessness, and their absolute 
 obedience. 
 
 " Yes, I am proud of my beasts," said Daretti. 
 " Thompson and I have trained them and cared for 
 them for four years past, and they have never had a 
 sick day nor played us an ugly trick. When I lose my 
 voice I shall have to take to horse-training for a living 
 with Thompson as a partner." 
 
 The young Irish groom sitting behind them heard 
 his name mentioned, but was too well-bred to his posi- 
 tion to move a muscle of his smooth, bright young 
 face, though he sat up a shade straighter, if that were 
 possible. 
 
 " Speaking of applause," remarked Teodoro, " I some- 
 times think that actors and musicians are not really 
 artists after all, for the true artist works only to carry 
 
 93
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 out an ideal. He loves the beautiful picture, the ex- 
 quisite poem, for its own sake, and would work at it 
 in solitude forever, out of love. But the musician, the 
 actor, lives for the public. He must have the sym- 
 pathy of an audience, and its applause. Art alone is 
 not enough." 
 
 " It is as true an art, but the artist is working with 
 different materials," suggested Adriano, slackening the 
 horses' gait to a walk, for they were passing through 
 a narrow avenue with high trees arching over their 
 heads on either side. There were lovely lights and 
 shadows playing through the thick underbrush, and 
 the young men watched them lazily as they talked. 
 " He wishes to portray a character, a sentiment. His 
 acting, his singing, are the colors and brushes, but the 
 canvas on which he draws his outlines and throws his 
 colors is precisely the audience. Upon their intelli- 
 gence, their sympathy, their emotion, he works to 
 produce his whole. It is because his canvas is more 
 intangible, more immaterial, more sensitive and change- 
 ful, that his art is more subtly intellectual, more elu- 
 sive, more ideal than that of the painter. It is ever new, 
 ever recreating itself, always unsatisfied, always van- 
 ishing before fully enjoyed." He paused and sighed. 
 " The idea that a true actor or singer wishes applause 
 to satisfy his vanity is a vulgar one. He does indeed 
 thirst for it, but only because in it he catches as it 
 were a view of his own work and sees that it is good. 
 Applause that is unintelligent is not valued by him, 
 but the applause that tells him that his point is under- 
 stood, that his ideal has taken shape and lives in their 
 minds, that is indeed the breath of life to him. He 
 knows by it that he has embodied and given existence 
 to his thought that he has created!" 
 
 94
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Teodoro's eye caught fire. He leaned back in his 
 seat and drew a deep breath, gazing out before them 
 through the slender, shady tunnel of foliage to where, 
 in the distance, an expanse of sunshine spoke of open 
 country. Dimly he heard a low sound mixing with 
 his dreams, it grew louder, a confused, thunderous 
 noise behind them, and he started and turned hastily 
 round in his seat. 
 
 " Drive for your life to the open !" the groom's voice 
 hissed into Daretti's ear. " Drive for your life !" and 
 down on the horses' backs fell the stinging lash. The 
 startled grays sprang forward, again the lash fell across 
 their flanks, and they broke into a dead run. 
 
 Tremblingly Teodoro looked over his shoulder. 
 Worst of all runaways, a maddened four-in-hand was 
 galloping wildly and furiously along the narrow road 
 behind them, the empty trap swaying and swinging 
 from side to side. It was a race for life ; the frantic 
 brutes were gaining on them, their hoofs thundering 
 along the silent lane. There was no safety in jump- 
 ing, no escaping being dashed to death against the 
 wall of trees, no chance but to reach that stretch of 
 open ground which seemed so hopelessly far off. Da- 
 retti's face was very white and set ; he leaned forward, 
 holding a steady rein and urging on the grays with 
 voice and whip. Teodoro felt strangely calm. He 
 crossed himself mechanically, but his brain seemed 
 paralyzed. The young groom slid down from his high 
 seat behind and hung at the back of the phaeton. The"- 
 odore shrieked to him, but his voice was drowned in the 
 clatter of iron-shod hoofs. The runaways were leap- 
 ing on to them now, and the groom sprang at the 
 leaders' bridles. He had calculated well. The startled 
 animals swerved and plunged, the groom was borne off 
 
 95
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 his feet but clung frantically to his hold on the curbs. 
 The pole-horses dashed blindly on, rushing against the 
 leaders, who fell sprawling and kicking, the groom 
 underneath, and then there was a heaving, struggling 
 mass piled in bleeding, fighting confusion. Teodoro 
 gave a cry and covered his face at the sickening sight. 
 The grays tore on, the open was reached, and Adriano 
 turned sharply and skilfully across the uneven turf, 
 trying to soothe the excited beasts. Not hearing the 
 runaways thunder by as he expected, he turned his 
 head, saw the struggling heap a few rods behind, saw 
 the groom's seat empty. " Good God !" he cried, and 
 tossing away the reins he sprang from the phaeton, 
 leaving the grays to their fate, and ran back to the 
 scene of the accident. 
 
 " He is under the leaders ! Hold down their heads, 
 while I cut the traces and set the others free !" called 
 Adriano to Teodoro, who had quickly followed him. 
 It seemed an age before he could disentangle the har- 
 ness from the terrified creatures. Then coming for- 
 ward he saw the mangled body of the poor groom as 
 it lay crushed beneath the heavy leaders. He turned 
 deadly sick and faint at the sight and staggered back- 
 ward. " Oh, Thompson, my poor faithful boy ! O 
 God, put him out of his suffering ! O God, have 
 mercy on us all !" Gathering up the reins and broken 
 traces and binding the helpless horses tightly, heads 
 and hoofs together, the two men rolled the quivering 
 bodies to one side, and tenderly extricated the poor 
 young fellow, moaning and writhing in anguish. 
 
 "Thank God, help is coming help is coming at last !" 
 exclaimed Teodoro, as figures were seen running tow- 
 ards them from the open. An ambulance was quickly 
 summoned, and there were plenty now to help, but 
 
 96
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 when the poor bruised body was laid on the stretcher, 
 Adriano knelt by it, and all the way to the hospital 
 held the bleeding head on his arm. 
 
 Teodoro knelt by Adriano's side. " Do you remem- 
 ber, brother," he whispered, "she said she would be 
 praying for you in half an hour ? It must have been 
 at that very moment that your life was saved." 
 
 " Saved for what?" muttered Adriano, turning away. 
 "And at what cost? The only son of his mother, and 
 she a widow ! The innocent for the guilty !"
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 "Conversion, that phenomenon of light to the intellect and persuasion 
 to the heart, is not ordinarily produced in the way of sudden illumina- 
 tion, like a flash of lightning in a dark night, but rather under the form 
 of growing daylight, like that which precedes the sunrise." Chocarnc. 
 
 DARETTI was sitting by his groom's side, holding the 
 bandaged hand in his, when Thompson opened his eyes 
 and looked about him from his little cot in the acci- 
 dent ward. 
 
 " They think you will get well now, Thompson," said 
 Daretti, cheerfully ; "but is there anything I can do 
 to make you more comfortable?" 
 
 " I should like to see a priest, sir," replied the man, 
 "but I wish it might be an English-speaking priest, 
 sir, for I couldn't make myself understood in French, 
 outside of horses, sir." 
 
 " I will do my best to find one for you," said Daretti, 
 kindly, as he rose to leave him. 
 
 " You were the best, the kindest master that groom 
 or horse ever had," murmured the sick man, trying to 
 take Daretti's hand in his. " God bless you, sir, for 
 your good heart ! God love you, and make you one of 
 his saints." 
 
 The tears rushed to Daretti's eyes and his voice 
 choked in his throat. He took the dying man's hands 
 and bent over him with broken words. 
 
 "You saved my life, Thompson, mine and my dear 
 brother's, and God grant that you may live to know
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 how grateful we can be. I have not given you the 
 good example that I should, my poor fellow, God for- 
 give me ! but the life you have saved for me shall be a 
 better one from this moment. We shall never forget 
 you and what you have done for us." He dashed the 
 tears away, and stooping, in his impulsive, Italian way, 
 kissed the sick man's brow. Then he turned and has- 
 tily left the bedside. The groom looked lovingly after 
 him, the tears rolling down his sunken cheeks. " He 
 will be a saint some day," he said, to himself. "I 
 should like to live just to see if he is not." 
 
 The scowling face of a communist who occupied the 
 next cot grew thoughtful. " They say that is a rich 
 nobleman and his servant," he reflected, " but one would 
 think they were brothers or dear friends. I do not 
 understand the language they spoke, but I know that 
 no employer I ever had would have nursed and kissed 
 me that way, nor would I do the same to any appren- 
 tice under me," and he made many other reflections 
 that night on liberty, equality, and fraternity. 
 
 In the sacristy of the church of Notre Dame des 
 Victoires a young priest was talking over some ar- 
 rangements for the evening devotions with the beadle 
 and two young altar -boys. They were speaking in 
 undertones, for over the sacristy door hung in large 
 letters the warning Silentium. Adrien Daretti, enter- 
 ing, advanced towards the abbe", and in a low voice 
 asked where he could find the English-speaking priest 
 attached to the church. A big, powerful man, with a 
 shock of dark hair plentifully sprinkled with gray, stood 
 near them, and Adriano noticed that he wore with his 
 soutane the purple sash and stock of the Pope's domes- 
 tic prelates. 
 
 " Monseigneur lanson," said the abbe*, " I bring the 
 
 99
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Chevalier Daretti of the Grand OpeYa, who asks a ser- 
 vice of you." 
 
 Adriano began to explain in his halting English, 
 when to his relief the big man broke out into excellent 
 Italian, taking him by both hands and giving him a 
 hearty welcome. There was a charm about the mon- 
 signore's cheery, manly cordiality that was irresistible. 
 He understood the situation, and was on the alert and 
 ready for action before the words of explanation were 
 half out of Daretti's mouth. 
 
 " Benjamin, Benjamin ! run and bring me my cane 
 and cloak. Pray excuse me, chevalier, I am an old, 
 broken-down war-horse, not of much use any longer, 
 but delighted when any one will exercise him a little. 
 I was a missionary in the wilds of Texas for fifteen 
 years among Indians and cowboys, and I have borne 
 away the marks of battle in the shape of chronic rheu- 
 matism, caught when I was exposed to a flood for 
 eleven days and nights. But the rusty joints are at 
 your service, as far as there is good in them." 
 
 " I fear I am asking too much of you, monsignore," 
 said Daretti, " but my poor groom risked his life for 
 me, and is seriously injured. It will give him great 
 comfort to see an English-speaking priest." 
 
 " Certainly, certainly. It is most fortunate that I 
 was at hand. Ah, Benjamin !" in French, to the young 
 serving-man. " Were you going to let your old master 
 go out into the streets without his hat ? You think I 
 know nothing about your civilized ways over here be- 
 cause I hail from Texas ! You see," slyly, to Daretti, 
 "Benjamin has had to teach me a great deal. I have 
 given up my blanket and feathers altogether since he 
 took me in hand !" 
 
 The lad giggled and helped the monsignore to put 
 
 100
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 on his cloak, and brought him his shovel -hat and 
 stick. 
 
 "Sosthenes, my child," to one of the boys, "direct the 
 carriage to wait for us at the great door of the church. 
 Do not stop to take off your cassock." Then turning 
 to Daretti, " If you will allow me, monsieur, we will 
 pass through the church to the front door, which you 
 will find pleasanter than going round by the cold 
 street," and pushing open the swinging-door that led 
 into the church he entered, followed closely by Daretti. 
 
 The sanctuary of Notre Dame des Victoires is the 
 most famous and popular shrine of Paris. Half a cen- 
 tury before the parish had been the most irreligious, 
 the most neglected in Paris, and its people the scandal 
 of the city. The church was almost deserted, and its 
 priests wept at lonely altars. Its saintly curate pros- 
 trated himself on the stone steps, and in anguish of 
 mind offered his life for the conversion of the sinful 
 souls committed to his charge. He gathered a chosen 
 few about him, and together they prayed night after 
 night for the sinners of the parish. For the sake of a 
 few just, many were saved. Their tears, their prayers, 
 their penances prevailed with the Most High. Con- 
 version followed conversion. The church became a 
 centre of pilgrimage, its parish a model. The answers 
 to prayer were the amazement even of the devout, and 
 the walls of the vast building are literally lined from 
 end to end and from floor to roof with the pious offer- 
 ings of two generations of worshippers in gratitude for 
 favors received. 
 
 As Adriano and Monsignore lanson passed through 
 the church it was in the mysterious half-light, when day 
 is not yet shut out and artificial light scarcely needed. 
 From the right transept of the church, however, poured 
 
 101
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 a flood of brilliant illumination. There was the centre 
 of prayer, the shrine of the Virgin Mother, lifting up in 
 her arms and holding out to the gaze of the multitude 
 the Divine Infant, the Saviour of men, the Light of the 
 world. The Child in her arms was represented bend- 
 ing downward with out-stretched arms and tender, 
 pitying smile to those kneeling at His feet. The altar 
 was ablaze with lights, myriad lamps burned before it 
 and pyramids of candles. There was no service going 
 on, but the church was half filled with those who had 
 dropped in for private prayer. Passing before the 
 altar, Adriano glanced curiously up at the marble 
 group above. The large figures and florid outlines 
 pleased him little as a work of art, but the attitude of 
 the Mother and Child arrested his attention. In it 
 one read the story of the shrine, the pitying face of 
 the Mother holding out to the world its Saviour, whose 
 out-stretched hands would fain gather the children of 
 Jerusalem to His Heart ! 
 
 The monsignore knelt an instant before the altar, 
 then rose and passed on down the nave, Daretti fol- 
 lowing him with a strange sensation stirring in his 
 heart. Those out -stretched Hands, they recalled to 
 him words that he had heard before. As he picked his 
 way down the dark aisle they flashed into his memory. 
 
 " All day long have I stretched out My Hands to an 
 unbelieving and rebellious people !" "O Jerusalem, 
 Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord thy God !" 
 
 " I promised him I would be a better man," almost 
 groaned Daretti within himself ; " but I cannot, I have 
 not the strength. I do not believe that God blames 
 me, or that He expects me to be any different. I did 
 not wish to fall to this my low estate, but I was left 
 so terribly alone. I cannot believe it was all my fault." 
 
 1 02
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 They had reached the great door of the church, and 
 in another moment were in the fresh air outside with 
 the hum of the busy street below them. As they 
 stood on the stone steps there came before Adriano's 
 mind the vision of the lonely, discouraged priest ly- 
 ing prostrate on these very steps before the closed 
 doors of the church, and praying for the souls of sin- 
 ful men. The sight of the active, eager, restless crowd 
 in the street seemed incongruous with such memories, 
 yet it was the same sight that had wrung to anguish 
 the heart of the saintly Abbe* Desgenettes. 
 
 "Where are all these going?" thought Adriano. 
 " Where do their footsteps lead them ? Is the purpose 
 that hurries them on innocent or guilty in God's eyes?" 
 And again he seemed to see the prostrate figure lift- 
 ing imploring hands to Heaven. 
 
 They were now at the carriage - door, and Adriano 
 assisted the monsignore to enter first. 
 
 "You will pray for my poor servant, monsignore, 
 will you not? A more honest, faithful fellow never 
 lived." 
 
 " With all my heart, I will pray for him, and for his 
 master too," said Monsignore lanson, with a peculiar 
 smile. 
 
 Daretti shrugged his shoulders. " The worst of me 
 is that I have no desire to be converted," he said, care- 
 lessly. " I fear you will find me a stubborn subject." 
 
 " ' It is hard for thee to kick against the goad,' " 
 quoted the prelate, with a kindly glance, pressing Da- 
 retti's hand in both of his. 
 
 Adriano flung himself back in the carriage as they 
 drove off. " What do people want to meddle with my 
 soul for ?" he grumbled to himself. " Why cannot they 
 let me alone ? They would not think it right to pry 
 
 103
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 into my love affairs or my bank account, and why is 
 not my soul as much my own as my heart or my 
 purse ? I'll let him see that I am not to be interfered 
 with." 
 
 But little was said during the drive. Monsignore 
 lanson asked a few questions about the accident, and 
 congratulated Daretti on his escape. As they drove 
 up to the hospital door Teodoro met them, pale and 
 disturbed. 
 
 " Pray for him, Adriano !" he said, agitatedly ; " the 
 poor fellow died in my arms not ten minutes ago !" 
 
 The groom's funeral took place from the church of 
 Saint Augustin. The Requiem Mass of the obscure 
 English servant was as largely and fashionably at- 
 tended as if it had been that of some Bonapartist hero, 
 for the story of his rescuing the life of their favorite 
 singer was known all over Paris, and the enormous 
 edifice was crowded with society people, dilettanti, 
 Bohemians, musicians, employe's of the opera, and 
 many from the English and American colonies. The 
 brothers Collas had volunteered to sing, and Teodoro 
 took the tenor solo of the Dies Irae, and also sang the 
 Ingemisco with Maxime Collas, whose rich, flexible 
 bass accorded well with the pure, high, pathetic tones 
 of the phenomenal young tenor. There was not a 
 dry eye in the church when the last tone of the Pie 
 Jesu Domine died away. At a prie-dieu, near the 
 catafalque, knelt Adriano, in deep mourning, his head 
 bowed between his hands. He never changed his 
 posture throughout the entire service, but from time 
 to time his frame quivered with strong emotion. That 
 he should weep for the servant who had died for him 
 only endeared him the more to the hearts of his ad- 
 mirers. 
 
 104
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 The maimed body of the poor, heroic English groom 
 Was laid to rest in the cemetery of Montmartre a 
 stranger, serving strangers, and buried in a strange 
 land. The horses he had cared for were led to his 
 grave and stood by with drooping heads, as if they 
 knew their kind friend was gone. The young French 
 stable-boy, who had groomed them under Thompson's 
 direction during the past year, stood at their bridles 
 and patted them, weeping bitterly. 
 
 " You know just how he liked to have them treated, 
 Jules," Daretti had said. " You are very young to have 
 full charge, but I do not feel as if I could let any one 
 else touch them just now." 
 
 During these sad days Adriano had seen no one 
 outside of his immediate household except Monsignore 
 lanson, who had directed the funeral arrangements, 
 and had helped him write the necessary English letters 
 and telegrams to Thompson's relatives. Though face 
 to face with the stern realities of life and death, 
 Adriano shrank from the view before him, afraid of 
 the light that was finding its way into the crevices of 
 his heart and revealing its sin and misery. The mem- 
 ories of other years crowded back and increased his 
 bitterness of spirit the memory of the fearless inno- 
 cence of his boyhood, the proud, untarnished virtue 
 of his early manhood. He came of a soldier race, and 
 he had weakly fled before the battle of life. Cowardly 
 and self-indulgent he had laid down his arms, he had 
 sold his birthright of virtue and heroism, he had parted 
 with the pearl of great price for what ? What profit 
 had he in those things of which he was now ashamed? 
 
 The old torpor of conscience, the old lethargy of 
 will were disturbed forever, though in his weakness 
 he would fain have lulled them to rest again. 
 
 105
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 " Standing with reluctant feet, 
 Where the brook and river meet, 
 Womanhood and childhood fleet" 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 IT devolved upon Teodoro during these sad days to 
 exercise the horses. He had little difficulty in finding 
 an objective point for the daily drive, and soon the 
 gray ponies turned in of their own accord at the gate 
 of the modest little house at Passy. 
 
 " Theodore, my dear child, it is very pleasant to have 
 our brother back again, the same dear brother as ever, 
 and have you drop in on us every day, almost as you 
 used to in the old days." 
 
 " Dear Madame Valorge, I hope you do not think 
 that I come too often that I am presuming in any 
 way. Really, you know, I have had to come every 
 day lately, for I knew you would have heard of the 
 accident, and would be anxious to know all the details, 
 and to know about the Requiem Mass and funeral. 
 To-day I should not have come for fear you would 
 think me indiscreet, or a bore, but Adriano wished 
 me to pay his respects to you and say for him that he 
 would have called, but this morning he has run over 
 to England." 
 
 " To England ? Oh, you travellers ! You speak of 
 running over to England as I might speak of driving 
 
 106
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 to La Muette. But what takes him over there at 
 this season ?" 
 
 " His own dear, kind heart," cried Theodore, warmly. 
 " He must go himself to carry Thompson's effects to 
 the mother, and see that she is comfortable for life, 
 and take a dying message to the girl that the poor fel- 
 low was engaged to. Afterwards he will take a little 
 recreation for his health, and visit Sir Guy Ainsworth 
 for some shooting ; but you have no idea how deeply 
 Adriano has felt this, and how sad it has made him." 
 
 " Yes, it would be likely to touch him deeply," said 
 Madame Valorge. " Do not be too anxious to divert 
 his mind, Theodore. To a man who sees so much of 
 life in its most brilliant phases, who is so constantly 
 surrounded by the artificial and the frivolous, a few 
 days face to face with the sterner features of life will 
 do no harm. But, my dear child, there is one thing I 
 wish you to understand, and that is, you need make 
 no apologies for coming here often, or find excuses to 
 come again. Simply come, and feel yourself a dear 
 son among sisters and friends, as it used to be." 
 
 " But it is so different," urged Theodore. " We were 
 children then, and now we are we are so different," 
 he finished, helplessly. 
 
 She smiled, and it was so kindly and encouraging a 
 smile that Teodoro took heart. He glanced around, 
 but they were alone and the doors were all shut. Then 
 he drew very near to her indeed. 
 
 " Dear grandmother," he whispered, " you cannot 
 see me ?" 
 
 " No, my child, you may blush as much as you please." 
 
 " And you will not tell ?" 
 
 " Not if you do not wish it." 
 
 " I want to speak to you about something," but sud- 
 
 107
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 denly he found that he could not speak. Words re- 
 fused to present themselves. He grew very pink, then 
 crimson, then he covered his face with his hands. " Oh, 
 I cannot say it. You know what it is. Say it for me !" 
 
 She laughed, good-naturedly. " But I just promised 
 not to tell !" 
 
 " Ah, it is not fair of you to tease me ! I feel so 
 foolish trying to talk about it, for you know as well as 
 I how it is with me. I only want to ask if you have 
 any objection to me to it to you know what !" 
 
 " Dear Theodore, I have two serious objections." 
 
 He looked up, and he was not quite so pink now. 
 
 " It is very sudden, and you are both too young." 
 
 " Sudden !" he exclaimed. "Why, I have been think- 
 ing of nothing else for five years ! You know what she 
 was to me in my boyhood. You know how I poured 
 out my heart in my letters to her until you stopped 
 our correspondence. But that could not make me 
 stop thinking of her. I have not had a thought, or 
 planned a plan, or dreamed a dream, or prayed a prayer 
 that had not her for its object. I counted the months 
 and weeks of my college course that I might be free 
 to return to her. I grudged every day and hour of 
 my military service, because it was keeping me longer 
 away from her. I have done my best to become fit 
 for her, to keep myself pure in word and deed. It 
 seemed as if I could not do wrong with her before my 
 eyes. One must have a high ideal to keep one's self 
 always up to a high level of life, and the good God has 
 given me this holy love, and I am her knight forever !" 
 
 It was a pity that she could not see how his beauti- 
 ful face glowed, and his eyes sparkled. 
 
 " But, Theodore, are you sure that the little girl is 
 all you have dreamed her to be ? We who have lived 
 
 1 08
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 with her for sixteen years love her dearly, and are too 
 ready to think her worthy of life's best. But in six 
 days can you judge fairly of the character of a young 
 girl you have not seen since childhood, especially when 
 you have hardly said a word to each other even the 
 six times you have met ?" 
 
 " Our hearts are too full," he said, laughing shyly. 
 " That is what is the matter with us. We were talk- 
 ative enough when we were only children." 
 
 " But, seriously, I think you ought to wait a little 
 longer, and see a little more of the world before com- 
 mitting yourself. You are not yet twenty-one." 
 
 " Now, my dear grandmother," said Teodoro, coax- 
 ingly, " you know perfectly well that you think in 
 your heart that if I went all round the world and lived 
 to be a hundred, I could never find a lovelier angel 
 than your Espfritu !" 
 
 " Perhaps not," she admitted, smiling. 
 
 "And on her side," continued Teodoro, "she would 
 not find any one who has loved her so wholly and de- 
 votedly. I know I am not good enough for her, but I 
 am better than many fellows would be. I am strong and 
 healthy, I have no bad habits, I love my faith and try 
 to live up to its teachings, and I love her and try to 
 be worthy of her. My family is honorable, and, thanks 
 to my generous brothers, my patrimony has never been 
 touched, and has mounted in all these years to enough 
 to make us perfectly comfortable in a modest way, 
 besides what I may earn with my singing. Then, you 
 know, you are all fond of me and Adriano, and I should 
 take my place among you so naturally." 
 
 " Dear Theodore, we can have no objection to you 
 personally, and I am pleased with your confidence in 
 our affection for you." 
 
 109
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 "Of course I have confidence in it," he replied; "of 
 course you would not let me come and go as I do, you 
 would not encourage me to come often, knowing how 
 I feel, if you thought it undesirable in any way for her." 
 
 The perfect simplicity and frankness of the young 
 man both amused and pleased her. He was too clear- 
 sighted not to see his advantages, too simple not to 
 accept them in their truth, too frank not to acknowl- 
 edge them openly. She must take a lesson from him 
 and be simple in her turn. 
 
 "That is all true, Theodore," she said. "It is the 
 dearest wish of my heart that you and Espiritu should 
 belong to each other. I discouraged your childish at- 
 tachment, because prudence and regard for her dig- 
 nity required that I should, but since you have been 
 faithful, I ask no greater blessing." 
 
 "Then it is all settled !" he cried, joyously. 
 
 " By no means," she declared, promptly. " She shall 
 have something to say herself in the matter, I hope !" 
 
 " Oh, as for that " and Theodore broke off with a 
 laugh and a blush and a light in his eyes that had a 
 world of happy meaning in them. 
 
 " Do not be too sure ! She loved you dearly as a 
 child, I acknowledge, but she is a child no longer, and 
 yet not quite a woman. Who can tell whether the 
 woman will love where the child loved ?" 
 
 " She will," said Teodoro, confidently. " She could 
 not change. She will love me, not because I am what 
 I am I do not put my confidence in that but because 
 she is what she is. She will love me always." 
 
 " But she is so shy with you, she has nothing to say 
 to you, she leaves the room at the first excuse when 
 you come ! Did it not discourage you when she took 
 flight this afternoon the moment you appeared?" 
 
 1 10
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " No, indeed ! Why, that is a good sign, the surest 
 possible sign !" he explained, eagerly. " Of course she 
 is shy with me. She knows that I love her, and a 
 sweet instinct tells her that she must let herself be 
 wooed before she is won. Yet, if she were not al- 
 ready won, she would not be so afraid to stay and be 
 wooed." 
 
 " Theodore !" exclaimed Madame Valorge in aston- 
 ishment. "Will you explain to me how you under- 
 stand a girl's heart so well?" 
 
 " Because I love her," he replied, simply, " and so I 
 am in sympathy with her and know intuitively just 
 how she must be feeling." 
 
 " It may be that she loves you as you think, and yet, 
 Theodore, I should counsel you to be very patient and 
 go slowly in this affair. She is still half a child, and it 
 will startle her if you speak too soon. For her sake, 
 wait a little. Believe me, she has not yet got over the 
 shock of finding her boy playmate grown into a fine 
 young man. You have thought of this marriage for 
 years, but to her mind you have been only her boy 
 friend, and she is not yet accustomed to the idea of 
 a lover. Be content to come and go familiarly, to see 
 her frequently for the present, but let the question of 
 betrothal rest for at least a few months, say till her 
 seventeenth birthday. I ask the little sacrifice for her 
 sake." 
 
 "Of course, of course," said Teodoro, bravely, though 
 his lip trembled somewhat. " I would not hurry her 
 or startle her for the world. I ought to be content 
 with the encouragement you have given me, and the 
 hope of seeing her often. It is not as if you were try- 
 ing to separate us. In that case, I am afraid you would 
 have to shut her up very close if you wished to keep 
 
 in
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 her out of my reach," he added, threateningly, as he 
 rose to take his departure. 
 
 " Open the door a moment, Theodore, while I call 
 the child to come and bid you good-bye. She must 
 not be allowed to forget her manners because you hap- 
 pen to be an old friend !" 
 
 Shyly, reluctantly, Espiritu appeared on the thresh- 
 old. She would have given the world to hide herself, 
 but her grandmother was telling her to remember that 
 she was now the hostess, and with a huge effort she 
 came forward and murmured something about seeing 
 his horses at the gate. 
 
 "Yes, I drove out with the poor grays this after- 
 noon," he said. " They seem to know everything and 
 to feel lonely." 
 
 " I thought they would," she said, " so I went down 
 to speak to them and give them some sugar." 
 
 " Did you ?" exclaimed Teodoro, delighted with her 
 kindness. " Yes, of course you would ; it is just like 
 you. Tell me," he asked, as she walked hesitatingly 
 towards the outer door with him, " when are you com- 
 ing into Paris to see Catalina ?" 
 
 " I am going to Madame Delepoule's Friday even- 
 ing to spend the night. We are going to early Mass 
 on Saturday morning to pray for Catalina, who is to 
 make her debut that evening." 
 
 "What church will you be at? I will go there too." 
 
 " Oh, we shall be too early for you," she laughed. 
 "We are going at seven o'clock to La Madeleine, but 
 Adrien told me that you were never up in your house- 
 hold till eleven o'clock mornings." 
 
 " Let him speak for himself," answered Teodoro. 
 " He has to be up late nights at his profession, but I 
 need not follow his hours unless I choose." They were 
 
 112
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 now at the front door and she would go no farther, 
 so he could only bow low and say, "A bientot !" 
 
 She hid behind the curtain in the little front draw- 
 ing-room, for from there she could watch unseen while 
 he opened the gate and mounted the phaeton and 
 took the reins from Jules. Before he touched up the 
 horses he looked towards the house, even directly at 
 the window where she was hiding. Then she laughed 
 softly to herself and hastily drew back a little, although 
 she well knew that she could not be seen, for had she 
 not taken the precaution when she was below at the 
 gate to examine that very window ? But he had 
 driven off now, and she came more boldly forward and 
 even leaned her cheek against the pane, and watched 
 the road as far as she could see, while a troubled cloud 
 settled over her sunny face. By-and-by she stole back 
 to her grandmother's side. 
 
 " Have you been watching him drive off ?" asked the 
 grandmother, gently. 
 
 " Ye-yes," stammered Espiritu, coloring deeply and 
 hanging her head. 
 
 " What is the matter, dear? Your little voice sounds 
 troubled !" 
 
 " N-nothing." 
 
 " Nothing ?" And Madame Valorge put out her hand 
 to draw the young face near to herself. To her sur- 
 prise the cheek was wet. 
 
 " Why, Espiritu, darling ! What is making you 
 cry ?" 
 
 " Oh, grandmamma, it it is not really anything. I 
 was only just a little bit sad, because things change 
 so because things are so different ! We never can 
 have the past again, and we are all growing so old and 
 changed !" 
 
 H 113
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 "Why would you like to have the past back again, 
 dear ? Why would you like to be a little girl again ?" 
 
 " Why, grandmamma, don't you see that I could be 
 of some use then ? You see that he, Theodore, was a 
 boy then, and sickly and shy, and a stranger, and we 
 could be good to him and help him, and do things for 
 him to make him well and happy. He was mother- 
 less, and had no sisters and no home, and we could be 
 everything to him. But now he is a grown man and 
 well and strong, and has lots of friends, and he is dis- 
 tinguished and sought after, as I could see by the at- 
 tention all those society ladies were paying him the 
 other day. He is going to be a great singer, and be 
 rich and famous like Adrien ; he will have everything 
 the world can give him, and nothing that we can do 
 will be of any use to him or make him any happier. 
 Oh, I wish he were still a friendless, delicate boy, so 
 that we could be kind to him and do him good 
 again !" 
 
 " Do I hear such a selfish, heartless wish as that 
 from my Espiritu ?" asked Madame Valorge, gravely ; 
 and Espiritu felt very wicked and self-reproachful. 
 
 "Not really," she said. "That is only the selfish- 
 ness in me. Of course, for his sake, I am glad that the 
 world is so bright to him." 
 
 " Ought I to tell her that he still feels the need of 
 her, in spite of success and happiness ?" thought the 
 grandmother, but she shook her head in reply to 
 her own questionings. Patience ! Let the child be 
 a child a little longer. The slight trial to her faith 
 and love would make a better disciplined woman of 
 her. So she only said, aloud, " Of course, you are glad 
 for him, dear glad that he has found other things to 
 turn to for happiness than the company of a silly lit- 
 
 114
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 tie child, kind-hearted and loving as she is. He must 
 take a man's place in life, and make a name for him- 
 self, and you will stay at home and pray that God will 
 keep him without reproach, and try to fill your own 
 humble place in life. There are others you can be 
 kind to, Espiritu." 
 
 " I know ; I will try," said Espiritu, rather dolefully. 
 Then the fair young face brightened, and she threw 
 back her head with a gay laugh. " Of course ! Now, 
 for instance, I need not let my dear grandmother 
 starve when it is time for her cup of afternoon tea, 
 and I can see that she has a nice new cap to wear for 
 Sunday, instead of wasting my time wishing I were a 
 useless little girl again. Ah, grandmamma, you were 
 not disinterested ! I am sure there was a little hun- 
 ger and a little vanity at the bottom of your suggest- 
 ion. Eh ?" merrily. 
 
 " Certainly I am not disinterested in liking to have 
 you grow up, when you are more useful to me every 
 year," laughed the grandmother. " How horribly I 
 should fare if I were dependent upon such an irre- 
 sponsible little day-dreamer as you used to be ?" And 
 Espiritu kissed her lovingly and darted off to her 
 womanly avocations with a happy song on her sweet 
 lips.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 "We were rushing by the place where Christian's burden fell from 
 his shoulders at the sight of the Cross. This served as a theme for Mr. 
 Smooth-it-away, Mr. Live-for-the-World, and a knot of gentlemen from 
 the town of Shun-Repentance, to descant upon the advantages result- 
 ing from the safety of our luggage, for our burdens were rich in many 
 things esteemed precious throughout the world and which we trusted 
 would not be out of fashion even in the Celestial City. It would have 
 been a sad spectacle to see such an assortment of valuable articles 
 tumbling into the Sepulchre." Hawthorne's Celestial Railroad. 
 
 THE last rehearsal of "Aida" was to take place on Fri- 
 day morning, and Madame Delepoule was exceedingly 
 nervous, for when the morning arrived there had been 
 no message from Daretti since his hasty departure for 
 England. She sat down to her coffee and rolls in 
 great anxiety, when the door opened and he was an- 
 nounced. 
 
 " Oh, Adrien ! How could you keep me so on tenter- 
 hooks ?" 
 
 " Had you so little faith in me as to fear I should 
 fail you ? Why, we have two hours to spare yet !" 
 
 " I am too delighted to see you to have a word of re- 
 proof ; but nobody knew where you were, and I dreaded 
 some delay or accident." 
 
 " I have come thus early to beg your good offices in 
 an act of charity. I have just overheard, accidentally, 
 a sad account of the family of poor Voquelin, the com- 
 munist Teodoro interested himself in at the hospital. 
 
 116
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 His young daughters are destitute, their mother is ill, 
 and they will be evicted to-day if the rent is not paid. 
 Now I would like to pay their rent, but cannot dis- 
 creetly do so myself. It is a woman's place to go to 
 them in their trouble, and I ask you to do this good 
 work for me in your own name." 
 
 " Why, certainly, Adrien. I will see to it immediate- 
 ly after the rehearsal." 
 
 " No, Madame Delepoule, not after but before, if 
 you please." 
 
 " But I cannot miss the rehearsal !" 
 
 " Oh yes, you can. I will take such good care of 
 Senorita Disdier that you will have a delightful sur- 
 prise at the performance. But this matter of the rent 
 cannot wait till noon. Another person may be think- 
 ing of aiding them, to whom it is best they should not 
 be under obligations." 
 
 " I see, Adrien I see. I will go, of course, but oh, I 
 shall never forgive Fate if I cannot settle the affair in 
 time to be at the rehearsal." 
 
 He laughed pleasantly. " In the meanwhile, madame, 
 will you offer me your hospitality ? I hurried here di- 
 rect from the train to secure your good-will, and have 
 not breakfasted. Do not ring; we are better by our- 
 selves. I know of old where to find a cup." 
 
 " Goodness gracious, Adrien ! that is my very best 
 porcelain, that I never dream of using ! I only keep it 
 to look at. The Queen of the Belgians gave it to me. 
 Oh, dear, it is not safe to let you rummage among my 
 things !" 
 
 " I never eat off of anything but royal Sevres," cool- 
 ly declared Adrien. " Really, madame, if you will only 
 sit still and drink your coffee while it is hot you 
 will enjoy it so much more. Ah, here is an exqui- 
 
 117
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 site Bohemian glass, just the thing for my Apol- 
 linaris !" 
 
 " Well, remember, if you smash anything you must 
 give me Queen Margherita's claret pitcher and the 
 King of Bavaria's silver drinking-horn in exchange !" 
 
 "And if I do not break anything you will give me 
 in reward the Czarina's diamond star for my future 
 wife ?" 
 
 " That depends, Adrien. It goes to Catalina Disdier." 
 
 He darted a conscious look towards her. " By-the- 
 way," he said, with a short laugh, " I believe that Casi- 
 mir Choulex has become quite a traveller of late, and 
 thinks nothing of running on to London or Brussels or 
 St. Petersburg from Turin two or three times during 
 the opera season ! Do you not think him wonderfully 
 softened and improved in his manners ? What do you 
 think can have done it, madame ?" 
 
 " He is a magnificent fellow, Adrien, and a true, 
 steadfast friend. He cannot hold a candle to you 
 physically, but morally and intellectually he is of a 
 rare type." 
 
 " In other words, I cannot hold a candle to him spirit- 
 ually ! Ah. he is a fine fellow, indeed. He can have 
 nothing to regret in his life." 
 
 She had finished her breakfast, and she rose from the 
 table and stood near him, looking down at him. 
 
 "And have you anything to regret in your life, 
 Adrien?" she asked, bluntly as if so elegant a man 
 of the world were likely to tell ! 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. " How many can say 
 that they regret nothing?" he answered, carelessly. 
 "But, indeed, madame, I have not broken all the com- 
 mandments, that you should look at me with such fierce 
 condemnation !" 
 
 118
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Oh, Adrien, I fear my unhappy prophecies for you 
 have come only too true is it not so ?" 
 
 He stared politely. He felt some astonishment that 
 so experienced a woman of the world should take him 
 up in this manner. She came in contact with all sorts 
 of people in her professional life, and though irre- 
 proachable and universally respected herself she had 
 always been most liberal minded in accepting people 
 as she found them. Why should she require of him 
 that he should be as circumspect as a young girl when 
 making so much allowance for others? 
 
 " Adrien, Adrien ! You have hurried here after a 
 fatiguing journey, without breaking your fast, to try 
 and rescue from possible evil some poor young girls 
 who are nothing to you, and yet and yet Oh, my 
 child, how can you go on in a life so inconsistent with 
 all your best impulses?" 
 
 " Madame Delepoule," he replied, very gravely, push- 
 ing back his chair from the table and looking steadily 
 at her, "I have always been singularly frank with you, 
 and I will be so still. I admit I have modified the 
 strictness of my life in some respects since you last 
 knew me, but I trust that you will always find me 
 none the less a man of honor and a gentleman." 
 
 "Oh, you gentlemen!" she exclaimed, sharply; "I 
 know you, and I have no patience with you ! I under- 
 stand your notions of honor. You fashion it for your- 
 selves, as if sin were not sin if only your sinning be 
 done according to your conventional codes. No doubt 
 there should be honor, but sin is sin for all that !" 
 
 Daretti rose to his feet. There was an angry flush 
 on his brow, and he drew himself up stiffly. Then he 
 took up his hat and gloves and bowed with great for- 
 mality. 
 
 119
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " I regret exceedingly, Madame Delepoule, that I 
 should have forced you to bestow your hospitality on 
 me. Now that I understand your feeling I shall of 
 course never ask you to do so in the future. I have 
 the honor to bid you good-morning !" and he turned 
 to leave the room. 
 
 " Do not be foolish, Adrien !" she cried, following 
 him. "Can you not bear a word from an old woman 
 who has loved you from your boyhood, and loved your 
 mother before you were born? I have not much tact, 
 and I do not know how to beat round the bush, but 
 who is there to say a plain word to you if I do not? 
 You know that however clearly I may see your faults 
 I will no more cast you off than your own mother 
 would, though you were to break her heart." 
 
 Any mention of his mother's name always affected 
 him deeply, and a troubled look crept into his eyes. 
 Hortense Delepoule saw this gladly. 
 
 " And now you must leave me, Adrien, for I must 
 prepare to do your errand of mercy. God reward you 
 for your good heart, my dear boy !" 
 
 "A good heart and a poor conscience," he said, 
 thoughtfully. " I am afraid they are a pair that pull 
 badly together." And he smiled rather sadly as he 
 bowed before her and left the room. 
 
 He passed through the antechamber and came out 
 on to the landing of the public staircase. A tall young 
 lady dressed in half-mourning stood at the door ac- 
 companied by her maid. He removed his hat and 
 stood aside to let her pass. She bent her head slightly 
 in acknowledgment of the courtesy and glanced tow- 
 ards him. A sudden, shy smile of recognition came 
 into her pale, high-bred face, but he was gazing ab- 
 sently beyond her with thoughtful eyes. She passed 
 
 120
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 in, turning her head a little to give a second glance as 
 he went slowly down the stair. He had forgotten her, 
 but she could not forget a face and form that had been 
 the ideal of her young girlhood's visions of chivalry. 
 He had changed somewhat, or perhaps she had falsely 
 idealized him in her recollections. He was stouter, 
 graver - looking, more indolent and more haughty in 
 bearing than the laughing - eyed, gentle - mannered, 
 knightly young figure of by-gone days. 
 
 She dismissed her maid, and, crossing the ante- 
 chamber, knocked at the salon door. There was no 
 answer, and she entered the empty room, and seating 
 herself at the grand-piano began to modulate softly 
 from key to key in plaintive minor, improvising a 
 melancholy little paraphrase on Beethoven's " Les 
 Adieux." In a few moments a door opened from the 
 other end of the room, and Madame Delepoule stood 
 there bonneted and cloaked. 
 
 " My Lady Ainsworth, you are just the little person 
 I want to see. We will not go to the rehearsal to-day." 
 
 " Not go to the rehearsal !" echoed the young lady. 
 
 "No, we are going to desert Catalina, and go to 
 Grenelle instead." 
 
 " To Grenelle !" again echoed the young lady. 
 
 " Yes, yes, to Grenelle. Are you suddenly deaf, my 
 child, or do you perhaps think that Grenelle is not the 
 most attractive suburb in the world for an early morn- 
 ing drive ? But I know you, my little Victoire, well 
 enough to know that there is just one thing that you 
 love better than music, and that is an errand of 
 mercy, and just one person dearer to you than your 
 dearest friend, and that is a soul in distress. Now I 
 am no hand at errands of mercy. I never know how 
 to talk to the poor, and I haven't an ounce of influ- 
 
 121
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 ence with them. You needn't hug me and tell me how 
 kind and good I am, and all that stuff. It is just as 
 I say. I am an old woman with one foot in the grave, 
 and I cannot give up all my likes and dislikes and gush 
 with enthusiasm over coming in contact with dirt and 
 smells and rags and six flights of rickety stairs, and 
 all that sort of thing, as you young creatures do." 
 
 " Then you deserve ten times more credit than we 
 do," said the young lady, laughing softly, and with a 
 warm flush rising in her pale cheeks. 
 
 " No, I don't ; I am only going because I can't get 
 out of it, and I mean to make you do all the work and 
 get all the credit, while I sit by and gnash my teeth 
 because I am not at rehearsal." 
 
 After the fatigues of his journey and of the long 
 dress rehearsal of "Ai'da," Daretti enjoyed his noon 
 lunch and siesta, and spent two hours gayly in the af- 
 ternoon driving his four-in-hand through the Bois de 
 Boulogne with a pleasant party on the drag. On his 
 return he found he had still an hour to spare before 
 dressing for a dinner engagement, and remembered 
 Monsignore lanson. 
 
 " He was so kind about poor Thompson, and I have 
 not yet called upon him," he thought. " I have just 
 time for half an hour's talk." 
 
 There was some one with Monsignore lanson when 
 Benjamin ushered Daretti into the prelate's sky-parlor, 
 a plainly dressed young man about Adriano's own age. 
 Adriano was somewhat relieved not to find Monsig- 
 nore lanson alone. Big-hearted, genial, and agreeable 
 as the American prelate was, his black eyes were as 
 penetrating as they were kind. One felt that nothing 
 escaped his keen vision, and that the standards by 
 which he weighed men and things were not always 
 
 122
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the standards by which one cared to be measured. 
 Monsieur Moreau, however, took his departure very 
 shortly after Daretti's arrival. 
 
 " I am glad to see you for a moment alone," said 
 Monsignore lanson. " I have a message for you from 
 Voquelin, our poor communist friend at the hospital. 
 He wished to see you about his children, who, it seems, 
 are connected with some department at the OpeYa, 
 and, he fears, may be in a destitute condition." 
 
 " Strangely enough, I have already been instrumen- 
 tal in helping them and getting them good friends," 
 said Daretti ; and then he related the history of Ma- 
 dame Delepoule's morning expedition as he heard it 
 from her when he dropped in at her room at noon. 
 The prelate was deeply touched. 
 
 " Thank God, both for them and for yourself. It is 
 a great blessing, chevalier, to have been the instru- 
 ment in saving a young life from ruin." 
 
 " It was little enough I had to do with it. The 
 blessing falls rather on the head of Madame Dele- 
 poule and of young Lady Ainsworth, who was with 
 her." 
 
 " Sir Guy's wife ?" 
 
 " No, he is a bachelor, though he may not be so long. 
 This is his sister-in-law, the widow of his elder brother, 
 Sir Philip, who died two years ago. It was a pathetic 
 little romance. Do you know the story, monsignore ?" 
 
 " No. I only know the family by name, not person- 
 ally." 
 
 " I never met Phil Ainsworth, but I imagine him to 
 have been rather a wild young hero, up to every sort 
 of daring exploit just the sort of fellow to captivate 
 a romantic young girl's fancy. He fell desperately in 
 love with a Victoire somebody I do not think I ever 
 
 123
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 heard Guy mention her family name and got terri- 
 bly injured trying to save her young brother from 
 drowning. The physicians said that poor Ainsworth 
 had only a few hours to live ; he was calling for her 
 the whole time, and she, in gratitude to the man who 
 had given his life to save one dear to her, consented 
 to marry him on his death-bed, so that she might be 
 with him and nurse him to the end. His happiness, 
 I suppose, helped him cling to life, for he lingered for 
 more than a year, a helpless, bedridden sufferer. His 
 spine was injured, he was half paralyzed, and could 
 move neither hand nor foot ; and finally the young 
 wife, who had never known the joys of wifehood, was 
 left a widow at nineteen." 
 
 "That is indeed a touching story. Fortunately she 
 was young. The young recover easily from such 
 shocks. She will mourn him for a while, but she will 
 live to be a happy wife and mother yet." 
 
 " Do you think so ?" asked Adriano, thoughtfully. 
 " I do not know why I should idealize Lady Ainsworth, 
 I have never met her, but somehow I fancy it would 
 be with her, ' love once, love always,' and she would 
 not easily get over the shock." 
 
 "Girls in their teens love more with the imagination 
 than with the heart," said Monsignore lanson. " And 
 there was as much gratitude as love in her devotion. 
 Depend upon it, chevalier, she has not begun to live 
 her real life yet. But, apropos of romantic stories, 
 the young man who has just left the room is a coun- 
 tryman of yours." 
 
 " Indeed," said Daretti, surprised, " his name is nei- 
 ther Italian nor Austrian." 
 
 " If I were to tell you his true name you would rec- 
 ognize it at once. He is the Duke of Montallegro." 
 
 124
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Daretti started. " But I thought the duke was in- 
 sane," he exclaimed. 
 
 " No doubt the world thinks so," replied Monsignore 
 lanson. " A young man inheriting a fortune of a hun- 
 dred million francs, who chooses the day he comes of 
 age to renounce it all and bury himself in a foreign 
 city in poverty and obscurity, earning his living un- 
 der an assumed name what else can he be but insane ? 
 Can the world offer any motive for such actions that 
 it would consider sane ?" 
 
 There was a pause. Monsignore lanson's bright 
 dark eyes looked steadily into Daretti's face. He 
 read its changing expression and waited. 
 
 " You mean," said Adriano, slowly, raising awe-struck 
 eyes " you mean " He stopped, questioningly. 
 
 " I mean that he is one of those chosen souls who, 
 for the madness of divine love, for the folly of the 
 Cross, have left all that they possessed, have given 
 their goods to the poor, have turned their backs on 
 father and mother and house and lands and riches 
 and ease, for love of the Son of Man, who had not 
 where to lay His head." 
 
 Adriano shaded his eyes with his hand. He was 
 visibly struggling with deep emotion. Monsignore 
 lanson still watched him intently. 
 
 "Our Lord looked upon him and loved him, as He 
 did the rich young man of the Gospel," continued the 
 prelate, quietly. " He said to his heart, ' If thou wilt 
 be perfect, sell all and give to the poor'; and this 
 young man, instead of sorrowingly turning to his 
 riches, obeyed the divine command joyfully and liter- 
 ally. His vast estates are managed by administrators 
 for the benefit of the poor and for the public good of 
 his native city. He receives not as much as a penny 
 
 125
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 from his own, and has not even the consolation of see- 
 ing and knowing the good his wealth is doing, but 
 unthanked and forgotten of men earns his bread as a 
 stranger in a strange land." 
 
 Adriano's heart had not so burned within him since 
 the days of his boyhood's enthusiasms. He crossed 
 over to the chimney-piece, and folding his arms gazed 
 down into the open fire of coals. A rising sob choked 
 him. The silence grew oppressive. 
 
 " I did not know there was such faith on earth," he 
 said at last. 
 
 " Yet it is all about you," rejoined Monsignore Ian- 
 son. "It is the same spirit that leads men, and women 
 too, to consecrate themselves to poverty and chastity 
 in religious orders and in the priesthood. Men do 
 these things for the 'folly of the Cross' every day. 
 Lift up your eyes and look about you." 
 
 " I have become blind myself ; I forget that others 
 may see," replied Adriano, in a low, stifled voice. 
 
 " But the faith is in you, or you would not be so 
 moved by an example of it in others," said the mon- 
 signore, gently. " You have surely not renounced your 
 religion, chevalier?" 
 
 " I would not allow any one to say that of me." 
 
 " You believe its teachings ?" 
 
 " Certainly. I would lay down my life for holy 
 Church." 
 
 " And you regulate your life by its precepts ?" 
 
 Adriano made no reply. 
 
 " Come, chevalier ! You would not be so illogical, 
 so inconsistent, as to believe the Church's teachings, 
 and yet live contrary to them to be willing to die for 
 your religion and not be willing to live in accordance 
 with its requirements?" 
 
 126
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Again Adriano was silent. At last he said, ab- 
 ruptly : 
 
 " It is over four years since I have been to the sacra- 
 ments, monsignore. You may draw your own con- 
 clusions." 
 
 " You surely believe that the risk you run is a ques- 
 tion of eternity !" 'exclaimed Monsignore lanson. 
 
 " There is purgatory for us weak ones, is there not?" 
 put in Adriano, rather shamefacedly. " Besides," he 
 added, apologetically, " I am not a hardened sinner. I 
 fully intend to lead a better life some day. I should 
 not wish to die without the sacraments." 
 
 Lately, when the thought of sudden death had both- 
 ered him, Adriano had clung with satisfaction to the 
 idea of purgatory as a place where he could expiate 
 his fashionable weaknesses comfortably, at his leisure. 
 It had not occurred to him that he ran any risk of 
 anything very severe. He felt amiably persuaded that 
 he was much too fine a fellow to be damned. He would 
 be rather a credit to the court of heaven than other- 
 wise ! The very idea of a handsome, elegant, accom- 
 plished, and universally admired young man like him- 
 self being damned ! It was very rude and unnecessary 
 of the monsignore to insinuate it. Besides, he of 
 course meant to reform some day. It was really only 
 a question of time. 
 
 " Some day ! Some day !" repeated Monsignore lan- 
 son, sadly. " The old cry. But for your heroic groom 
 you might have already gone to your death unshriven. 
 And have you learned nothing from that lesson ? Oh, 
 my child, my child ! Why do you delay ? You have 
 dealt frankly with me, and given me as man to man 
 a confidence I feel sure you have accorded to few. 
 Why not then seek me as God's priest, make your 
 
 127
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 confession at once, and put your soul to rights with 
 its Maker now ?" 
 
 Adriano looked startled. " I cannot," he answered, 
 impatiently. His temporary emotion was wearing off. 
 " I am no hypocrite, father. I cannot truly say that 
 I regret my ways, or that I am willing to give them 
 up. I admit that as a priest you have the right to 
 speak to any child of the Church about his duties, but 
 you must see that I am hardly prepared at this mo- 
 ment to listen to you with any profit to either of us." 
 
 " I do not see that the moment makes any difference 
 in your duty," replied Monsignore lanson, " or in my 
 right to be ' instant in season, out of season.' " 
 
 " This is unfortunately out of season," said Adriano, 
 shortly. " I have the honor to wish you good-evening, 
 monsignore." 
 
 Monsignore lanson held out his hand frankly and 
 pleasantly, and Adriano could not refuse to take it, 
 though he was inwardly raging. 
 
 " Remember," said the monsignore, retaining the 
 hand in his clasp a moment "remember that I am 
 always at your service whenever you may feel differ- 
 ently disposed." And he released the hand with a 
 kind, lingering pressure. 
 
 Adriano bowed and withdrew in silence. "Very 
 likely !" he muttered, sarcastically, as he took his way 
 down the stairs. " Most likely ! I see myself con- 
 fessing to him ! I declare, I am disappointed in Mon- 
 signore lanson. I did not think him so narrow and 
 so utterly lacking in tact. Why, he would have had 
 me go down on my knees then and there ! Doesn't he 
 know that that way of attacking a man is just the way 
 to drive him deeper into the very things he ought to 
 be confessing? I was really coming very near the 
 
 128
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 Church of my own accord. I have been as circum- 
 spect as a monk ever since Tedi joined me, and I was 
 soft-hearted enough for anything when Thompson died, 
 but this has completely driven away what little good- 
 will I had." 
 
 There was an ugly agitation in his soul. He hur- 
 ried home to dress for a dinner-party, and was irrita- 
 ble with Oreste, and very short and snubby with 
 Teodoro, who withdrew, feeling much wounded and 
 astonished. The dinner soothed Adriano's nerves 
 somewhat. The excellent dishes, the delicate wines, 
 the gay conversation, the flattery of pretty women, 
 brought him to something nearer the old self than he 
 had been for many days. Stately and indolent, half- 
 bored and half-pleased, the emotions of the last few 
 weeks passed from his memory. He returned home- 
 ward shortly before midnight, and found Teodoro al- 
 ready in bed. Good-humoredly apologizing to him for 
 his crossness, he caressed the boy indulgently, and 
 wandered off to his own room. He glanced over some 
 notes on his dressing-table, and then dismissed Oreste 
 for the night. 
 
 " I am going out again, Oreste, and I do not know 
 when I shall be in. You need not sit up for me." 
 
 The valet did not leave. He was staring at his 
 master with anxious eyes. Suddenly he fell at Daret- 
 ti's feet and clasped his knees. 
 
 " Oh, my dear master ! Do not go out again this 
 evening ! Something tells me it will not be goad for 
 you. Do not go ! We have been so happy ever since 
 the Count Teodoro came, just as we were in the old 
 days ! Oh ! do not go and leave us !" 
 
 " Can I have no peace ?" exclaimed Daretti, fiercely. 
 " Can I have no independence in my own house ? Must 
 i 129
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 my own valet undertake to control my actions ? Leave 
 the room instantly, and do not venture to speak to 
 me in that way again !" 
 
 Repulsed and crestfallen, the valet obeyed. Daretti 
 strode through the room, angry and impatient. " Old 
 women, meddling priests, and whimpering valets !" 
 he muttered. " Do they want to drive me into a mon- 
 astery ? I will let them see that I am not so easily 
 driven !" He started for the door, then hesitated. 
 " Tedi must not hear me," he thought. " I will wait 
 for half an hour, till he is asleep, and then I can steal 
 out without disturbing him."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 " O Jesus, deathless Love, who seekest me, 
 Thou who didst die for longing love of me, 
 Free me, O dearest God, from all but Thee, 
 And break all chains that keep me back from Thee ! 
 
 " O wounded Love, who once wast dead for me, 
 O sun-crowned Love, who art alive for me, 
 O patient Love, who weariest not of me, 
 Thou art my All, and I love naught but Thee !" 
 
 Caleste Palmetum. 
 
 IN Madame Delepoule's apartment a little group of 
 women passed a happy evening, talking and laughing 
 in pleasant anticipation of Catalina's de"but. Rafaela 
 and Espiritu had come in from the suburbs to be with 
 their sister, and so also had the widowed young Lady 
 Ainsworth, who had become very intimate with Ma- 
 dame Delepoule and Catalina in London during the last 
 two sad years, when music had been her only resource 
 and consolation. Rafaela played for them, and Lady 
 Ainsworth sang in her rich, deep contralto. Her dra- 
 matic instinct was very keen, and each song stood out 
 vividly complete in all its distinguishing character- 
 istics, the effect aided by her exquisite enunciation of 
 the words and her artistic control of the emotional 
 qualities of the voice. Hortense Delepoule looked 
 the picture of despair. 
 
 " Oh, Victoire, Victoire ! Why are you not on the 
 stage? When I think how rare a good contralto is, 
 
 131
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 and how I have to struggle to knock a grain of dra- 
 matic understanding into the heads of most of the 
 girls who try to study for the stage, I am ready to tear 
 my hair at seeing such a shameful waste of the gifts 
 of Providence !" 
 
 Long after the other ladies had retired, Victoire 
 Ainsworth sat pondering the question. Stage life had 
 little attraction for her, yet she knew that she held a 
 great gift in her keeping, and her young life had little 
 object in it. Widowed, childless, with a comfortable 
 income and yet no home or estate to care for, she could 
 be of little use to any one. The healthy young spirit 
 within her cried out for something to work for, some- 
 thing to devote its strength to. She was a true woman 
 in all her instincts, and felt intuitively that her voca- 
 tion lay in home life, in household cares and the love 
 of husband and children, and yet she shrank inex- 
 pressibly from the thought of a second marriage. The 
 first one had been such a terrible mistake ! She re- 
 called tearfully and shudderingly her short experi- 
 ence the compassion and gratitude that had led her 
 to kneel by the dying couch of her heroic young lover 
 and pledge herself to him in the solemn marriage 
 vows, the repulsion and despair with which she had 
 so soon after learned the story of his unworthiness 
 and profligacy, and of the claims which he had ruth- 
 lessly ignored for her sake. The succeeding months 
 were one long period of anguish, when the fear that 
 he might recover and claim her as his wife brought 
 her in shuddering and loathing to beg that God would 
 take her young life rather than make her drink of 
 such a cup ! Oh, the terror of those days, when she 
 knew that she was no better than a murderess at heart, 
 when her spirit cried out for his death, when, though 
 
 132
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 forcing herself to nurse him conscientiously and ten- 
 derly, yet every assurance of his improved health 
 brought her trembling to her knees to pray that he 
 might indeed recover but that she might not live to 
 see him get well ! What a memory to a wife to recall 
 that the first words wrung from her by her husband's 
 death were, "O God, Thou hast been merciful unto 
 me!" 
 
 The world believed her to be an inconsolable widow, 
 yet she hated the very sight of her weeds as a badge 
 of hypocrisy and the memory of a haunting terror. 
 When the second year of widowhood had passed she 
 adopted a half-mourning more becoming to her girl- 
 ish figure and youthful face. Healthy, active, and ar- 
 dent, her loneliness began to weigh upon her. Hope 
 and enthusiasm were natural to her and were not easily 
 suppressed, and they must have their outlet in work 
 of some sort absorbing, earnest work. Such work 
 she could find in a professional, musical career, such as 
 Madame Delepoule declared her pre-eminently fitted 
 for; and yet stage associations were repellent to her, 
 bringing her too much in contact with the wrong side 
 of life. What a relief, what a solution of all her diffi- 
 culties, if she could only feel herself truly called to 
 embrace a conventual life, to find scope for her activi- 
 ties in the devoted work of a Sister of Charity ! Her 
 mind had often turned to this idea as to a haven of 
 peace; but one must have special grace for such a life 
 as that, and hitherto Victoire Ainsworth had not felt 
 its divine touch in her soul. 
 
 She prayed earnestly as she knelt beside her bed 
 that night. The scenes of poverty and distress that 
 she had witnessed in the morning had deeply affected 
 her, and her sensitive soul was still quivering under 
 
 J33
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the pain of sad recollections. Still she had had the 
 joy of helping others to-day, of perhaps saving a young 
 life from ruin. There was much to give thanks for. 
 Tired in heart and body, she sought rest and oblivion 
 in her soft bed, where she soon sank into a dreamless 
 sleep. 
 
 She had not lain long in this light slumber when she 
 suddenly awoke to the consciousness of some strong 
 emotion struggling within her soul, urging her spirit 
 and crying to her, "Arise ! Arise ! Watch and pray, for 
 I seek My sheep that is lost. What ! Do you, a Chris- 
 tian woman, lie there slumbering, while souls are per- 
 ishing about you ? Arise ! Arise ! You, so protected 
 from sin and suffering, can you not pray one short 
 hour for a soul even now wrestling with temptation 
 and bending its steps towards sin ?" 
 
 Tremblingly Victoire Ainsworth arose and knelt on 
 the bare floor. Her brain was sleepy and confused, 
 her limbs shivered with the cold. She could think of 
 no prayer to say, and she looked regretfully and long- 
 ingly at the warm bed she had just quitted. What 
 was the sense in getting up at that hour ? She could 
 not wander out alone into the streets of Paris at night 
 to look after the sinners ! She was sorry the world 
 was so wicked, but what could one helpless girl do 
 about it ? She would lie down and go to sleep again 
 comfortably. But something held her back. 
 
 " What ! Do you fear a little cold, a little fatigue, 
 a short vigil ? Think of My saints, who endured cold 
 and hunger, vigils and stripes, shipwreck and suffer- 
 ing, who gave up all they possessed, who dwelt in 
 caves and deserts, of whom the world was not worthy ! 
 Think of the Son of Man Himself, born in a cold sta- 
 ble, dying naked on the Cross ! What have you yet
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 endured for the love of Me ? Will you not then watch 
 one short hour while I seek My sheep that has wan- 
 dered from the fold ?" 
 
 And through the cold midnight vigil she knelt on 
 the hard, bare floor, praying as she had never prayed 
 before, her heart burning within her till it triumphed 
 over the cold and the fatigue. O love of God ! O sin 
 of man ! Great drops of perspiration stood on her 
 forehead, and her slender frame shook with sobs. 
 Sometimes kneeling with the crucifix clasped to her 
 breast, sometimes with arms uplifted to Heaven, some- 
 times prostrate on the floor, Victoire prayed on. The 
 beauty of holiness, the vileness of sin, the multitude 
 of perverted or ignorant souls who seek darkness 
 rather than light, who reject the gentle Saviour of 
 mankind, and crucify Him anew upon the gibbet of 
 their lusts these thoughts overwhelmed her heart. 
 O God, have mercy on the souls of men ! Have mer- 
 cy on the souls of men ! O Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! 
 be converted to the Lord thy God ! 
 
 At length there came a moment when the spirit 
 within her ceased from urging, when peace almost to 
 rapture crept over her heart. She rose with stiffened 
 limbs but with a mysterious joy in her soul. Then poor 
 tired nature began to assert itself, and Victoire again 
 turned wearily to seek the rest and comfort of her 
 bed, this time without self-reproach and with a spirit 
 in deepest peace. 
 
 The clock on the mantel struck midnight. The man 
 lying at lazy length in a deep arm-chair, smoking a 
 cigar and reading a novel, tossed aside the book, 
 stretched himself, and, somewhat unwillingly, rose 
 from the comfortable depths. As if feeling that his
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 spirit needed fortifying, he drew a letter from his 
 pocket and deliberately read it twice over, then tore 
 it leisurely into bits and stooped to lay them on the 
 smouldering embers in the grate, lingering to watch 
 the fragments as they slowly curled up and burned 
 themselves out. As he rose he smiled at his own idle- 
 ness, and again sauntered towards the door. 
 
 " I am really going this time," he said to himself. 
 But he was not, for he remembered his latch-key and 
 turned back to his dressing-table to search for it. He 
 seemed to be more absorbed in his own musings than 
 in the search, and fell to pacing the room slowly. 
 
 " It is strange," he was thinking, " how long it takes 
 me to get over the nervous shock of that accident. 
 Poor Thompson ! He was better prepared to go than 
 his master. It might have been I, and then " he 
 shuddered, and stood still a moment. " I suppose even 
 purgatory is not a very comfortable place. We must 
 pay to the uttermost farthing." He started forward 
 with a determined movement. " Pshaw ! What kind 
 of a man am I to let my nerves get the better of me 
 in this way ! I am not such a great sinner, after all, 
 that I should be alarmed at the thought of death. My 
 life makes a good showing by the side of that of most 
 men. I am careful to avoid giving scandal, I have 
 strict notions of honor, and my reputation is high in 
 the eyes of the world." 
 
 " My kingdom is not of this world!" 
 
 Adriano started violently, then stood still, trembling 
 and very pale. There was One who had overcome the 
 world, and it is by His maxims and not by those of 
 the world that men shall be judged. The world loveth 
 darkness. Adriano roused himself with a painful ef- 
 fort. The mantle of the world's darkness still clung 
 
 136
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 to him, and he drew it shudderingly about him, for he 
 dreaded the light that was penetrating under its folds. 
 A mood of sullen, fierce resistance came over him. He 
 clinched his fist, and strode towards the door. " I will 
 go !" he said, between his closed teeth. " I will go !" 
 But even as he laid his hand on the handle he stopped. 
 He bowed his head, and leaned heavily against the 
 frame of the door. 
 
 " I cannot !" he murmured. " My hour has come ! 
 O Lord, depart from me ! Leave me a little longer 
 to my sin !" 
 
 There was a long, deep silence, then heavy sighs 
 burst from him. " Why has this come to me when I 
 do not want it? O God ! why do you torment my soul 
 now, when you left me so terribly alone in the days 
 when I was still pure ? It is too late now. I do not 
 want this grace. Why do I listen to it ? Why do I not 
 trample on it and turn to the things that I crave ?" 
 
 " // is hard for thee to kick against the goad!" 
 
 Again he started. What was this Voice speaking 
 within him? Whence -came those words? Oh yes, he 
 remembered now. The monsignore had quoted them 
 the other day. But who had first spoken them ? They 
 were in Holy Scripture, those words. Saul of Tarsus 
 was journeying to Damascus, full of evil intent, and 
 a light from heaven shone about him, and he fell to 
 the ground, and a Voice said, " I am Jesus whom thou 
 persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the 
 goad." And Saul, trembling and astonished, an- 
 swered, " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ?" 
 
 Adriano pressed his hand to his forehead. There 
 was indeed a light shining into the very depths of his 
 soul, and pointing out to him what he should do. He 
 struggled wildly to shut out the light, to harden his 
 
 137
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 heart to the pleadings of that Voice. " O my God, not 
 yet, not yet ! I know Thou art all truth and beauty 
 and love, and some day oh yes, some day I will in- 
 deed be humble and chaste and penitent, and serve 
 Thee truly. Oh, I hope so ; I do not wish to go to 
 hell, to be separated from Goodness and Thee for all 
 eternity. But it is so much to give up all at once ! 
 If I turn from my sins what will become of me ? I am 
 too weak, Lord ; it would be like tearing the heart out 
 of me. I could not live !" 
 
 " If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out ! If thy hand 
 or thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off and cast it from 
 thee ! What does it profit thee to gain the whole world 
 if thou lose thine own soul? And what profit hast tJiou 
 in those things whereof thou art even now ashamed?" 
 
 Blind, deaf, dumb, and senseless to all around him, 
 hearing only the inexorable Voice that thundered in 
 his soul, Adriano opened not his lips, made no sound, 
 yet his soul cried out within him, entreating, resisting, 
 pleading, yielding. 
 
 " What wilt Thou have me to do ? What ! watch 
 and pray, and flee from temptations, guard my senses, 
 give up my indolent, self-indulgent habits, do penance 
 like the saints ? Oh, I cannot, I cannot ! I have not 
 the strength for it nor the desire ! O God, let me com- 
 promise with Thee ! I will indeed try to improve 
 gradually, to wean myself little by little from self- 
 indulgence and sin, but let me keep some small grati- 
 fication do not ask me to be a saint ! Let me still 
 sin a little, do not urge me so, do not O my God, 
 my Father ! Thou lovest me, even me ! Good Shep- 
 herd of my soul, art Thou come to seek me, to bear 
 me home in Thine arms ? O Love of God, how shall I 
 resist Thee ? Heart of my Jesus, Thou hast conquered ! 
 
 138
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 My Strength, my Purity, my Joy ! Be it done unto 
 me according to Thy word !" He fell upon his face. 
 The floodgates of his soul were opened, and he wept 
 till the poor body, exhausted from the length and the 
 strength of his emotion, failed him, drowsiness stole 
 over his senses, and he fell asleep even as he lay there 
 upon the floor. 
 
 Many hours passed by. When he awoke the first 
 streaks of dawn were struggling in through the shut- 
 ters. His eyes were swollen and heavy from long 
 weeping ; his limbs stiff and painful from lying so long 
 in contact with the hard floor, and his frame shivered 
 with the cold. But there was a strange, sweet joy in 
 his heart. 
 
 He bathed and dressed hastily. It was six o'clock 
 by his watch as he stole quietly out of the door. The 
 pain and cold of the night's exposure left his limbs as 
 he strode happily and vigorously on, and the soft, cool 
 air bathed his heated brow and cheeks. One bright 
 star lingered in the sky. 
 
 "Ave, marts stella!" murmured Adriano. "This is 
 for me the star of Bethlehem, guiding me to where I 
 shall find the young Child and His Mother !" 
 
 It was a walk of nearly two miles through the bou- 
 levards to the church of Notre Dame des Victoires, 
 but, borne on by the fervor of his heart, Adriano hard- 
 ly knew that he was walking at all. He reached the 
 church door and entered the sanctuary -with its throng 
 of silent, devout worshippers. Masses were being said 
 at different altars, a number of persons were receiving 
 holy communion at the shrine of the Mother and Child, 
 people passed quietly in and out to their devotions, 
 and little sound was heard save the tinkle of the bells 
 at the more solemn parts of the services. Adriano 
 
 139
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 walked the length of the church to the sacristy. 
 There the beadle recognized him. 
 
 " Monsignore lanson has just arrived," he said. " It 
 is he you wish to see, is it not ? Robert, tell mon- 
 signore that the English chevalier is waiting for him." 
 
 " I suppose I know who the English chevalier is," 
 said Monsignore lanson, coming forward kindly. " Is 
 there anything I can do for you ?" He drew Adriano 
 aside, who stood there rather shamefacedly with down- 
 cast eyes. 
 
 " I have come a little sooner than you expected, per- 
 haps, after my attitude of yesterday. Will you take 
 me under your care, father?" 
 
 Monsignore lanson held out his hands, took both of 
 Adriano's in his, and pressed them warmly to his 
 breast. 
 
 " With all my heart, my own dear child !" and tears 
 of tender joy filled the bright black eyes. This had 
 indeed come sooner than he expected. 
 
 Smiling and humble, half-willing and half-reluctant, 
 with a soul at once troubled and happy, sorrowful and 
 glad, Adriano followed him with childlike docility. 
 
 " ' Except ye become as little children ye cannot 
 enter the kingdom of heaven,' " thought the prelate. 
 " Surely this young man is already at the threshold." 
 
 They were a grand-looking pair, the stalwart prel- 
 ate and his stately penitent, but the pride that was in 
 their bearing found no place in their fervent hearts. 
 
 Monsignore lanson entered a confessional which 
 stood near the sacristy door. Adriano also entered 
 its shadowy recesses, kneeling at the other side of the 
 grating which separates priest and penitent. It was 
 half an hour later when he rose from his knees and 
 stepped forth into the church, once more the friend 
 
 140
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 of God, the child of grace, restored to a blessed in- 
 heritance. He knelt long before the shrine of the 
 Virgin and Child. A blissful quiet, an exquisite still- 
 ness crept into his soul, steeping his very senses in its 
 rapturous embrace. 
 
 "What is this?" he murmured. " Is it peace? that 
 peace of God which passeth all understanding ?" And 
 he glanced upward. 
 
 The tender Mother still held the divine Child ; and 
 now Its out-stretched Hands and wistful Eyes seemed 
 to say, " I have loved thee with an everlasting love, 
 and have drawn thee to Myself, having compassion on 
 thee !"
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 1 ' He was a wanderer who had for a brief moment lost his way 
 among strangers, but who returned to his Father as soon as he heard 
 that Father's voice calling to His son." 
 
 Chocarne : Life of Lacordaire. 
 
 A THOUSAND times Catalina was tempted to be sorry 
 that she had chosen Ai'da for her first Parisian appear- 
 ance. Vocally the part suited her to perfection, but 
 there was a little of woman's vanity in her, and Ai'da 
 is not a becoming make-up for most actresses. She 
 could not help an occasional twinge of regret as she 
 contemplated the regulation brown disguise, and 
 thought of her becoming costumes as Desdemona, or 
 Gilda, or Valentine, or of how well her rich Spanish 
 beauty suited such parts as Carmen or Elvira. No 
 doubt such regrets were totally unworthy of one who 
 aspired to be a great artist, and Catalina gave no ut- 
 terance to them, but they helped unconsciously to in- 
 crease her natural nervousness. 
 
 Behind the scenes all was very homelike and friend- 
 ly. Lulu Carson, the popular young American sopra- 
 no, was on hand, and was all good-nature and encour- 
 agement. Madame Vibault and Maxime Collas were 
 so easy-going and so matter-of-fact about everything 
 that it quite restored Catalina's composure. Daretti 
 was in almost boyish good spirits and full of jokes 
 about his costume and blackened countenance as the 
 Ethiopian king. She found herself laughing heartily
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 three minutes before she was to go on to the stage at 
 seeing him execute a clog-dance in the flies, and his 
 humor was so contagious that even the dignified Col- 
 las in his priestly robes began to cut pigeon-wings, 
 and Therese Vibault, the portly contralto, gathered 
 up her flowing garments and took some rather giddy 
 steps. Lulu Carson was in ecstasies. She snapped 
 her fingers and hummed " The Darky's Dream," and 
 beat time with feet and hands, urging on the stately 
 dancers. 
 
 Lennartsen now appeared in the flies, a magnificent 
 Rhadames. He sustained the dignity of the whole op- 
 eratic stage in his Scandinavian person, and looked 
 rather contemptuously upon the humorous antics of 
 the mercurial Gauls and Italians. His appearance 
 struck a chill to Catalina's heart. He spoke kindly 
 to her, but he had caught her laughing, and she felt 
 that she had fallen several degrees in his estimation. 
 She began to tremble nervously as the signal came 
 for her to take her position on the stage. 
 
 " Courage ! Act as if you despised them all !" whis- 
 pered Lulu Carson, on one side of her, and on the other 
 Daretti was whispering, while he gave her hand a 
 hasty pressure, " Your make-up is fine, Catalina. You 
 are the first really handsome Ai'da I ever saw." 
 
 Perhaps the little compliment helped better than 
 anything else to restore her composure. Madame 
 Delepoule, watching anxiously from her box, breathed 
 a sigh of relief. She saw at a glance that Catalina 
 was mistress of herself and that all would go well. 
 The audience was evidently pleased with the tall, 
 willowy figure, the free, untrammelled grace of move- 
 ment of the new actress, and the splendor of her large, 
 dreamy eyes. Her olive skin was only slightly dark-
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 ened, and she looked to perfection the beautiful bar- 
 barian. She was in fine voice, and sang with authority 
 and feeling, while her musical phrasing was a constant 
 delight. Still, Madame Delepoule missed something. 
 The girl had not reached her highest level. She could 
 be more than a good singer, she could be great, 
 and in the first act she had not yet persuaded her 
 audience of this. Lennartsen had dominated every- 
 thing so far. From the first note of the "Celeste 
 Ai'da" he had held the audience spellbound. His 
 voice was robust rather than lyric, and there was 
 more of grandeur than of tenderness in his style, but 
 its noble beauty and power were irresistible. The*rese 
 Vibault, too, was superb as the haughty, vindictive 
 Amneris ; and Maxime Collas was, as ever, rich- voiced, 
 handsome, and dignified. It was a great point in the 
 Disdier's favor that she could hold her own with three 
 such artists. 
 
 " Wait till the next act, when Daretti is on the 
 scene," said Miss Carson. " Somehow, Lennartsen and 
 Miss Disdier do not seem to hit it off together, and I 
 do not wonder. He is awfully hard to sing with, he 
 is so arrogant and conceited. But it's another story 
 when Daretti takes hold ! He'll put some life into 
 the performance." 
 
 The fair American's prediction came true. Never 
 had Daretti's magnetic personality so asserted itself 
 as this evening. The instant that the fiery, untamed 
 barbarian captive dashed upon the scene a new life 
 was infused into everything. The remotest chorus- 
 singer felt the inspiring effect. From the moment 
 that Ai'da recognizes her father and rushes to his em- 
 brace the whole situation changed for Catalina. The 
 clasp of his hand upon hers, his superbly rich and 
 
 144
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 thrillingly sweet voice seeming to adapt itself to hers 
 with innate sympathy, and yet all the while leading 
 her on and on to heights she had not thought to 
 climb it seemed to her that she had entered another 
 world and was endowed with new being. Hitherto 
 she had sung well, but it had been with conscious ef- 
 fort ; now the spirit within her impelled her irresist- 
 ibly, and everything seemed easy. Till now her even- 
 ing had been a success, but from this moment it was 
 a triumph. Lennartsen no longer overawed her ; she 
 broke away from his dominating influence, her own 
 genius asserting itself, and in turn reacting upon him, 
 so that an unwonted tenderness crept into his robust 
 tones, and in the pathetic death-scene the two were in 
 absolute sympathy. 
 
 The principal singers received an ovation, and Cata- 
 lina was recalled again and again. It was a happy 
 hour for Madame Delepoule, and she received many 
 congratulations on her favorite pupil. There were 
 rejoicings behind the scenes, and Catalina was sur- 
 prised at the friendly feeling shown. She had heard 
 so many stories of the petty spite and jealousies that 
 she might expect at the Paris Ope*ra. 
 
 " The two who are jealous of you, Zo6 Lenormand 
 and Hildegarde Strong, have stayed away," explained 
 Louise Carson. " I am a soprano leggiero, you know, 
 and Madame Vibault a contralto, so we do not look 
 on you as a rival, but you will hear from the others 
 later on, never fear ! They cannot do you any harm, 
 however. The person to be afraid of is Oeglaire. I 
 heard him trying to start a few hisses among the 
 claque but nobody took them up. He was perfectly 
 furious, and you will get a little free advertising in the 
 papers to-morrow." 
 
 K 145
 
 ESPI'RITU SANTO 
 
 " Who is Oeglaire ?" demanded Madame Delepoule, 
 with sudden interest. 
 
 " He is somebody who doesn't love you," said Miss 
 Carson, laughingly. " You ought to have heard him 
 going on about you in the green-room this evening." 
 
 " About me ? What have I done to him ?" 
 
 "Don't you remember that detestable Blaise Oeg- 
 laire, that conceited, supercilious youth who was my 
 pet aversion at the College St. Ignace?" interrupted 
 Teodoro, eagerly. " I never was more delighted than 
 when he was dropped for some trick or other he played 
 on one of the boys. They say he aspires to be a lit- 
 erary light and musical dilettante, and writes rather 
 clever satires and society verses in the journals." 
 
 " You want to be on the right side of him," said 
 Louise Carson, knowingly. " Never mind, Katie, he 
 is a very good friend of mine, and I can soon bring 
 him round to our side." 
 
 Madame Delepoule's face grew grave, and at the 
 first opportunity as they were leaving the theatre she 
 drew Daretti aside. 
 
 " What does it mean about this Oeglaire ?" she asked, 
 suspiciously. " Why should he hate me and try to in- 
 jure Catalina? I see you do not want to answer ; you 
 men never will tell of each other, but I know perfectly 
 well that it is he whose little game we spoiled the other 
 morning. Somehow or other he has found out that 
 it was I who went to the rescue of little Voquelin, and 
 he is trying to revenge himself on me through my fa- 
 vorite pupil. I see it all plainly now. Tell me, Adrien, 
 is he dangerous ?" 
 
 " Unfortunately he is," admitted Daretti. " He has 
 some influence through the press, and has managed 
 to keep in with reputable journals, although he is 
 
 146
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 known to be unscrupulous in his methods. I am 
 sorry," he added, with troubled eyes, " that I should 
 be instrumental in bringing you such an undesirable 
 acquaintance. You should not be so charitable, Mam- 
 ma Hortense, that every one turns to you in their 
 difficulties. And in their joys too," breaking off with 
 sudden gayety and bending towards her. "Take a 
 good look at me, madame. Is the black all off of my 
 face ?" 
 
 " Why, yes, Adrien, you look well ; I shall not say 
 how well, conceited boy !" 
 
 He took both her hands and bent down and whis- 
 pered in her ear : " The black is all off of my soul, too, 
 dear godmother !" and boldly kissed her. " May I 
 not ? You always said I was young enough to be your 
 grandson, you know !" 
 
 She looked up at him helplessly. "Adrien," she 
 gasped, " is it so ? Is it really so ? Oh, Adrien, my boy !" 
 
 But her carriage was now announced. " Unhand 
 me, you wicked fellow ! Oh, Adrien, I shall do some- 
 thing foolish. This news is too blessed. Oh, thank 
 the Lord Almighty ! Oh, my boy, my boy !" 
 
 It was hard work to keep back the tears of joy. She 
 almost forgot her pride in Catalina over this new hap- 
 piness. She stole a last look towards Adrien. Under 
 the stately grace that never forsook the great gentle- 
 man singer there was an irrepressible happiness beam- 
 ing from every feature and gesture. Where was the 
 impassive coolness, the cynical smile of the petted man 
 of the world ? Gone, gone ! Oh, this man before her 
 now was her own boy Adrien, grown to his prime, in- 
 deed, but the boy again and forever. The tears rushed 
 blindingly to her eyes. 
 
 " You are surely not crying, godmamma?" whispered 
 i47
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the ever sympathetic Teodoro, as he handed her into 
 the carriage. 
 
 " It is all right, child, it is all right. Let me alone. 
 I am only so happy that I do not know what I am 
 doing." 
 
 It had been a trying day for Daretti, he had had a 
 weary task in closing the last chapters of the record of 
 his old life. It was past supper hour, and he was fatigued 
 in mind and heart and body when he returned home- 
 ward at last. 
 
 Oreste, passing through the antechamber, heard his 
 master's step on the stair. He threw open the door 
 for him, his bright, dark face wreathed in smiles, bow- 
 ing repeatedly and saying his pleasant Italian greet- 
 ing, "Welcome to your home, Excellency !" Then as 
 Daretti passed into the salon he took his coat and hat 
 from him, and begged a thousand pardons that the 
 supper was not yet served. Daretti crossed over and 
 stood by the fireplace in thoughtful mood, stealthily 
 watching the valet from under his long lashes, till the 
 young fellow was about to leave the room, when he 
 suddenly roused himself. 
 
 " Come here a moment, Oreste !" 
 
 " Behold me there, sir !" and the trim, cheery fellow 
 was at his side in an instant. 
 
 Adriano threw his head back, and leaning his arm 
 on the mantel-piece looked down at him with a grave, 
 embarrassed smile. 
 
 " Oreste, your master is going to make a change in 
 his life." 
 
 " You are going to marry, sir ?" 
 
 " Heaven forbid ! No such awful change as that ! 
 Guess again, my boy." 
 
 " Your worship is not going to dismiss me !" 
 148
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 " Dismiss you ! No, indeed, my treasure ! On the 
 contrary, I am going to need your services more than 
 ever." 
 
 " Master, you are not not " he stopped, embar- 
 rassed and looked down. 
 
 " I am not going to be a scandal to you any more, 
 please God, my brave fellow," and Daretti held out 
 his hand to his servant. " Forgive me, Oreste," he 
 said, heartily and humbly, " forgive your master for 
 the bad example he has so long set you." 
 
 Oreste stepped back and looked sharply and curious- 
 ly up into his master's face. " You are not in earnest, 
 sir. Your worship is joking." 
 
 " Joking ! Why, listen, Oreste ; I have been to con- 
 fession this morning, and I ask you if that is any joke !" 
 and Adriano smiled and flushed a little. 
 
 " To confession ? Oh, my master, my dear, dear 
 master ! All the saints in heaven be praised ! Oh, the 
 joyful day ! I knew it would come ! I knew the 
 blessed Mother would never let you perish," and the 
 faithful fellow sank on his knees, and seizing the hand 
 Daretti still held out to him, pressed it rapturously to 
 his breast and lips. " Oh, it has come at last, this joy- 
 ful, happy day, that poor Oreste would have given his 
 life for." 
 
 " My poor boy," said Adriano, deeply touched ; " do 
 you care so much for my soul as that ?" 
 
 " Of course, it is the essential thing," returned the 
 valet, simply. " How could I love you at all without 
 caring for your immortal soul? Oh, dear master, I 
 knew you had too good a heart to stay away long from 
 the Blessed God, and I knew the saints must love you 
 too much to let you perish," and pressing his master's 
 hand again to his heart, he burst into joyful tears. 
 
 149
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Adriano felt tears dangerously near his own eyes. 
 He stooped and raised his kneeling servant, and giving 
 him a slight shake, smiled kindly into his face. " Come, 
 Oreste, if you make too much fuss over the returned 
 prodigal, I may backslide and be seven times worse 
 than before." Then very gravely, " You must prom- 
 ise me one thing, that you will never fail to warn me 
 if you should see me taking a step backward towards 
 the old ways. Remember, I command this, Oreste, 
 and even if I seem displeased, as I was last night, you 
 must keep to it bravely, for it is your duty now. Do 
 you understand ?" 
 
 Poor Oreste almost squirmed out of his jacket in an 
 agony of humility and confusion. He stammered some- 
 thing about " my master my duty too much confi- 
 dence " and then, completely overcome by his feelings, 
 he gave one more exclamation of " The saints be 
 praised !" and striking his forehead with the back of 
 his hand, rushed out of the room. 
 
 Oreste Gozzoli was tipped and petted by his mas- 
 ter's friends, he was the admired of all the maids, the 
 envy of all the valets, the recipient of many smiles 
 and glances from pretty apprentices, and everywhere 
 he held his head high and rejoiced with charming can- 
 dor in his acknowledged superiority as the prince of 
 valets. In his master's domain he reigned supreme. 
 But the greatest of earthly kings discovers a limit to 
 his authority, and Oreste had learned that for him the 
 tide-line was drawn at the door of his master's kitchen, 
 where dwelt Baptiste the chef, he of the white-linen 
 jacket and paper cap, of whom his master, Oreste, the 
 concierge, and all the neighboring marketmen and 
 women dwelt in wholesome awe. At the entrance to 
 the little kitchen, with its line of burnished copper 
 
 150
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 utensils and its little charcoal range, Oreste's jaunty 
 head bowed itself, his cheery voice was respectfully 
 modulated, his quick, light step grew timid and un- 
 certain. For five years Baptiste had never deigned 
 to smile on the valet or treat his modest advances with 
 anything but scorn, or at least silence. If the pa- 
 tience, the humility, the unalterable sweetness and 
 cheerfulness of the young Italian had penetrated the 
 hard surface of the French chef's bosom he never gave 
 outward sign of it. Hardly a day passed that Oreste 
 did not retire to his little chamber, stinging under 
 some reprimand from the chef, to wipe the perspira- 
 tion from his forehead and complain to the saints that 
 he had spent an hour in hell. 
 
 So it happened that, rushing through the antecham- 
 ber after the interview with his master, Oreste had 
 hardly closed behind him the door of the narrow cor- 
 ridor that led past his little den to the kitchen, when 
 he stood transfixed at the sight of the cook, standing 
 with folded arms and gloomy brow on the threshold 
 of the culinary realm. 
 
 " It is, of course, of no consequence to the chef to 
 know at what hour he may be required to serve a re- 
 past," observed Baptiste, with cutting irony. " It is 
 well understood that half an hour or so makes no dif- 
 ference in doing the roast to a turn or browning a 
 pate de Bourgogne ! Nevertheless, even if the master 
 chooses to be half an hour late to his supper, I do not 
 see why the valet need add another half hour before 
 warning the chef of the master's return !" 
 
 Oreste, still red and tearful, choked down the sobs 
 that had been half strangling him, and drew himself 
 up with dignity. 
 
 " For the valet's neglect," he said, " I ask pardon ;
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 but the hour of the master's return is, for his servants, 
 the right hour, and neither early nor late !" and with 
 that he turned into his room, leaving Baptiste petri- 
 fied with amazement at the first rebuke he had ever 
 received. 
 
 Two hours later, when all was hushed and still, the 
 door of Daretti's sleeping-room was opened, and Oreste 
 stole softly in. He left his light without in the ante- 
 chamber, but the shaded night-lamp, burning on the 
 table before a picture of the Virgin and Child, enabled 
 him to distinguish objects in the room. He tiptoed 
 lightly to the bedside and stood looking down at his 
 sleeping master, his hands reverently folded ; then, 
 kneeling down, he signed himself with the sign of the 
 cross. " This is a holy place," he murmured. " The 
 angels of paradise are here, weeping for joy over my 
 dear master's return ; the saints are smiling and wav- 
 ing their censers, the Blessed Virgin is leaning over to 
 bless him, and the good God Himself is saying, ' My son, 
 my son ! Rejoice with Me, for this My son that was 
 lost is found again. ' " He bent his head in deepest 
 awe. "They are all here. This is indeed a holy, 
 blessed place !" Hardly daring to move, yet longing 
 to express his reverent joy, he leaned his forehead 
 against the bed and timidly raised a corner of the 
 counterpane to his lips. So he remained till the first 
 streak of dawn found its way into the room. Then he 
 rose quietly, closed the shutters, and tiptoed silently 
 out into the corridor to his own chamber.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 " A f ar more consummate sanctity must that be which can mix freely 
 and easily with the crowd and condescend thoroughly to its ways, and 
 not only remain pure as the sunbeam that pierces the foulest dungeon, 
 but be also a source of light and moral health and renovation to all 
 around it." Coleridge's Life of St. Francis Xa-vier. 
 
 WITH Catalina's continued success came the petty 
 persecution that Lulu Carson had foretold. Zo6 Le- 
 normand and Hildegarde Strong, each in her third 
 season at the Opera, were furious that a new-comer 
 should be preferred before them. The fact that Len- 
 nartsen was at his very best when singing with her, 
 and that Daretti was moving heaven and earth to 
 have her create the part of Cordelia in the Paris pro- 
 duction of the new opera, only added jealousy to their 
 ire. Factions were formed, spiteful articles appeared 
 in the daily journals, discussions followed in clubs and 
 salons, false rumors and misrepresentations were rife. 
 Every new success cost poor Catalina floods of tears. 
 The affectionate, refined, generous girl was ill-fitted to 
 fight her hidden foes. The difficulties of art itself she 
 could strive with and triumph over, but the difficulties 
 of an artistic career call for other qualities. She could 
 not understand, though Daretti and Madame Dele- 
 poule understood only too well, the cause of these per- 
 sistent attacks. Why should she have enemies, and 
 why should anybody begrudge a poor girl a little suc- 
 cess and the chance to earn her living?
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 But she was blessed in the protection of Madame 
 Delepoule, a host in herself, and in the sympathy and 
 tender friendship of Victoire Ainsworth. Sir Guy, 
 too, Lady Ainsworth's brother-in-law, she suspected of 
 being ready to lay his title and fortune at her feet. 
 And now an older friend had appeared on the scene. 
 Casimir Choulex had returned to Paris and was once 
 more installed with Adrien and Theodore Daretti, 
 sharing their apartment as in the old days. Time had 
 improved him in looks and manner, his brown eyes 
 were as honest and kind as ever, his clothes fitted 
 him better, his beard was more neatly trimmed. The 
 world was beginning to lend him of its prosperity. 
 After five years of struggle with hard work and petty 
 economies he now saw his young brothers educated 
 and self-supporting, his mother comfortably provided 
 for, his sister well married. An operetta he had com- 
 posed had struck the popular fancy, full as it was of 
 imagination and fascinating originality. He felt that 
 his next step must be grand opera. Filled with en- 
 thusiasm for Daretti's work in the libretto of u Cor- 
 delia," Choulex begged him to collaborate with him 
 on the text of this new work, which he wished to be 
 founded on the story of Sintram. 
 
 Madame Delepoule was growing very thoughtful 
 over Catalina's matrimonial outlook. "What did I 
 adopt her for ? What did I teach her all my secrets 
 for ?" she grumbled to the Darettis. " To settle down 
 on a Yorkshire moor with a blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked, 
 fox-hunting baronet, perhaps ? Or to cook, and mend, 
 and nurse babies for a stolid, be-spectacled professor 
 in a stuffy Swiss town ? I wish lovers would let her 
 alone till her genius has been recognized and crowned, 
 or till I am in my grave. It is all your fault, boys.
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Don't bring those men here any more, especially that 
 Englishman. Do you think I am going to let him 
 snatch away the reward of all my years of patient 
 labor and sacrifice ?" 
 
 " See what a predicament I am in," laughed Adriano. 
 " My two best friends in love with the same girl ! I 
 hope it is not catching ! With Teodoro around, too, 
 the atmosphere is just loaded with sentiment, so that 
 I am in a fair way to fall a victim." 
 
 " I wish you would catch it in the severest form 
 known," said Madame Delepoule. 
 
 " I only trust they will not both give me their confi- 
 dence," continued Adriano. " What a state of affairs 
 that would be ! Luckily they are both reticent by 
 nature. They will probably keep their secrets to them- 
 selves." 
 
 "There are some things one cannot talk much 
 about," observed Teodoro, sagaciously. " One likes to 
 keep them secret. They go too deep for words." 
 
 Daretti and Madame Delepoule exchanged smiles. 
 
 " Talking about them is not the only way of telling 
 one's secrets, Teodoro mio," said Adriano, laughingly, 
 and Teodoro grew very red. 
 
 "Well, I do not care who knows mine," he said, 
 bravely, throwing his head back and looking at them 
 defiantly. " It honors me, and all the world may know 
 as far as I am concerned." Seeing that no one called 
 his statement in question, he continued, more quietly, 
 " Talking of sentiment, how about Oreste, and that nice 
 girl with the gray eyes at the Baths of Lucca ? When 
 we were staying there with Bindo, two summers ago, 
 it struck me that Oreste was very tenderly interested 
 in that quarter. I thought last summer would surely 
 settle it."
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " I had the same suspicion at the time," admitted 
 Adriano. "I thought his hour had struck at last. 
 But he, too, has not confided in me. He seems too 
 cheerful for a rejected lover, and too silent for an ac- 
 cepted one. He would have bubbled all over with such 
 a secret as that. Saving your blushes, Tedi, I defy either 
 you or Oreste to keep from me, when it comes to the 
 point, whether your suit is successful or unsuccessful." 
 
 " Do not tease the boy," said Madame Delepoule. 
 " You are older than he, Adriano, but there are some 
 things you do not understand as well as he yet. But 
 your hour will surely come, and woe be to him who 
 tries to tease you in that day !" 
 
 " May it be long deferred !" said Daretti, fervently. 
 
 "All things come round to him who will but wait," 
 and Teodoro's probation was drawing to a close. The 
 long restraint had done its good work in teaching the 
 young man lessons of silence and self-control. There 
 was a certain manly gravity of demeanor about Teo- 
 doro nowadays that tempered the buoyant, open- 
 hearted, too trustful young fervor. Only Adriano, 
 dearest of brothers faithful, fatherly, and indulgent 
 knew the ups and downs, the hopes and fears, the 
 rejoicings and the despairs, the torments of doubt, 
 the alternations of patient self-sacrifice and impatient 
 rebelliousness that kept the young lover's heart in a 
 ferment for these six long months. To be sure, there 
 was a maddening air of superiority about Adriano oc- 
 casionally, when he seemed to regard Tedi with a cer- 
 tain curiosity as one laboring under a temporary aber- 
 ration of the intellect, and then Tedi would get red 
 in the face and say, furiously : 
 
 "I hope you will be there some day yourself ! Noth- 
 ing would give me more fiendish delight than to see 
 
 156
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 you simply writhing in torments of love and suspense. 
 I declare, Adriano, I would suffer six months longer 
 myself for the pleasure of seeing you over head and 
 ears in love !" 
 
 " How considerate of your lady-love !" said Adriano, 
 dryly. " But, Tedi, how can you wish me such a cruel 
 fate when I give you my deepest sympathy ?" 
 
 " Sympathy !" echoed Tedi, grabbing his brother by 
 the shoulders and shaking him with no gentle force. 
 " Sympathy, you old iceberg ! You call that sympa- 
 thy because you put your arm around a fellow's shoul- 
 der and murmur a lot of inarticulate nothings to 
 conceal a yawn, and all the time I see a sly laugh in 
 your eye as if you were saying, ' Poor young fool, what 
 a bore he is ! and how superior I am to all this senti- 
 mental nonsense !' " 
 
 "And I flattered myself I was concealing my feel- 
 ings admirably !" 
 
 At last the days wore slowly past, and Whitsunday 
 had truly come the long-sighed-for day and Teo- 
 doro was actually on his way to Passy to put his fate 
 to the touch. He was very silent and absent-minded 
 during the drive ; he grew red and white by turns, 
 and was very grateful to Adriano for taking no notice 
 and asking him no questions. Adriano had been good 
 enough not to tease him, but had stood by him, chosen 
 his gloves for him, and tied his cravat, for really Tedi 
 could hardly see what he was doing. And the lad was 
 as clean and orderly and well-attired within as with- 
 out, for had he not straightened out his affairs in this 
 world and the next, paying his smallest debts, answer- 
 ing all letters, and had he not been to the sacra- 
 ments that very Whitsunday morning, so that he stood 
 straight and fair and fearless before God and man ?
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Espiritu Santo was gowned in white, and wore the 
 flowers of the Holy Ghost in her hair and her bosom. 
 Bride-like and sweet she looked as she stood there 
 beside her grandmother to receive the good wishes of 
 her friends on her feast-day. The Darettis were the 
 first to arrive, for they had purposely come early. 
 Adriano took his seat near Madame Valorge, and en- 
 gaged her and both the young girls in lively conver- 
 sation, while Teodoro stood by, awkward and expect- 
 ant. Disdier paced the room somewhat restlessly; 
 then other guests came, and under cover of their ar- 
 rival Teodoro crossed to Disdier's side, and in a low 
 voice stammered that he would like to have a few 
 moments' private conversation with him. Disdier led 
 the young man into his little den and smoking-room. 
 He was very silent, but Teodoro came up to the mark 
 and was heroic, telling his tale of love with unexpect- 
 ed boldness and fire. 
 
 Disdier listened patiently. " I have been expecting 
 this," he said, at last, " for Madame Valorge told me, 
 as it was her duty to do, of your feelings and of the 
 probation she had wisely put you to. I will tell you 
 at once, Theodore. I can have no possible objection 
 to you as a suitor for my daughter's hand, and shall 
 leave the decision entirely to her." 
 
 Teodoro flushed. His eyes shone brightly. He drew 
 his young form to its fullest height, already exultant 
 in hope. 
 
 " Thank you, sir ; thank you a thousand times," he 
 cried, eagerly. " You are too good to make it all so 
 easy for me to allow me to plead my own cause with 
 her, to " 
 
 " Not so fast !" interrupted Disdier. "Who said you 
 should plead your own cause? I said I would leave 
 
 158
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the decision to her, but I reserve to- myself the right 
 to my daughter's confidence. I shall tell her myself 
 of your visit. The child is very young, and there are 
 many considerations she must have time to reflect upon 
 before she yields to the first words a romantic youth 
 whispers to her. She owes something to the interests 
 of her father and her grandmother, and they owe it 
 to her to instruct her in the duties, and responsibili- 
 ties of married life, that her choice may be a consci- 
 entious and intelligent one. You are asking a great 
 thing, young man, and you must believe that I am 
 right in safe-guarding my child's interests." 
 
 " I know it is a great thing I do believe you are 
 right," replied Teodoro, humbly, "but am I asking 
 more of her than is a woman's natural vocation, than 
 God has ordered for her own good and happiness ? If 
 you believe that I will be a good husband to her why 
 is there so much for her to consider ?" 
 
 " I do not feel called upon to unfold all our family 
 affairs to you unless you are to be one of us," said 
 Disdier, stiffly. " She may have duties you know noth- 
 ing of. It is enough that I tell her of your suit and 
 leave the decision to her heart and conscience." 
 
 " But, sir, if I knew," exclaimed Teodoro, " if I only 
 knew, perhaps I could arrange could be of use. You 
 do not know how gladly I would devote myself to all 
 your interests." 
 
 " No doubt, no doubt," said Disdier, wearily, " but I 
 have given you your answer. Espiritu shall have a 
 week to consider the matter in, and you may come 
 next Sunday to hear from me what her decision is. I 
 think there is nothing more to be said at present." 
 
 "But you have asked me no questions," objected 
 Teodoro.
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Disdier smiled. " I have known of your wishes for 
 six months," he answered. " Do you suppose that I 
 have been blind or idle all this while? Is that your 
 notion of a dutiful father ? Why, my young man, I know 
 your affairs by this time almost as well as I know my 
 own." 
 
 Teodoro blushed. " Excuse me, sir. I forgot that 
 you would hardly consent to accept me as a suitor if 
 you were ignorant of them." 
 
 " Of course not. Good-day, then, young man, and do 
 not fail to return for your answer next Sunday !" 
 
 " Fail !" echoed Teodoro, then added, hesitatingly, 
 " I suppose I ought to thank you for considering me 
 at all. I am afraid I have not thought enough of your 
 sacrifice in letting her go if she should wish it." 
 
 " Probably not," said Disdier, dryly, holding the door 
 open for him to pass out, and there was nothing for 
 Teodoro to do but make his bow and go. 
 
 All the concentrated misery of the past six months 
 was squeezed into the next six days. It was well for 
 Teodoro that he had the relief of work, blessed work, 
 or he felt that he should have gone wild under the 
 strain. But he had to make his debut that week at the 
 Opera Comique and sing in two new roles, and there 
 were rehearsals every day. Adriano coached him 
 with pitiless severity, plaguing him at all hours of the 
 day about pose and gesture and intonation, making 
 him go over and over certain points in the impersona- 
 tions that already had as fine an edge on them as they 
 could bear at least, so Teodoro thought. Afterwards 
 he felt that Adriano had done him a merciful turn, 
 for he was so nervous and excited when he went on 
 the stage that he would have made a fiasco of the 
 whole performance if he had left anything to the in- 
 
 160
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 spiration of the moment. As it was, everything had 
 seemed to sing and act itself with the fidelity of a ma- 
 chine, andT his success in Sigurd and Le Roi d'Ys was 
 greater than he had any right to expect. 
 
 Perhaps it was as well that Tedi had this contradic- 
 tion to suffer, for otherwise his head might have been 
 turned by his musical success and the applause and 
 flattery showered on him from every quarter. His 
 glorious, fresh young voice and fair Greek beauty had 
 won all hearts from the first. Novice as he was, he 
 never failed to rouse the wildest enthusiasm, and his 
 beauty and talent and the glory of his matchless young 
 voice were the theme of every tongue. 
 
 But the applause and congratulations, the flowers 
 and honors, the social attentions and public adulation 
 of the great city passed unheeded over Teodoro's head. 
 A little slip of a girl in a country lane of the suburbs 
 was turning over a certain question in her mind, and 
 he could not see her to influence her gentle decision. 
 
 Adriano had never been so busy in his life as during 
 this period. He labored with Choulex for hours every 
 day over the libretto of " Sintram," and fascinating 
 work it was both for poet and musician, their souls 
 aflame and their brains teeming with ideas. Besides 
 this work, Adriano was coaching both Teodoro and 
 Catalina in new roles, and there were long and ex- 
 hausting rehearsals of "Cordelia" daily, for he had 
 triumphed in securing Catalina to be the heroine of 
 Federici's opera, and she was now studying the role 
 with great ardor. Choulex and Daretti himself were 
 the only musicians in Paris who had made a thorough 
 study of the new work, and they undertook to coach 
 her in the part. Such training she had never had, 
 even from Madame Delepoule, and it was a revelation 
 L 161
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 to her young, ardent soul. Choulex was a tower of 
 strength in the emergency. What an inspiration his 
 accompaniments were, how lucid his presentation of 
 the themes, how superb his handling of the score ! 
 Aided by Adriano's picturesque descriptions, his vivid, 
 dramatic sketches of the scenes, and his wonderful 
 mastery of vocal expression, it seemed to Catalina that 
 this must be the crowning triumph of her life. It 
 should be, it must be, if only to vindicate Adriano in 
 the eyes of the management for his choice of her. 
 
 " Let me be your understudy," pleaded Lulu Car- 
 son. " I do not know why, but I have a presentiment 
 that something will go wrong at the last. I suppose 
 all the fuss that has been made has affected my nerves. 
 At any rate, I'm hankering after a little instruction 
 from Daretti. He ought to teach. He has a genius 
 for it. I learn more from hearing him and Monsieur 
 Choulex drill you for an hour than I learn from my 
 expensive Paris masters in a whole term. Besides, I 
 want to have a little flirtation with Daretti oh ! a 
 very innocent one, so you needn't look shocked. I'm 
 not going to make love to him, and I don't believe the 
 Queen of Sheba herself could get him to flirt. I don't 
 suppose you even know what 'flirt' means, you poor, 
 little foreign innocent ! You French girls always take 
 these things so seriously. Never mind about the flirt- 
 ing, but let me study this part with you. It is a little 
 heavy for me, but you know you would a thousand 
 times rather have me come to your rescue than either 
 of your rivals." 
 
 Daretti had his misgivings about Miss Carson's 
 presence at the private rehearsals in Madame Dele- 
 poule's salon. He had no doubt in his mind that it 
 was Oeglaire who had suggested to her the idea of 
 
 162
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 being Catalina's understudy. With the independence 
 of an American student she accepted many attentions 
 from Oeglaire, and appeared often with him in public 
 places. She boasted of her influence over him, and 
 took great pains to assure Catalina that, thanks to this 
 influence, Oeglaire was her best friend on the press, 
 and was to be credited with all the articles most favor- 
 able to her. This did not deceive either Daretti or 
 Madame Delepoule. The question was whether the 
 girl was in league with him to supplant Catalina, or 
 was his innocent, self-deceiving tool. Hortense Dele- 
 poule was inclined to the latter opinion, but Adriano 
 felt suspicious and uneasy. For the life of him he 
 could not help showing a certain coldness and reserve 
 in his manner towards Miss Carson. She was quick 
 to notice and resent it. 
 
 " Oh, ho ! Mr. Vanity !" she said to herself with 
 a low whistle. " You think the little American girl 
 is in love with you, do you ? and that you must keep 
 her at a respectful distance ! Well, that is where you 
 are much mistaken, and I will see that you find it out. 
 You foreign men can never understand us Americans 
 or do us justice, but I will soon let you see that though 
 I like a little fun, it doesn't necessarily mean that I am 
 setting my cap for you. I know some one else who 
 will be glad enough to marry me whenever I say the 
 word, and who has the power to help me along in my 
 profession faster than you ever can or will. It won't be 
 long before you find out how much in earnest I am !" 
 
 Madame Delepoule was greatly disturbed over this 
 persecution, as it might be called, of her favorite pupil. 
 She dreaded its effect on the sensitive girl, and longed 
 to get her away from Paris. Adriano, too, was eager 
 for the London season. It would make a pleasant 
 
 163
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 break in operatic routine, and give him and Teodoro 
 a chance to appear in some of the Wagnerian roles 
 which the Paris public had not then learned to listen 
 to patiently. Adriano pictured to himself the sensa- 
 tion Teodoro would make in his brave, bright young 
 beauty as the ideal Knight of the Swan. It would be 
 like the Archangel Michael of Guido Reni, descend- 
 ing upon earth to do battle with the powers of evil. 
 He imagined him in the freshness and strength of the 
 young Siegfried. And again, what opportunity for his 
 poetry and sentiment and enthusiasm in the ardent 
 young Walther von Stolzing ! Leave Lennartsen the 
 palm in tragedy, in Othello, and Rhadames, Vasco de 
 Gama, and Jean de Leyde, but Tedi ah, Tedi would 
 rule the world where youth and love and chivalry 
 and song held sway ! 
 
 It had been a relief to Adriano of late to share the 
 pressure of social attentions with Teodoro. He was 
 planning to withdraw himself little by little from soci- 
 ety indeed, would have done so at once altogether in 
 the fervor of his first contrition if Monsignore lanson 
 had not counselled strongly against such a course. As 
 it was, his tastes had greatly changed. He longed for 
 something more spiritual, more heroic than his present 
 life afforded. He was in too close touch with the 
 world and its pleasures, and it troubled him. The con- 
 secration of monastic life attracted him. He had re- 
 ceived so much from Heaven, should he give nothing 
 in return ? 
 
 Monsignore lanson smiled and shook his head. 
 " Trust to me, Adrien trust to me ! I give you one 
 year to get married in !" 
 
 " But, father" 
 
 " But, child ! No, I will have no buts. Believe me, 
 164
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 God never fitted you for the isolation of celibacy. If 
 ever a man bore the marks of his vocation plainly 
 written on him, you bear every sign of being called 
 upon to sanctify yourself in family life. Do not look 
 so doleful, Adrien ! I know it is a heavy cross I am 
 laying on you," and the monsignore shook with inter- 
 nal laughter, "but the way of the cross is the royal 
 way to heaven, you know." 
 
 Adrien laughed too. "You have chosen the better 
 part yourself, monsignore, and now you counsel me 
 what is less perfect ! But, you see, to marry and 
 bring up a family I must first have a wife ; and if I 
 have a wife I wish her to be an angel, and if she is an 
 angel I should not be worthy of her. How are you 
 going to arrange that?" 
 
 "Of course you wish her to be an angel we all 
 aspire to heaven! and no doubt she will be one; but 
 you need not worry, Adrien," and there was a mis- 
 chievous twinkle in the prelate's eyes. "An angel in 
 petticoats, my son, is a species apart, of whom a man 
 of average rectitude of life and fairly amiable disposi- 
 tion need feel in no way unworthy." 
 
 " I see that you agree with the Wise Man," laughed 
 Adriano, " that the perfect woman is hard to find and 
 rarer than rubies !" 
 
 " Speaking seriously, I cannot believe that the Cre- 
 ator would have made all the virtues the special prop- 
 erty of one sex. Your angel will have something to 
 overlook in you, Adrien, but, on the other hand, there 
 is no doubt that you will find occasion to put into 
 practice the virtues of Christian patience and charity 
 from time to time !" 
 
 Adriano smiled, but looked unconvinced. 
 
 " Do not be impatient for sacrifices, my child," said 
 165
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 Monsignore lanson, kindly. " See what you can do in 
 your daily life. It may hold for you an apostleship 
 hardly less sacred than that of priest or missionary. 
 For yours is not a hidden life. Your great talents place 
 you prominently before the public and give you a cer- 
 tain hold on the minds of men. This carries a re- 
 sponsibility with it that you cannot shirk. Example 
 speaks louder than words. Thousands of young people 
 look up to you as a leader of fashion, a prince among 
 artists. Show them that you can be all this and yet 
 practice faith and chastity, and you have done more 
 to disabuse them of false ideas than a dozen sermons 
 which they would never listen to." 
 
 " Ah, the lost years of a past that can never come 
 back to me !" sighed Adriano. 
 
 " Why may you not bring good even out of evil ?" 
 suggested Monsignore lanson. "You will appreciate 
 the temptations of the young men about you, and you 
 will feel an interest in and love for these young souls that 
 would hardly be possible except to one to whom much 
 had been forgiven. And you will not serve God less 
 well in married life than in single life; on the contrary, 
 better. If in them you are fulfilling your vocation, 
 then matrimony and paternity will develop in you 
 capabilities of love and service that you have not now. 
 It should be so certainly in Christian marriage." 
 
 Adriano shaded his eyes with his hand. When after 
 a moment's pause he withdrew his hand and spoke 
 again there was an accent of emotion under the play- 
 ful tones. 
 
 "Almost thou persuadest me' to be a married 
 man !"
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 " Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, 
 And men below, and saints above." 
 
 Scott. 
 
 " So my life's penance has been laid upon my shoul- 
 ders, and I must work out my purgatory on earth in 
 the holy estate of matrimony !" pondered Adriano, on 
 his homeward way. " ' Whom the Lord loveth He 
 chasteneth,' " he added, with mock resignation. 
 
 As he let himself into the apartment, Oreste appear- 
 ed with the lamps and his pleasant evening salutation. 
 The black -eyed valet certainly looked indescribably 
 happy. He could hardly keep from singing aloud from 
 sheer gayety of heart as he bustled about waiting on 
 the young man. Adriano, too, was light-hearted and 
 joyous as a child nowadays. As he watched the cheer- 
 ful young Tuscan a boyish desire for mischief took 
 possession of him. 
 
 " No one has any right in this vale of tears to be as 
 blissful as Oreste looks," he thought. " I am sure 
 there must be something in that idea of Tedi's about 
 the gray-eyed girl at the Baths of Lucca. Doubtless 
 he is looking forward to settling his own little domes- 
 tic concerns, now that he has got me put to rights 
 with the saints. He takes it for granted that I shall 
 pay my annual visit to Bindo at the Baths of Lucca 
 at midsummer. But I will frighten him a little and 
 
 167
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 get at the true state of the case. Having failed to 
 win a wife for myself, I will try and do a little match- 
 making among my friends." 
 
 Adriano was not long in finding his opportunity to 
 chaff Oreste as he changed from his morning undress 
 of tweed to more dignified evening raiment. He lean- 
 ed lazily back in his chair, while Oreste put the finish- 
 ing - touches to his toilet, and studied the valet with 
 careless scrutiny. 
 
 " By -the -way, Oreste," remarked Daretti, indiffer- 
 ently, " I hardly think I shall visit my brother this 
 summer. I am tired of going to the Baths of Lucca 
 year after year. I have an idea of trying sea-baths 
 this season." 
 
 "At Viareggio, sir, or Livorno, perhaps?" faltered 
 Oreste, with an uneasy look. 
 
 " Oh no ! they are right in the same neighborhood 
 with Lucca. I do not propose to go to Italy at all. 
 I prefer the French baths, Etretat or Biarritz. Or 
 possibly I may go to Carlsbad or Franzensbad, in Aus- 
 tria. They are good for the liver. I think my liver 
 needs attention." 
 
 Oreste could not speak, and there was an agonized 
 expression on his face. Daretti did not appear to look 
 towards the valet, but one never knew all that his 
 eyes were seeing from under cover of their long 
 lashes. 
 
 " Fortunately I may go where the spirit moves me, 
 and my wanderings make no difference to any one," 
 continued the master, easily. 
 
 Still Oreste could not command his voice. 
 
 Daretti threw himself back in the chair, and, clasp- 
 ing his hands behind his head, opened his eyes to their 
 fullest extent and stared hard at the embarrassed valet. 
 
 168
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " In fact," he said, very slowly, " I should not won- 
 der if I made a flying-trip to Norway this summer. 
 It seems to be the fashionable thing to do. You would 
 enjoy seeing the midnight sun, Oreste. Or what do 
 you say to running over to the United States ? Amer- 
 ica is a fine country, Monsignore lanson says a big 
 country, well worth seeing." 
 
 Oreste was very near tears, but he struggled with 
 a lump in his throat, and choked out, " It is a long 
 voyage, sir, and your worship is not a good sailor. 
 You never enjoy crossing the channel ; and do you 
 not remember, sir, how ill you were on the Mediter- 
 ranean, crossing from Brindisi to Cairo ? And that 
 other time, sir, going from Naples to Palermo, when 
 you were near death ?" 
 
 " I do not remember my illnesses in as distressing a 
 light as you seem to," replied Daretti, gravely, still 
 staring hard at Oreste, and making him feel as uncom- 
 fortable as possible ; " but I have thought," very slow- 
 ly, "of another plan. I might take my trip to America 
 alone, and give you a well-earned vacation of six weeks 
 to spend in any quarter of the globe you may prefer. 
 You will hardly care to return to Italy, I suppose ?" 
 
 But Oreste gave a start of unmistakable delight, 
 his eyes brightened, and for a moment his face was red 
 with pleasure. Then his countenance fell again ; he 
 shook his head sadly. 
 
 " I could not let your worship go to those strange 
 parts alone." 
 
 " But I could engage another valet for the trip." 
 
 " He would not know your ways, sir," said Oreste, 
 with conviction, " and you would need me more than 
 ever. There is no knowing what kind of service you 
 would get in those outlandish places." 
 
 169
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " But, Oreste, I do not see my way to offering you a 
 vacation again for another year. You had better take 
 what you can get." 
 
 There was a pause. " I shall not leave you, sir," said 
 poor Oreste, bravely ; but his voice sounded a little 
 shaky, his lips quivered, and there was a cloud over 
 the bright eyes. 
 
 Daretti rose to his feet, and, drawing himself to his 
 full height, folded his arms theatrically, and frowned. 
 " Oreste," he said, severely, " you are a fool ! I always 
 knew it who had better reason than I ? but you are 
 a bigger fool than ever I had thought you. Or else," 
 very gravely, " you are a knave a selfish, heartless 
 knave gadding off with your master to foreign lands 
 and leaving a pair of pretty eyes to weep themselves 
 blind for you !" 
 
 " Oh, sir ! Oh, sir !" expostulated Oreste, but Da- 
 retti interrupted him. 
 
 " You may sit down this very evening and write a 
 letter with your best pen to Signorina Consiglio Stef- 
 ani at the Ponte a Seraglio, and tell her that the Count 
 Adriano Daretti will visit his brother, the Commenda- 
 tore Mannsfeld, at the Baths of Lucca as usual for the 
 cure, beginning at the blessed feast of the Assump- 
 tion, but that he will leave his valet behind him in 
 Paris, as he finds him to be either a fool or a knave, 
 and not worthy, in either case, of one beat of a heart 
 like hers !" 
 
 Oreste turned his head away, mopped his brow 
 with his handkerchief, and drew a long sigh of relief. 
 " Now I know that your worship was joking me ; 
 but you made me suffer for a bad quarter of an 
 hour !" 
 
 " Forgive me, Oreste, but you deserved to suffer. 
 170
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 You should have confided in me. How should I know 
 how much you cared ?" 
 
 " I did not want to disturb you, sir. I would not 
 leave you for any girl that lives till I see you happily 
 married yourself. What was the use of worrying you ?" 
 
 Daretti looked thoughtful. He seated himself com- 
 fortably in an arm-chair, and signed to Oreste to take 
 a seat at his feet. 
 
 " Now tell me all about it," he said, kindly ; and 
 Oreste squatted down on the low seat, and looked up 
 into his master's eyes a moment, then burying his face 
 in his hands, began his little story. 
 
 " You see, sir, I owe you all that I am. When I first 
 came to serve your worship I was a mere boy. I was 
 only eighteen, and though I had been for several years 
 page to the Countess d'Usseglio, I was perfectly green 
 about a valet's duties. You were very kind to me, sir, 
 but you must have suffered while I was learning." 
 
 " I am four years older than you, but I was pretty 
 green myself in those days," said Daretti, smiling. 
 " It is true you were not much then, Oreste, but now 
 I have the best trained, best appointed, most willing 
 valet in the whole profession, not to say the hand- 
 somest, which you always were !" 
 
 Oreste's eyes sparkled and he blushed with pleasure. 
 
 " I try to do you credit, sir, and I thank the saints 
 that they did not make me ill-looking !" 
 
 " We cannot help ourselves there, Oreste. If Provi- 
 dence chose to make handsome fellows of us it would 
 be a sin not to be resigned !" 
 
 Oreste chuckled, rubbed his hands with glee, and put 
 his head on one side. Then sobering down he went 
 on with his story. 
 
 " I learned many things besides a valet's duties with 
 171
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 you, sir. There was the sight of your lady mother, 
 moving about like a saint on earth, with kind, cheer- 
 ful words for everybody. You look like her, sir. She 
 had the same grave bearing, with the same look of fun 
 in her eyes. I never shall forget her blessed life and 
 death, nor what she did for me. And you too, my 
 dear master " 
 
 " Do not speak of me, Oreste ! My piety was only 
 seed growing by the wayside. The pleasures of the 
 world soon choked it !" 
 
 " But I must speak of it, sir, or my story means 
 nothing. You know what you did for me. You were 
 not content to be careful yourself, and to watch over 
 your young brother, but you remembered that your 
 servant, too, had a soul. You saved me from many a 
 scrape in those young, thoughtless days." 
 
 Adriano covered his face with his hands, and there 
 was a pause. " Seems to me, Oreste," he said at last, 
 raising his head, "that you are forgetting the point 
 of your story." 
 
 " Patience, sir ; that is coming just now. Two sum- 
 mers ago, your worship will remember, was the first 
 summer that we stopped for any length of time at the 
 Baths of Lucca. It was there, at the feast of San 
 Giovanni, that I met her, Consiglio Stefani. I cannot 
 tell you how it was, sir ; it was not sudden or painful, 
 but we had hardly exchanged a glance when I knew 
 that the whole world had changed for me. It was as 
 if I had been stumbling about in the half-dark before, 
 and now daylight had come. I saw things I had not 
 seen before, the heaven was different above me, the 
 earth was different under my feet, life itself was more 
 beautiful, religion was holier. It was good for me only 
 to be near her, and the sound of her voice came to me 
 
 172
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 as in a dream. We did not say much to each other, 
 and yet it was not like silence, for our hearts were 
 speaking to each other all the time. When I met her 
 and bared my head I felt as if I were coming into a 
 church. It went on this way all summer, when it sud- 
 denly came over me that this could not last and I must 
 leave her. I thought at first I should die, that I could 
 not breathe, that my heart would not beat any more. 
 I went about and did my duties as usual, but I was in 
 a stupor. The next summer it was the same thing 
 over again the same silent happiness, the same stupid 
 misery." 
 
 " Tell me, Oreste, did you leave her both times with- 
 out a word of love?" 
 
 " I knelt and kissed her hand, sir, and I felt very 
 sad, but I said nothing." 
 
 " But you loved her ! Why did you not ask her to 
 be your wife ?" 
 
 " It did not occur to me that I could do so, sir." 
 
 Daretti bent forward, gragped Oreste by the jaw and 
 turned his face squarely round towards his own. 
 " Look me in the eyes, Oreste ! Why did it not occur 
 to you ? Answer me !" 
 
 " I had no home, sir, to offer her." 
 
 " But you could have made a home ; you have been a 
 thrifty fellow, and have laid aside a neat little sum 
 from your wages and presents. No, no, Oreste, I 
 know very well that you are lying to me. It did oc- 
 cur to you, but you knew that to make a home for her 
 you would have to leave my service, and our vagabond, 
 Bohemian life, and from some foolish sentiment you 
 felt bound to me. Is it not so?" 
 
 Oreste's eyes drooped, and he pulled himself away 
 from Daretti's grasp. "There was nothing foolish 
 
 173
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 about it, sir. My life with you is a reality. She only 
 came into it as a beautiful dream." 
 
 " Poor silly fellow, I am not worthy of such a sacri- 
 fice !" 
 
 " I did not think of it as a sacrifice. It was an im- 
 possibility, and I simply did not think of it at all. I 
 could no more have come to you and said, ' I am going 
 to leave you, sir,' than I could have stolen your money 
 or murdered you in your sleep. Think how alone you 
 were, sir ! There were plenty to flatter you, to profess 
 to be your friends, but who was there to pray for you, 
 to care for your soul, to remind you of your home and 
 of your mother? The only companionship that in- 
 fluenced your life was not a good one for you, and you 
 had lost your faith. A poor uneducated servant could 
 not hope to do much, but if I had left you then I 
 should have felt guilty of your death. Your lady 
 mother's soul would have come to me and said, 'Why 
 do you leave him, Oreste? You are all he has to pray 
 for him. Wait till he is himself again.' " 
 
 Let yourself weep, Adriano ! Do not try to force 
 back such tears as those ! They are no weakness, but, 
 rather, a credit to your manly heart ! 
 
 " But, Oreste, there is nothing now to keep you back 
 if I am willing to let you go, and shall I not be willing 
 to make you some return for your devotion ?" 
 
 " Ah, sir, you would be lonely without me. I know 
 all your ways, and Count Teodoro will not always be 
 with you." 
 
 " Tell me : would you feel easier about me if I were 
 married, or do you perhaps think that you could bring 
 your bride to make a home with us if there was a 
 Countess Adriano here ?" 
 
 " Ah, sir, I do not dare to think of it, I do not dare
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 to hope she would be my my bride ! Do you really 
 believe, sir, that she could ever care for me ?" 
 
 " You may stand up and let me have a good look at 
 you and I will see if I think you are a likely subject 
 for a nice girl to set her affections on." 
 
 Oreste sprang up with alacrity and stood very erect 
 while Daretti looked him over from head to foot with 
 careful scrutiny, as if he were not already familiar with 
 every line of the valet's face and figure. What he saw 
 was pleasing to the eye, certainly an active, well-made 
 figure, straight and trim, a clean, healthy, handsome 
 countenance, a pair of bright, honest eyes, a profile 
 that many a young aristocrat might have envied, 
 crisp, curling black hair and mustache, a smile of 
 ready sympathy, neat and tasteful dress. With a little 
 more repose and a little less cheerful alacrity of man- 
 ner he might well have passed for a young man of 
 rank and fashion, and no doubt in the eyes of a young 
 peasant girl he would seem little less than a prince, 
 but to more experienced eyes that prompt air of ready 
 willingness to serve and please betrayed too surely 
 that his pride and ambition were in a profession that 
 waits upon the wants and caprices of others. 
 
 It gave Daretti a pang to think of parting with the 
 faithful fellow. " What on earth is to become of me?" 
 he thought, continuing his scrutiny till Oreste grew 
 uneasy and shifted his weight from one foot to the 
 other. " I thought myself lonely at times even when 
 he was with me, but now he will marry, and Teodoro 
 and Choulex. They will all leave me, till I shall be 
 forced to marry, too, in self-defence." He groaned 
 and sank back into his chair, covering his eyes with 
 his hand. 
 
 "Well, sir?" ventured Oreste, anxiously.
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Adriano uncovered his eyes and fixed them solemnly 
 on the young man. " My poor fellow," he sighed, 
 " there is little hope !" 
 
 Oreste looked disconcerted and his face fell. He 
 was not vainer that many of his kind, but till now he 
 had felt a modest confidence that he was not entirely 
 lacking in qualities that please the eye. 
 
 " Little hope for her, I mean," corrected Adriano, 
 more cheerfully. " In fact, I fear much for her peace 
 of mind. There ! I knew you would begin to blush 
 and smirk ! What do you twist your head on one side 
 for ? It will come off some day, and then where will 
 you be ?" 
 
 "And you think there is a chance for me, then, 
 sir ?" 
 
 "Let me consider your qualifications. You have 
 certain accomplishments that show for something. 
 You talk three languages, you have travelled and seen 
 a good deal of the world, and have picked up a fairly 
 good education. You have interesting adventures to 
 talk about and you have seen many distinguished per- 
 sons. A great deal will depend upon the young lady's 
 taste. I cannot tell whether she will prefer your 
 polish, or a rough diamond like your rival." 
 
 " My rival ?" faltered Oreste. 
 
 " Yes, that young mountaineer, you know." 
 
 " What young mountaineer, sir ?" 
 
 " Why, foolish fellow, do you suppose that if your 
 lady-love is all you say she is no one has had eyes to 
 see it but yourself ? Do you suppose those bold young 
 foresters are such laggards in love as you ? Why, to 
 my mind, Oreste, the most hopeful feature in the 
 whole case is that the pretty Consiglio remains un- 
 married. She must have had a dozen young fellows 
 
 176
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 after her, and if she has sent them all away it looks a 
 little, a very little, as if she had already disposed of 
 her heart elsewhere." 
 
 " How soon did you say we should start, sir ?" 
 
 " Oh, you are in a hurry now, are you ? What differ- 
 ence does it make? You know you will never leave 
 me for any girl that lives ! Do not look so reproach- 
 ful ! I know it is not nice for me to tease you, but I 
 must work off my spite against fate somehow. Now 
 go to your room and compose a letter to the good 
 Giulio Stefani, which you will post to-night, for delays 
 are dangerous. You will tell him that you love his 
 daughter, and that though appearances are against 
 you yet your heart has been faithful, and that as soon 
 as we arrive in Lucca, in August, you will come to 
 call upon him and ask for her hand. I will add a few 
 lines to help you in your suit." And Daretti held out 
 his hand, smiling encouragingly. Oreste took it grate- 
 fully, pressed it to his lips, looked timidly into his 
 master's face, and seeing the hopeful, tender smile 
 upon it, the clouds cleared away from his own face and 
 he withdrew in shy, happy embarrassment. 
 
 Daretti turned and walked slowly to the window. 
 He gazed into the street, but there was a mist before 
 his eyes. 
 
 " Mine has not been much of a life," he murmured, 
 " but I cannot think so poorly of it since I know that 
 it has inspired such an attachment in such a man !"
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 " I do perceive here a divided duty." 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 " WHAT is he saying to her ? What secrets are there 
 that I may not share? Will he be just to me? Shall 
 I be allowed to see her at all ?" 
 
 These were some of the thoughts that made Teodoro 
 restless and unhappy during that miserable week. If 
 it were a case of sickness or affliction one could refuse 
 to see people and at least have a little quiet in which 
 to endure one's agony, but mere love - sickness was 
 something one could not explain, so one must keep on 
 appearing before the world and be wretched. Alto- 
 gether it was an uncomfortable week. 
 
 " No, I must go alone," he said to Adriano when 
 Sunday morning came at last. " If my answer is un- 
 favorable you could not do me any good I must wan- 
 der off into the woods and fight my misery by myself." 
 
 " And if it is favorable I should be in the way," added 
 his brother, cheerily, and bid him God-speed. 
 
 " Espiritu, child, am I really to tell him this ?" asked 
 Madame Valorge, with a reproachful accent in her 
 voice. 
 
 "Just this, grandmamma. It is very good of him to 
 think of me, and he is very dear to me ; I wish him well, 
 and shall always be glad to see him, but I cannot 
 marry him. It is not that I do not love him, for he is, 
 
 178
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 as he always has been, my very dear brother, but I do 
 not want to marry any one just now, and he must not 
 speak of it any more. He must let things go on just 
 as before." 
 
 " Dearest child," said Madame Valorge, gently, feel- 
 ing for her hand, " I do not want to destroy your inno- 
 cent illusions, but you must realize this if your an- 
 swer to Theodore is final it will be impossible for things 
 to go on as before. He will not care to come back. 
 You may never see him again." 
 
 Espiritu trembled. Her cheeks, which had not been 
 as pink lately as they used to be, now grew very red 
 and her eyes filled with tears. She glanced towards 
 her father. 
 
 Disdier was pacing the room in his habitually rest- 
 less fashion. Now he stopped and looked fixedly at 
 his child. 
 
 "Grandmamma," she faltered, "I am very sorry, 
 but I cannot marry him I cannot, indeed." 
 
 " Espiritu has talked this over with me openly and 
 freely," said her father. " It is her own wish that this 
 should come to an end. She believes it to be best 
 both for him and for her." 
 
 Madame Valorge was troubled. " Espiritu, darling ! 
 You are not making this sacrifice for me, are you ? 
 Remember, child, this marriage would be my dearest 
 wish. I love Theodore as a son, and I should feel hap- 
 pier to think you were so well provided for. Things 
 can be arranged somehow for the blind old lady. Do 
 not make such a mistake for my sake." 
 
 Espiritu knelt by her grandmother's side and wound 
 her arms lovingly about her. " I would gladly make 
 any sacrifice for you, who have been the dearest of 
 mothers to me, but truly I am not doing so now. If 
 
 179
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 it were only that, why, you could live with us, of course, 
 and we would all be so happy together. No, it is it is " 
 she glanced up at her father, " quite another reason, and 
 I really cannot be his wife. Tell him, as gently as you 
 can, that I am just as fond of him as ever, and he must 
 not mind, but must be our dear brother just as before." 
 
 Madame Valorge sighed. She wished that Ramon 
 were a hundred miles away so that she could talk ten- 
 derly and openly with the girl, as a mother would. But 
 he was the child's own father and had the first right 
 to her confidence. Oh, if she could only see Espiritu ! 
 If her eyes could only follow the color in her cheek, the 
 quiver of her lip, or the telltale glances of her eyes ; 
 but all was dark, and the sweet voice betrayed nothing 
 but a gentle compassion for the pain she was inflicting. 
 
 " He is coming now," said Disdier, impatiently, open- 
 ing the door into the adjoining room and signing to 
 Espiritu to leave them. 
 
 " Be good to him !" she whispered to her grand- 
 mother, with a last lingering kiss. 
 
 " Be good to him ! How can I ?" exclaimed Madame 
 Valorge, with an unusual asperity. " What I have to 
 tell him will wreck his whole life ! How can I be good 
 and cruel in the same breath ?" 
 
 Espiritu clasped her little hands together in sudden 
 agony. Her father was beckoning to her. She hesi- 
 tated. 
 
 " It is your free wish, child, is it not ?" asked Disdier, 
 sharply. " If you have changed your mind, speak now 
 or never." 
 
 " I have not changed my mind," she stammered. " I 
 believe I have decided for the best." There was a 
 look in her eyes which Madame Valorge could not see 
 and which made Disdier turn his own hastily away. 
 
 180
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 She ran past him into her own little room. She 
 heard Theodore's footstep as he came into the salon 
 and the door was closed. It seemed to shut against 
 her very heart. She was trembling all over and feel- 
 ing very weak and breathless and strange. What did 
 grandmamma mean by saying that she was cruel and 
 would wreck his whole life ? She was only a little girl 
 who had been his playmate, and now he was a grown 
 young man, rich and beautiful and successful, with a 
 great future before him and hosts of friends and ad- 
 mirers. Why should it wreck his life because an in- 
 significant little girl, that he used to be fond of as a 
 boy, thought she ought not to marry him ? Had he not 
 plenty to fill his life and make him happy without her? 
 Of course it was very kind and sweet of him to ask 
 her to be his wife, and perhaps he would be just a 
 little disappointed. She almost hoped he would. But 
 would he feel as she was feeling now as if the world 
 was a terrible blank and everything going out of it ? 
 Did he really need her love now just as he used to 
 when he was a boy ? Did grandmamma think that he 
 would suffer, suffer? She threw out her hands des- 
 perately. 
 
 The door opened suddenly and her father stood there. 
 He looked rather red and disturbed. 
 
 " He has gone, Espiritu," he said, abruptly. 
 
 " Gone !" she cried. " Gone ! Oh, papa, stop him !" 
 and she burst into tears and groped her way towards 
 the door. 
 
 Poor little Espiritu ! Falling on her knees by the 
 door she listened to Theodore's retreating footsteps 
 going slowly down, down the long flight of steps to the 
 garden, and a wild sense of the utter impossibility of 
 any separation between them rushed over her. What ! 
 
 181
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 send Theodore away ? Theodore, the dear friend of 
 her life, her brother, companion, lover, knight, whose 
 every thought and feeling were as her own ! Oh no ! 
 impossible ! He must not go ! Why, they belonged 
 to each other, and he would suffer cruelly if he was 
 separated from her. She knew now that she was every- 
 thing to him and yet she was sending him away. She 
 sprang up and rushed breathlessly to the window. 
 That was he, poor Theodore, walking slowly away 
 slowly, falteringly, with head bent down and sad, 
 troubled eyes. Something in his attitude pierced her 
 tender heart through and through. " Theodore !" she 
 cried, and with trembling fingers tore open the win- 
 dow fastenings. " Theodore !" and the tall figure 
 slowly turned; the blond head was raised, the blue 
 eyes met hers. " Theodore !" she called again, desper- 
 ately. Her eyes were blinded so that she could no 
 longer see him, and she stretched out her hands tow- 
 ards him. Then she drew back hastily, and running 
 to the door crossed the hall and in another moment 
 was flying down the stairs. Oh, had he seen her ? 
 Could she reach him ? She could not see in her ex- 
 citement and tears, but now she had reached the lower 
 landing, and surely some one was there ! She fell 
 forward with a glad little cry. " Theodore ! Oh, my 
 darling ! I could not let you go ! Oh, Theodore !" 
 and she was laughing and crying in his dear arms and 
 leaning breathlessly against him. He held her very 
 close. " Thank God !" he murmured, and then he was 
 silent dumb in very thankfulness. 
 
 " It it couldn't be any other way," she gasped, and 
 he laid his cheek to hers. "We were made for each 
 other, and we could not part. It would be like tear- 
 ing our hearts out, would it not?" she pleaded, and he 
 
 182
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 drew her head back and gazed deep down into the 
 soft, tearful eyes. " Theodore, you see I only thought 
 of myself at first, and it seemed as if I could bear it 
 alone, but when it came over me how much you would 
 suffer too, then I couldn't bear it any longer." He 
 stooped and touched his lips to hers, and her soft 
 hands were clasped about his neck. Then at last he 
 spoke. " Espiritu ! Espiritu ! My light, my life, my 
 peace ! My first, my only love ! Soul of my soul, 
 God wills it ! We must live and die together !" And 
 they climbed slowly up the stair, he, with his arm 
 about her, and she, sweet and joyous, smiling up at 
 him and murmuring, " Ah, yes ! we could not ever be 
 really parted !" 
 
 Disdier, standing at the head of the stairs, saw them 
 coming up together and withdrew in some agitation. 
 Espiritu disengaged herself from Teodoro's arm and 
 ran lightly after him. 
 
 " Do not fear, papa, that I will ever leave you 
 as long as you have need of me. Theodore will 
 never ask me to do that. We will tell him all, and 
 he is so good, so noble, he will see at once what is 
 right." 
 
 Disdier sighed and looked uneasy. " I do not think 
 it will be necessary to tell him all, child. Remember 
 my affairs are my own. If I leave you alone together 
 for awhile, I expect you to guard closely your father's 
 honor." 
 
 " From Theodore ?" asked Espiritu, in trouble. How 
 could she have a secret from him ? 
 
 "Oh, I suppose he will have to learn, sooner or 
 later," grumbled Disdier, unwillingly. He felt ashamed 
 of himself for having accepted Espiritu's sacrifice, and 
 ashamed now to face her young lover with the truth. 
 
 183
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 It was hard enough to manage affairs in one's own 
 household without having outsiders step in ! 
 
 Teodoro had gone into the salon and was awaiting 
 his little lady-love. She returned soon and he saw 
 the trouble in her eyes. He sat down by her and held 
 her soft hand in his, as in their childish days. 
 
 "Why did you think, dearest, that you must send 
 me away ? If you are in trouble who should share it 
 with you but I ?" 
 
 " It is other people's troubles," she said. "I have not 
 any of my own, but one does not feel free to tell other 
 people's affairs. However, I know now, dear The*o- 
 dore, that it was not right towards you to send you 
 away. It was like deceiving you, and there must not 
 be any secrets between us now. When all is told you, 
 then you will feel as I do, that I must stay by my 
 father for the present." 
 
 " Tell me at once, dear, what the secret is !" 
 
 " Theodore, it is this : papa is a married man !" 
 
 " Married ! Since when ?" 
 
 " Since that very winter that you first came to our 
 house. He has never acknowledged the marriage pub- 
 licly, nor told grandmamma of it, for she adored my 
 poor mother's memory, and he feared she would be 
 shocked at a second marriage. Then he began to be 
 straitened for money, for it cost him a great deal to 
 keep up the two households, and his wife was young 
 and inexperienced and had extravagant tastes. That 
 is why he had to sell the house, and why he was so 
 anxious that Catalina should go on the stage. He had 
 to confide in her, and she worked hard to support 
 herself. Thanks to dear Madame Delepoule, Cata- 
 lina's training was no expense to papa, and she gave 
 all the money she earned towards our education. And 
 
 184
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 now Rafaela and Lolita are both supporting them- 
 selves. Grandmamma's little income is so reduced that 
 she and I would starve if the girls did not help us; but 
 she knows nothing of the trouble, and we manage so 
 that now she is blind she does not miss anything from 
 her accustomed way of living. You must have no- 
 ticed, dear Theodore, that there is almost no furni- 
 ture or silver in the house except what she uses, and 
 that the pictures and ornaments are nearly all gone 
 from the walls." 
 
 " But I do not see why all this should prevent your 
 marrying me !" exclaimed Teodoro. " Let your father 
 acknowledge his wife, which is surely his duty. Ma- 
 dame Valorge will live with us, and as his son-in-law 
 I shall have the right to help your father in his busi- 
 ness. It is as plain as daylight." 
 
 " Not so fast, dear Theodore ! that is not all. Papa 
 needs me to live with him. I told you his wife was 
 extravagant and a poor manager ; and there is one 
 little boy, a sickly little fellow, and papa fears he is 
 not getting the care he should have, but he is in such 
 terrible straits for money that he cannot have a nurse 
 for the child. Papa must cling to his wife, of course, 
 and yet the poor little home cannot keep together as 
 it is. I must go to him, dear Theodore. I can keep 
 house, I am used to economizing, and I can care for 
 the little Maxime, and there is no one else to do it." 
 
 " Why cannot one of your sisters go instead of you ?" 
 
 " Because they are all doing something to earn their 
 living. I am the only useless one. But Lolita, who 
 is only absent from home for a few hours a day, can do 
 for grandmamma, with the help of one maid-of-all- 
 work, though she could not be of as much use as I in 
 papa's unhappy household. You see how it is, dear 
 
 185
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Theodore, I am the only one that can go to him and 
 be of any use." 
 
 Teodoro still rebelled. 
 
 "I only want to be sure that you are not over- 
 anxious to sacrifice yourself. You know you dote on 
 sacrifices, dear, but you must not be selfish about it. 
 Remember, it is only ten minutes since you confessed 
 that you had only thought of yourself and not at all 
 of me. Now recollect that every sacrifice you make 
 is one for me too." 
 
 " Which of course you are delighted to make," she 
 said, gayly. Then reaching up she took his face be- 
 tween her two hands and smiled lovingly into his eyes. 
 " Dear Theodore, isn't it enough happiness for the 
 present that we are betrothed, that we can see each 
 other as often as we want to, and have the right to 
 each other's love and confidence ? Let us enjoy the 
 present." 
 
 " It is certainly a great improvement on the past," 
 admitted he. "You don't know what I have been 
 through in the past six weary months." 
 
 " It has been hard for me, too," she said, gently. 
 
 " I know, dear," he said, kindly. " You must have 
 had many painful times. How could your father ask 
 you to bear so much for him, my delicate, gentle little 
 spirit ?" 
 
 " Oh, I didn't mean about his affairs," she stam- 
 mered. " I meant I meant it had been hard for me 
 on your account !" 
 
 " Oh !" he said, awkwardly. Then, as she hung her 
 head very low and looked very much abashed, he said 
 " Oh !" again. 
 
 " I was afraid," she tried to explain, " when I saw 
 how big and handsome you were grown, and what a 
 
 1 86
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 success you were making, that you would not need my 
 poor love and sympathy any more." 
 
 Tedi stared at her. " I see," he said, at last. " You 
 only love me to do me good. Well, I have been 
 wretched enough to please you, and you had the good 
 sense to see, just in the nick of time, that you could do 
 me as much good in success as in failure, perhaps more 
 so. Adriano says that too much success is very dan- 
 gerous and wrecks many men who have gone through 
 poverty and sorrow unscathed. It takes a strong 
 character to stand the test of success." 
 
 " Perhaps I ought to refuse you again, for your own 
 good !" she suggested, slyly. 
 
 " I do not mean success in love," he corrected, 
 hastily. 
 
 " But you are a strong character, Theodore." 
 
 "I? Oh no, I am not strong. What are you 
 thinking of ?" 
 
 " But you are having success, and yet you are not 
 going to wreck and ruin !" 
 
 " But I may if I do not have you to keep me 
 straight !" 
 
 " If I thought that of you I would not marry you at 
 all. I like a man who can stand alone and does not 
 have to be propped up all the time. Besides, I find it 
 hard enough to be good with my wee, small tempta- 
 tions ; how in the world can I be of any help to you in 
 your big ones ?" 
 
 Teodoro grew very serious. " Think what it would 
 be for me to have your constant companionship, to 
 live in the home that you would create for me, to 
 breathe its pure, sweet atmosphere always. I am 
 speaking from the moral side only, the need my soul 
 has of you. When it comes to the need my heart has 
 
 187
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 of you, why, then, dearest, it is simply a question of 
 ray life. It would not be living to be without you !" 
 
 " And yet you were walking away from me ! Gal- 
 lant knight, why did you not storm the castle and car- 
 ry me off ?" 
 
 " A knight must obey his lady's orders. I was or- 
 dered away. My lady would have none of me ; what 
 could I do ?" 
 
 " Oh, Theodore, how could I ! But it did seem best 
 not to drag you into our troubles and into a long, hope- 
 less engagement." 
 
 "The engagement cannot be as hopeless as not 
 being engaged at all," he said, cheerily. "We are 
 friends and lovers forever now, and we will marry 
 some day when God wills and our duties to others 
 permit. Do you not see that this is far better both 
 for me and for you than sending me away ?" 
 
 " You must forget that I ever did that, my darling." 
 
 " Forget !" he exclaimed, gazing down at her ador- 
 ingly. " Do you think I can ever forget such an ex- 
 perience? I do not remember clearly the scene with 
 your father and Madame Valorge, for I was too dazed, 
 too astonished and bewildered. I kept saying ' It must 
 be a mistake it must be a mistake !' I do not know 
 how I got out of the room or down-stairs. I think your 
 father was sorry for me, he was so kind, and that made 
 it seem all the more certain and dreadful. Then Ma- 
 dame Valorge was crying, and I knew that she was dis- 
 appointed and would not send me away if she could 
 help it. There ! You are crying too !" 
 
 " Oh, I was so bad !" she sobbed, clinging to him. 
 " I made every one so unhappy ! But I did not mean 
 to ! I did not think I was of so much importance." 
 
 " Next time you need not think, you must know it," 
 1 88
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 said Teodoro. He longed to clasp her to his breast 
 and overwhelm her with affection and caresses, but he 
 knew instinctively that any such impetuosity on his 
 part would startle her and make her shrink away from 
 him, while now that he was so quiet and self-restrained, 
 almost distant with her, she had courage to express all 
 that her tender heart felt for him. Such tenderness 
 was too precious to run any risk of frightening it 
 away. 
 
 " I am coming to the bright part now, Espiritu, so 
 do not cry any more ! It seemed to me impossible 
 that I should be going away from you. I could not 
 think nor speak nor see. My brain kept repeating ' It 
 is impossible !' " 
 
 " And I felt that too, as soon as you were gone. That 
 is what made me call after you. I could not help it, 
 Theodore, indeed I could not help it ! And, thank 
 God, you heard me !" 
 
 "And if I had not?" 
 
 " I would have run after you all the way to Paris !" 
 
 Then he clasped her in his arms with all the pent-up 
 ardor of his youthful soul. " Espfritu, Espiritu !" he 
 cried. " Can I ever forget the sound of your voice as 
 it came to me through the gloom and waked me from 
 that wretched dream ? Oh, my darling, it was worth 
 while to have gone through all that darkness and mis- 
 ery for the glory of such an awakening ! Oh, my hope, 
 my joy, you had to come to me ! We are one already 
 in heart and soul, one forever in life or death, always 
 one !" 
 
 Gently, very gently she loosed herself from his em- 
 brace, smiling all the while into his face and repeat- 
 ing, " Yes, always one, far or near, in life or death, al- 
 ways one !" He had to let her go, he could not hold 
 
 189
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 her against her wish, and they were sitting demurely 
 hand in hand in the old childish fashion when a little 
 later the door opened and Madame Valorge stood on 
 the threshold. 
 
 In a moment they were at her feet and she was sob- 
 bing over them and blessing them, pressing them again 
 and again to her heart with broken words of joy and 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 4< Your father has told me all at last," she said, sadly, 
 when the first excitement was over and they were sit- 
 ting on either side of her and she held their dear hands 
 clasped in hers " told me what I should have known 
 six years ago. Oh, my poor dear little girls, what a 
 heavy load you have had to carry to try and ease your 
 old grandmother's burdens ! It was hard for me at first 
 to forgive your father his distrust of me. I had long 
 ago made up my mind that a second marriage was in- 
 evitable, but he has suffered severely for his fault and 
 I can but overlook it. Theodore, Espiritu, you are 
 both very young. You can wait a little while yet, and 
 you will be all the stronger and better for the test of 
 your patience and fidelity. Believe me, my children, 
 when God places an evident duty in our paths he at- 
 taches a special blessing to its fulfilment. Go to your 
 father's unhappy home, my little Espiritu, like a dove 
 of peace, and when the way is once made clear for you 
 to enter upon your own married life your past sacrifice 
 will be rewarded a hundred-fold. And you, Theodore, 
 for the love you bear her, the years of your waiting 
 and service will be but as so many days, and they will 
 be hallowed to you by the spirit of pure, unselfish devo- 
 tion. Courage, my children ! The end of your wait- 
 ing may be nearer than you think. We never know 
 what the morrow will bring forth !" 
 
 190
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 41 As a twig trembles which a bird 
 
 Lights on to sing, then leaves unbent, 
 So is my memory thrilled and stirred 
 I only know she came and went." 
 
 Lowell. 
 
 THE first presentation of "Cordelia" was drawing 
 near. It was by sheer force of will that Catalina held 
 herself together. She knew that there was more than 
 her personal success involved, there was the vindica- 
 tion of those who had selected her to create the charac- 
 ter in preference to her rivals, Lenormand and Strong, 
 and half Paris was in arms to forward or to prevent 
 her success. Harassed and nervous, the girl began to 
 lose sleep and appetite, and there were dark circles 
 under her large, languid eyes. To add to her anxieties, 
 Disdier confided to his daughter his ever - increasing 
 money-troubles, and she had less than ever to spare to 
 her grandmother and sisters, for her Paris engage- 
 ment did not pay her as well as her London and 
 Russian ones of the previous season, and she had the 
 expense of new wardrobes to meet. 
 
 " Madame Valorge has had to be told of my mar- 
 riage," complained Disdier, " and now I must acknowl- 
 edge it to the world, since Espiritu is coming to try 
 and keep my unhappy household together. It will make 
 a pretty dish of gossip. I wish at least I could put off 
 the announcement till this ' Cordelia ' affair is settled. 
 
 191
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 A scandal about your father will only add to your 
 difficulties. Besides," he continued, hesitatingly, "I 
 fear it will injure your chances of marriage. I should 
 have liked to see my daughter with a title and fortune 
 safely secured before it was necessary to publish my 
 secrets to the world." 
 
 Catalina blushed. She tried hard to honor her father, 
 but so often his standards were below her own ! 
 
 " If Sir Guy made me an offer, father, I must tell 
 him all. I could keep nothing from him that might 
 make him choose differently. Dear papa, do not dream 
 of titles and fortunes for me ! If I can only keep 
 my health and earn a good salary that is all I ask." 
 
 " If you were well married to a man of means you 
 need not worry about these things. A man like Daret- 
 ti, for instance, who is in the same profession, and who 
 could not object to the connection, since his brother 
 marries your sister." 
 
 Catalina turned very pale, and interrupted her father 
 with a nervous, hasty gesture. " Never speak of him 
 in that way, papa ! Adrien Daretti has been as the 
 kindest of brothers, and I owe my whole success in 
 Paris to him, but he has never had a thought of me !" 
 
 " Never had a thought of you !" echoed Disdier, with 
 a short, dry laugh. " Why, child ! he thought enough 
 of you to ask me for your hand six years ago, and 
 seemed dreadfully cut up when I thought best to re- 
 fuse him." 
 
 Catalina rose to her feet, and with staring eyes and 
 nervously clasped hands moved tremblingly to where 
 her father sat. 
 
 "Asked for my hand?" she exclaimed. "Adrien 
 asked for my hand, and you refused him ? Oh, papa, 
 what do you mean? It is some dreadful mistake !" 
 
 192
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Disdier glanced up with surprise and trouble to the 
 agitated girl. " Good Heavens, Catalina ! You don't 
 mean that you care ?" he asked, hoarsely. He was a 
 selfish man in many respects, but he could not bear 
 the sight of suffering. This weakness was at the bot- 
 tom of all his trouble. The fear of wounding Madame 
 Valorge had made him conceal his marriage, and the 
 dread of his wife's tears had made him go into debt 
 and accept his children's help rather than refuse to 
 gratify her extravagances. 
 
 " Tell me all, father," begged Catalina" tell me all." 
 
 " I talked it over with your grandmother," he ex- 
 plained, apologetically. " She thought, as I did, that 
 you should finish your studies before we talked of mar- 
 riage. Besides, I knew the necessity for you to work 
 and help educate your sisters, and Daretti was not 
 then the rich man he is now. At present it is very 
 different. You are mistress of your art, and have se- 
 cured a fine position, and he is a man of wealth. What 
 seemed inadvisable then is desirable now." 
 
 She was calmer now, though she sighed heavily. " I 
 dare say you were right, papa. I did not dream that 
 he thought of me." She hesitated, then added, " How 
 far off those days seem now !" 
 
 Her father noticed the quiver in her voice. " He 
 has never married, Catalina," he suggested. 
 
 She turned away a moment, then she came and stood 
 by his side and drew her arm round his neck. " Dear 
 papa, no doubt it has long since passed from his mind. 
 Do not think of it any more ! Only pray for my suc- 
 cess and strength." 
 
 It was easy for Catalina to tell her father not to 
 think of a marriage between herself and Daretti, but 
 it was another thing to keep the thought from her own 
 N 193
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 mind. Thrown as she was with him daily in the close 
 companionship of many mutual interests, it was im- 
 possible to her to preserve the attitude of sisterly un- 
 consciousness that had been easy and natural so long 
 as she thought him only friend and brother. But now 
 that she knew he might have been her husband, knew 
 that he had once thought of her as wife and might so 
 think of her again, her manner towards him changed 
 in spite of herself. It was impossible now to keep back 
 the conscious blush from her cheek or the telltale shy- 
 ness from her eyes. She only dreaded lest he should 
 notice and understand the change. 
 
 The annoyances that cropped up on every side with 
 regard to the unfortunate opera of " Cordelia " almost 
 discouraged even Adriano, experienced as he was in 
 the treacherous, guerilla warfare of operatic enmities. 
 He was a daring soldier, and had he been alone he 
 would have fought against every odds with valor. The 
 blood of generations of military ancestors warmed in 
 his veins, and he almost enjoyed leading the forlorn- 
 hope into battle. But he was not alone. He could 
 see that Catalina was gradually sinking under the 
 struggle. There was a hunted, anxious look in her 
 eyes that troubled him, as it did Madame Delepoule. 
 Again and again Daretti offered to give up the pro- 
 duction of the opera, but the girl was obstinate. En- 
 couraged, urged on by Miss Carson, she determined to 
 do desperate battle with her foes, little dreaming what 
 the cost would be. 
 
 At one of their last rehearsals in Madame Dele- 
 poule's salon, Miss Carson came up coquettishly to 
 Daretti and held up laughingly a hand on which a large 
 diamond ring glistened conspicuously. 
 
 " My best wishes !" said Daretti, courteously. "And 
 194
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 who is the fortunate man, that I may congratulate 
 him?" 
 
 She was piqued that he showed so little surprise or 
 discomfiture. 
 
 " Pistols for two and coffee for one, for Mr. Oeglaire," 
 she pouted ; but at the mention of this name Daretti 
 certainly looked dismayed enough to suit her ca- 
 price. " There's nothing like having a friend at court," 
 she explained, gayly. " Now we shall get some beau- 
 tiful press notices for Catalina. My engagement is on 
 just in the nick of time to boom 'Cordelia.' Now 
 everything will come our way." 
 
 But Adriano was seriously disturbed. This engage- 
 ment seemed to confirm his suspicions of Miss Carson, 
 and he remembered with consternation the hours that 
 he and Choulex had spent coaching Catalina with this 
 scheming rival present, taking it all in, and no doubt 
 making capital out of these lessons. His tenderness 
 and solicitude for Catalina increased visibly. His 
 blood boiled as he thought of her cowardly foes, and 
 it was well for Oeglaire that he did not cross Daretti's 
 path in these days. 
 
 Choulex watched the growing preoccupation of his 
 friend with grave, silent eyes. There was a deep pain 
 gnawing at his big heart, but the woman and the 
 man who were dearest to him on earth had need of his 
 co-operation just now. He would give them of his 
 best, and then, if necessary to their happiness, he could 
 efface himself. Surely his love was equal to that. 
 
 Adriano felt the need of open-air exercise after the 
 confining work of rehearsal and composition. Sir Guy 
 Ainsworth usually put in his appearance these lovely 
 spring afternoons and insisted upon Daretti's taking 
 long tramps with him into the suburbs. Adriano
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 dreaded receiving the young Englishman's confidence. 
 Whistling to his dogs, who bounded along joyously at 
 his heels, he started off with a firm determination to 
 steer clear of all dangerously sentimental subjects. 
 As they strode along in the gay spring sunshine they 
 discussed dogs, horses, sports in general, clubs, politics, 
 travel, the latest books, and, finally, though Daretti 
 had staved it off as long as he could, opera. He knew 
 what that would infallibly lead to, and before long the 
 young baronet was blushing and stammering. 
 
 "You see, Daretti, I don't understand the way 
 foreigners manage these affairs. Now, if she was an 
 English girl, I should just propose to her, don't you 
 know, point-blank, and there would be the end of it. 
 But I know your foreign way is different, and I never 
 have the chance to see her alone. She always has a 
 maid, or else Madame Delepoule is watching her like a 
 cat. I beg pardon, I don't mean anything against the 
 old lady, she is really awfully jolly, but I don't feel at 
 ease, don't you know ? I want to do things in the way 
 that Miss Disdier and her family would like, and I 
 thought perhaps you could help me. Now, Daretti, 
 what must I do, and do you think I stand the ghost of 
 a chance with them all ?" 
 
 It was truly an embarrassing position for Adriano. 
 The young lady in question had been the object of 
 his own courtship six years before, and he suspected 
 that Choulex intended to propose for her hand shortly. 
 He liked Ainsworth, and wanted to deal fairly with 
 him, but Choulex was the dearly loved friend of many 
 years. What in the world was he to do ? After all, it 
 was Catalina's own affair. If she liked Ainsworth bet- 
 ter than Choulex, then Casimir would have to bear it, 
 and nothing that he, Adriano, could do would make it 
 
 196
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 any easier for him. Catalina had a right to know 
 what was offered to her. She was old enough, and had 
 seen enough of the world now to decide wisely for her- 
 self. 
 
 " All right, Ainsworth," he said, heartily. " I will 
 do my best for you. My honest opinion is that you 
 could do nothing better than to propose to her your- 
 self, in your own downright, English fashion." 
 
 Ainsworth drew a long sigh of relief. " I am so 
 glad you feel that way, Daretti. I shall feel more like 
 a man if I speak for myself. I beg your pardon ; I 
 don't mean anything against your customs, they are 
 all right for those who are used to them, but it is like 
 talking a foreign language to me. I can express my- 
 self so much better in my own tongue, don't you 
 know ?" 
 
 Adriano did know and laughed good - naturedly. 
 " Tell me, Ainsworth, how do your family feel about 
 this ? Will they receive her well ?" 
 
 " Mother and the girls had rather I married an 
 Englishwoman, of course that's very natural, don't 
 you know ? But they will be glad to have me marry 
 at all, and they cannot help liking her when they know 
 her. Vic, of course, will be delighted. I hope you 
 will meet Victoire soon, Daretti. I really should like 
 you to for several reasons." 
 
 " I should be greatly interested to see Lady Ains- 
 worth. What you have told me of her story is very 
 pathetic. One thinks of her as something apart and 
 holy, almost like a consecrated nun." 
 
 " Well, I don't know that I want you to think of her 
 in that way exactly," said Ainsworth, with an embar- 
 rassed smile. " I should like to see her marry again ; it 
 was all so unhappy and unsatisfactory, don't you know, 
 
 197
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 just a sort of prolonged death-bed for fifteen months. 
 I always felt as if we ought not to have allowed it, 
 for it was not as if she had cared much for him. You 
 know, I don't think she really cared for him at all. It 
 was just an impulse of compassion and gratitude." 
 
 "Don't tell me that," said Adriano, hastily. "It 
 spoils the story. I want to think of her as ' a widow 
 indeed.' " 
 
 " Well, you see, I want you to know her, and you 
 wouldn't understand her if I didn't tell you. She 
 never could have been happy with him. She had the 
 most exalted ideals, and poor Phil couldn't come up 
 even to the average standards. There was much that 
 we tried to hush up, but he lingered on so long that 
 lots of things had to be explained to her. They made 
 me tell her, and I shall never forget the anguish in 
 her eyes to my dying day. It almost killed her. She 
 is the mere shadow of her former self. I overheard 
 her once, when she thought no one was near, praying, 
 'O God, make him well, but if you do then let me die!' " 
 
 " I am almost a stranger to you all," said Adriano, 
 hesitatingly. " You trust me with very sacred confi- 
 dences." 
 
 " I feel impelled to do so, Daretti ; I can't tell you 
 why, except that well, to be frank, I wish you two 
 could fancy each other ! I long to see Victoire happy, 
 she has had such a tragic youth. She loves music 
 passionately, and you would be awfully congenial. I 
 have never seen any fellow but yourself that I thought 
 was suited to her, and all that sort of thing, don't you 
 know ?" 
 
 Adriano was well used to receiving suggestions and 
 offers of marriage, and should have been hardened 
 to receive them unmoved, but he colored hotly and 
 
 198
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 looked deeply embarrassed. Ainsworth hastened to 
 add: 
 
 "Of course this is just a notion that has come into 
 my head and I have never breathed it to her. That is 
 not our English way. You may not be fancy-free, 
 and that would knock my castles all on the head." 
 
 " Or she might not think as kindly of me as you do, 
 Ainsworth, even if I were, as I am, fancy-free, and 
 were to find her adorable, as indeed she must be. I can 
 only hope you will never have reason to regret your 
 trust in me." 
 
 " I am not afraid of that, my dear fellow ! But let 
 the future take care of itself. I am awfully obliged 
 for what you have done for me. I feel a load off my 
 mind." 
 
 " But really 1 have done nothing," smiled Adriano. 
 " I have only encouraged you to do what you can for 
 yourself." 
 
 " That is everything. I am willing to face a ' no ' 
 when it comes direct from herself, but I couldn't bear 
 the thought of its coming through half a dozen stran- 
 gers. Good-bye, old fellow ! I suppose I shall meet 
 you to-night at the Usseglio reception. I promised to 
 go with Victoire or I would come round and go with 
 you." 
 
 " I feel like a traitor all round to everybody," 
 thought Adriano, as he whistled to the dogs and 
 climbed slowly up the stairs ; " but what was the use 
 in telling him that I had once tried for Catalina my- 
 self, and that Choulex is trying for her now, and that 
 Madame Delepoule is bitterly opposed to him ? These 
 things are neither here nor there if Catalina cares for 
 him. She must manage her own love affairs. I have 
 enough on my hands with Tedi and Casimir, and now 
 
 199
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 even Oreste ! Well, well ! It's love that makes the 
 world go round round, round, till I am dizzy looking 
 on !" 
 
 An hour later he sauntered into the salon, dressed 
 for the evening. There were some minutes before 
 dinner would be served, and he called the dogs about 
 him and put them through all their tricks in succes- 
 sion, and allowed the friendly cat to crawl all over his 
 back and shoulders and turn round half a dozen times 
 before settling herself on his knee. Finding their 
 master growing somewhat indifferent and abstracted 
 the dogs took up their station at the window, where 
 they watched the passers-by with interest, exchanging 
 occasional meaning growls. Adriano sat a long while 
 in thought, tilting back in his chair, his hands thrust 
 deep into his pockets and the cat snoozing peacefully 
 between his knees. As it was an unusual thing for 
 him to remain so long inactive he probably found his 
 thoughts very absorbing. They ran somewhat in the 
 following vein : 
 
 " I wonder what ought to be the first requisite in 
 choosing a wife ! I am inclined to say congeniality. 
 I do not think I could get on with a woman who was 
 not in sympathy with my tastes and convictions. She 
 must be intelligent and have a quick sense of fun. I 
 am firm about that last. Imagine dragging through 
 life with a woman who could not take a joke or see 
 the comic side to things ! I do not ask to have her 
 beautiful if her face is only sweet and good; and Heav- 
 en deliver me from a stylish woman ! If she cares 
 for jewelry and dress I will none of her ! Neither 
 shall she drag round a pet dog, nor talk slang. I do 
 not think I care for too domestic a woman either. 
 Our companionship must be on a plane above clothes 
 
 200
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 and food. Imagine if she should try to make my 
 coffee and it should be poor ! I should either have to 
 force it down to save her feelings or else I should de- 
 sert her and go off to the cafe*. Then she would cry 
 and complain that I did not love her any more. Good 
 Lord ! what a bore !" and he came down on his feet 
 with an energetic movement that startled the occu- 
 pants of the room. The dogs jumped down from the 
 window-seat, and came to lay their noses inquiringly 
 on his knee, and the cat bestirred herself, arched her 
 back, and rubbed her head purringly against him. 
 
 " I suppose you think me a supremely foolish fellow, 
 and that I treat my wife with very little consideration," 
 said Adriano, half aloud, as he stroked the cat with one 
 hand and with the other toyed with the dogs' long 
 ears, looking deep into their intelligent eyes. " I real- 
 ly flatter myself, though, that if we were poor and 
 obliged to picnic in a couple of rooms I should make a 
 very jolly sort of a husband. One can endure a good 
 many privations if they are only well seasoned with 
 plenty of affection and a little fun. My dear mother ! 
 In the old days when I had you we did not mind 
 poverty ! It was a pleasure to work together, and 
 when I helped you to make the coffee I never felt it a 
 bore at all, and, moreover, the coffee used to be very 
 good ! 
 
 "You see," he continued, bending confidingly tow- 
 ards the animals, " the failure or success of married 
 life depends not so much upon circumstances as upon 
 character. Plenty of affection and cheerful good-will, 
 mutual consideration and a determination to make the 
 best of things ought to insure tolerable success. And 
 yet," very gravely, " if it should be a failure, even 
 if I should discover that I had taken to my bosom a 
 
 201
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 vixen, or a coquette, or a peevish, ill-tempered invalid, 
 or one who was unfaithful to me or to the duties of 
 her state of life, I hope, I humbly hope, with God's 
 grace, that I should accept my lot and act towards her 
 as a Christian and a gentleman. Just as I should hope 
 that if I were the failure, if sickness or misfortune 
 should come to me, or I should so far forget myself as 
 to bring reproach and trouble upon my home, she 
 would still cling to me, forgiving and faithful." 
 
 He buried his face in his hands and there was a long 
 pause. The animals instinctively understood his mood 
 and stood by him motionless. At last he arose, pushed 
 the dogs gently aside, and laid the sleepy, purring kit- 
 ten upon the softest cushion on the sofa. Then he 
 crossed over to the fireplace, shook himself, stretched 
 his shapely limbs, and laughed softly. 
 
 "After all, I cannot help wishing for the moon ! The 
 more I think of my possible wife the more I endow her 
 with the most impossible combination of the best 
 qualities of the best women I have ever known. She 
 must have my mother's heroic soul and cheerful piety. 
 She must have a grand intelligence and kind heart 
 like Madame Delepoule. She must have the high-bred 
 refinement of Madame Valorge, the grace and accom- 
 plishments of my sister-in-law. She must be gifted 
 and charming like Catalina Disdier, loving, tender- 
 hearted, bright and responsive like Espiritu Santo, 
 and she must have a face like like like " 
 
 A teasing recollection of some face that he had once 
 seen floated before him, a face that had vanished from 
 his memory years ago, but now rose up before it again 
 through the mists of time, a haunting, vague, will-o'- 
 the-wisp face, flashing at him here and there but re- 
 fusing to be caught. One moment it seemed to glance 
 
 202
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 at him through a window-frame, another moment it 
 looked demurely up from his side, again it was opposite 
 him, laughing and dimpling. Each time it reappeared 
 its features took a more definite shape, till at last it be- 
 came absolutely distinct in his mind a dainty, ani- 
 mated face, glowing with health and intelligence. He 
 could see the coloring, which had one peculiarity, that 
 the same hue in different shades pervaded all. In the 
 floating hair it was a chestnut-brown, a little darker 
 in the pencilled brows and shady lashes, in the deli- 
 cate skin it was a rich olive, in the large, lustrous eyes 
 a clear hazel. 
 
 "Who are you?" asked Adriano, puzzled. It was 
 such a lifelike, vivid picture, how could it have eluded 
 his memory? A name trembled on his tongue but 
 would not utter itself. "Who are you?" he asked 
 again, frowning and impatient. It must be a very 
 real person to so impress his imagination, and real 
 persons have names and can be traced and reached if 
 one is determined enough ! 
 
 And through the silence of years, low, pleasant tones 
 seemed to say to him, "Are you looking for any one? 
 Can I help you ?" 
 
 A light flashed into his soul. With beaming eyes 
 he pressed both hands to his heart. 
 
 " Margara !" he exclaimed aloud. " Little Marga*ra ! 
 My princess !"
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 " Softly the light robes she doth wear 
 Sweep down the stair. 
 
 eager heart, less wildly beat 
 
 1 shall behold her, stately, sweet, 
 
 All good and fair ! 
 
 " She holds me mute with her beaming eyes 
 
 Full of bright surprise ; 
 Still grow the pulses her coming shook, 
 In the gentle might of her golden look 
 My heaven lies !" 
 
 Celia Thaxter. 
 
 TEODORO, coming into the room a few minutes 
 later, was confronted by his big brother, looking flushed 
 and determined. 
 
 " Tedi, tell me instantly, without stopping to take 
 breath, where are Espiritu's friends, the San Roques ? 
 Where do they live, and what has happened to them 
 all ?" 
 
 " Good gracious, Adriano, how you startled me ! I 
 will tell you everything I know just as quick as I can. 
 They have lived in England for several years, but this 
 year they have been spending the winter at Neuilly 
 and are going to their London house next week. The 
 marquis died four years ago, one of the younger boys 
 was drowned soon after. The eldest boy, Roque, gave 
 up his title and entered a monastery. Jaime is in 
 business in England, for you know they lost a great 
 
 204
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 deal of property in Cuba during the insurrections and 
 are not as rich as they used to be. The rest are all 
 living with their mother. Espiritu sees Margara near- 
 ly every day, and you surely remember that the young- 
 er sister, the one we used to call Pepilla, is betrothed 
 to our sister Elena's brother, Gentile d'Usseglio, do 
 you not? They will be married in London next 
 month, and then we shall be connected." 
 
 " I knew that Gentile was betrothed, but I thought 
 they told me it was to an English girl," replied Adriano, 
 slowly. 
 
 " Well, the San Roques have lived principally in 
 England since the marquis's death. This is the first 
 time they have come to Paris for five years. We shall 
 surely meet them all this evening, for the Countess 
 d'Usseglio, with her son and daughter, have come to 
 Paris on purpose to be near the San Roques, and the 
 reception which the countess is giving this evening 
 is for them." 
 
 Adriano looked and felt stunned. " It is extraor- 
 dinary," he kept repeating. " It is extraordinary. Do 
 you mean that they are living right here, almost at 
 our door, and we are soon to be connected, and I never 
 knew it, never dreamed of it ? And you say the mar- 
 quis is dead, that gallant, loyal gentleman, and one of 
 the little boys drowned ? Oh, what cruel suffering for 
 those tender, loving women !" 
 
 The sudden emotion that had seized Daretti at the 
 remembrance of a girlish face, seen but for a few times 
 many years before, struck him with superstitious force, 
 coming so soon after his talk with Monsignore lanson. 
 A restless feeling urged him to go forth and seek the 
 face that haunted him, and he could hardly possess his 
 soul in patience till evening. He yielded to his ro- 
 
 205
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 mantic fancies without a struggle indeed, almost 
 gladly. 
 
 " Well, well !" he thought. " How are the mighty 
 fallen ! But a few days since I was aspiring to a con- 
 secrated celibacy with a joyous heart, and now all my 
 gay peace is gone ! There are a million women in 
 Paris, and yet my heart beats none the faster till I 
 hear that one more has slidden in among the million, 
 and then the whole world puts on a different look. 
 Oh, little girl ! why did you ever slip away from the 
 million six years ago ? We were divided for some in- 
 scrutable reason, perhaps to put your knight to the 
 test. Alas ! he failed, but God in His dear mercy is 
 bringing our paths together again, and your young 
 heart, passing through many sorrows, will have learn- 
 ed a lesson of compassion !" 
 
 The hours wore away, as hours have a habit of 
 doing even with impatient lovers, and it had become 
 quite reasonably late so late that even a man of the 
 highest fashion need not fear to present himself at 
 an aristocratic evening reception. The Usseglio re- 
 ception was not to be a large one, however, in defer- 
 ence to the beautiful widowed Marchioness of Palafox, 
 whose first appearance in social life it was since the 
 death of her husband, now nearly four years since. 
 
 The ladies received in the drawing-rooms on the 
 first floor. Teodoro was detained in the dressing- 
 room by some Italian friends, and Adriano mounted 
 the stairs alone. The sound of lively dance -music 
 came from a large room at the head of the staircase 
 and he glanced in. It was evidently the music-room, 
 with its polished floor, grand-piano, and the absence 
 of draperies. Half a dozen young couples had the 
 floor nearly to themselves, two school-girls in short 
 
 206
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 dresses were pirouetting gayly around together, while 
 in the middle of the room a lad still younger, with 
 dark floating curls, was prancing about, led by a young 
 woman whose tall, slender figure moved gayly and 
 gracefully along by the side of her romping young 
 companion. It was a pretty sight, and Daretti lin- 
 gered a moment at the threshold. The young woman 
 caught sight of him as he stood there and looked tow- 
 ards him an instant. It was not a face that he recog- 
 nized, but it was a sweet and attractive one, its sad, 
 refined expression and grave eyes being in unexpected 
 contrast with the gay, spirited movement with which 
 she had entered into the young people's pastime. She 
 seemed to hesitate a moment on seeing Daretti, but 
 he turned away at once with a bow of apology and 
 passed on to the drawing-room, where the majestic but- 
 ler was announcing his name in broad English accents. 
 The large reception-rooms were pleasantly filled by 
 members of the Spanish, Italian, and English colonies 
 of Paris and a number of French families of rank. 
 The announcement of the great singer's name caused 
 a ripple of excitement, for though a favorite of many 
 seasons he was still one of the biggest lions of Paris 
 society. The stately, aristocratic Countess d'Usseglio 
 received him with cordiality as one of the family, and 
 Daretti then turned to where the Marchioness of Pa- 
 lafox was receiving by her side. How lovely she still 
 was as she stood there, sad, widowed, crowned with 
 gray, but tender, high-souled, distinguished as ever, 
 and with the added dignity of sorrow and a touching 
 gentleness and consideration of manner ! He bowed 
 low before her and kissed the hand she extended cord- 
 ially to him, and then glanced from her to the pretty 
 gypsy face by her side. 
 
 207
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " You will hardly remember Pepilla," said the mar- 
 chioness. " She was still in the school-room when you 
 used to come to our house six years ago, but she 
 knows your brother quite well" 
 
 " Yes, indeed," cried the young girl, " and we have 
 followed his career with the greatest interest and de- 
 light. He used to be such a dear boy and had such a 
 beautiful face, and now it is like a fairy story to have 
 him turn out such a prince of singers !" 
 
 " Theodore still has the same angelic countenance," 
 said the marchioness. " We all call him the young St. 
 Stephen." 
 
 Pepilla looked up at the big, dark man before her. 
 " How very unlike you brothers are !" she remarked, 
 demurely. 
 
 " Dona Josefa," exclaimed Adriano, in laughing re- 
 monstrance, " what have I done to deserve that ?" 
 
 Pepilla laughed too. " But are not barytones always 
 villains ?" she asked. " I always think of them as such 
 from Don Juan and lago downward, if indeed one can 
 go farther down !" 
 
 " It is an unfortunate trait of ours," he admitted. 
 
 Other guests now claimed the hostesses' attention, 
 and he was free to look about him. He was greatly 
 disappointed to see no trace of Dona Margarita. He 
 sauntered through the rooms, greeting one acquaint- 
 ance and another, stopping to have a few words here 
 and there, and welcomed everywhere with eager 
 smiles. But he could hardly command himself to 
 carry on conversation, for his mind wandered and his 
 eyes were continually glancing towards the door to 
 see who entered. At last he gathered himself togeth- 
 er with an effort. 
 
 " I cannot stand this any longer ! I must find out 
 208
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 where she is, and it will be a difficult place to reach if 
 I do not get there !" 
 
 He excused himself to surrounding friends and 
 crossed the room to where Pepilla was standing talk- 
 ing to Gentile d'Usseglio and to the young lady of the 
 dance. 
 
 " I trust, Dona Josefa," said Daretti, " that my vil- 
 lanies do not shut me out altogether from the pale of 
 your friendship?" 
 
 " ' Serve God, love me, and mend!' " she quoted, laugh- 
 ingly, with that demure little way of saying daring 
 things that made it impossible to misunderstand her. 
 Before he had time to make the rejoinder that was on 
 his tongue's end, she added : " My sister is anxious to 
 meet you, Count Daretti, so you had better run away 
 if you do not wish to be converted." 
 
 " It was for your sister that I came to inquire," said 
 Adriano. u I did not see her to pay my respects to 
 her as I entered." 
 
 " Would you remember her if you saw her again ?" 
 
 " Oh, perfectly !" he replied, with conviction ; " but I 
 feared she was not here to-night. She has not been 
 in the room since I arrived." 
 
 " Are you sure ?" and Pepilla glanced towards the 
 young lady at her side. 
 
 Adriano turned sharply round and gazed into the 
 pale, sweet face in utter astonishment and incredulity. 
 
 " Margara ! No, it is impossible !" he exclaimed, 
 totally oblivious of the fact that he was staring at the 
 young woman with the full power of his intense eyes 
 and that he had spoken of her by the familiar diminu- 
 tive of her name. No, it was some mistake ! Mar- 
 gara, his Margara, was a glowing, brilliant, laughing- 
 eyed, rosy-lipped creature, robust, healthy, brimming 
 o 209
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 over with life, intelligence, and fun. Oh, he knew her 
 well, intimately, he could not be mistaken ! This tall, 
 reserved young woman, with melancholy eyes and deli- 
 cate pale face, had nothing in common with his princess. 
 
 " I used to be known as Margara," she said. The 
 small mouth, with its thin, delicately curved lips had 
 a pathetic little droop at the corners, and the ghost of 
 a smile that crept over it now only seemed to make it 
 more pathetic than before. The tones of her voice 
 were low and pleasant. He had heard that voice in 
 memory only a few hours before, and he knew it now. 
 His eyes fell and he bowed low before her. 
 
 "Forgive me, Dona Margarita, I fear I was very 
 rude." He spoke as one in a dream. Certainly his 
 first feeling was one of bitter disappointment. All 
 his beautiful castles in Spain had crumbled away at a 
 touch. What a fool he had been he, the sensible, cool- 
 headed, heart-whole Daretti ! How absurdly vision- 
 ary the past hours now seemed, and yet the vision had 
 been a very sweet one ! 
 
 " You are very excusable," she said, kindly. " I 
 know well how much I have changed. How could you 
 remember me, who only saw me three or four times, 
 so long ago ?" 
 
 " But I recall you perfectly as you looked then," he 
 insisted, with a desperate attempt to retain a vanished 
 dream. "Your hair was two shades lighter than it is 
 now. You wore it braided, but it was all loose and 
 floating about your face, instead of brushed smooth 
 and knotted as you wear it now. Your face was round 
 then instead of oval ; you were very plump, and had a 
 great deal of color ; you were not as tall as you are 
 now, and your eyes were darker and were laughing all 
 the time." 
 
 210
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Her eyes laughed again now. She was partly flat- 
 tered at the accuracy of his memory after such a lapse 
 of time and partly amused at the unconsciously im- 
 plied disparagement of her present looks. She smiled 
 outright, and that smile was a revelation. 
 
 " I know you now I know you now !" said Adriano, 
 softly. He felt sure that the smile which so trans- 
 figured her was a rare one on her lips, and he longed to 
 think of something to say or do that would keep it 
 there. Again he looked earnestly into her face, and 
 what a refined, sensitive, high-bred face it was ; how 
 dainty the outlines, how tender the shadows ! 
 
 " This is not the first time you have met me of late 
 without recognizing me," she said, still smiling. 
 
 There was a rich color mounting in her cheeks now, 
 and Adriano wondered how he could have thought for 
 an instant that she was less pretty than formerly. Sure- 
 ly this exquisite, spiritual countenance had a beauty of 
 its own that appealed to a higher element in him than 
 the child's prettiness could have done, a beauty of in- 
 tellect refined and matured by thought and experience, 
 a beauty of soul chastened and sanctified by the sor- 
 rows of life. " She must have been through the very 
 furnace of affliction," he thought. " I wonder what the 
 story of her life has been ! She has a consecrated look, 
 as of a young nun who has learned that life is vanity 
 and has turned from the world to devote herself to 
 heaven." 
 
 He was so absorbed in his thoughts as he stood si- 
 lently contemplating her that he did not hear her 
 speak. She made another attempt to rouse him. He 
 started, for this time he realized that she was speaking, 
 but he had no more idea than the dead what she was 
 saying to him. 
 
 211
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " I have to beg your pardon again," he stammered, 
 thoroughly disconcerted and blushing deeply. Oh, 
 why could he not be invisible for a few moments, to 
 study that sweet face more and more? Why was 
 there any need of conventional talk between them? 
 But of course she could not know what he was feeling. 
 
 " A penny for your thoughts !" she said, flippantly, 
 to relieve his embarrassment. 
 
 " If I could only tell her all !" he sighed. " I was 
 thinking, Dona Margarita," he added, aloud, and some- 
 thing of the deep reverence and sympathy he felt for 
 her trembled in his tones "I was thinking that if 
 you had changed it was with the change that comes 
 over gold that has been ' seven times tried.' " 
 
 His look told more than his words, and it was im- 
 possible to doubt his sincerity. Margara was surprised 
 and touched. Her lip quivered slightly, and for a mo- 
 ment there was a mist before her eyes. This man, so 
 serious, so sympathetic, seemed to see straight into her 
 soul, and she, usually so reserved, felt a strange readi- 
 ness to let him look into its very depths. It was her 
 turn to be silent and abstracted, but his next words 
 were in a lighter vein. 
 
 " I have been honest, Dona Margarita, and you owe 
 me that penny !" 
 
 " You shall have it, to show you how readily you 
 are pardoned," she replied, smiling brightly. " But 
 you will have to trust me for it." 
 
 " I claim my reward at once," he said, determinedly. 
 " You do not carry pennies round with you, but you 
 have something that will do as well," and he pointed 
 boldly to the dainty chatelaine at her side from which 
 hung a number of small charms and trinkets. She de- 
 tached it at once and laid them in his hand. 
 
 212
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " I am as good as my word," she said. " You may 
 choose your own penny." 
 
 He looked over the pretty trifles, some of them curi- 
 osities of value. Hidden among the rest was a small 
 gold medal bearing on one side the image of Notre 
 Dame des Victoires, and on the other a representation 
 of St. Margaret with the dragon beneath her feet. 
 Adriano felt his blood give a bound. He seized upon 
 the medal unhesitatingly and looked her straight in 
 the eyes again. 
 
 " ' Here choose I, joy be the consequence,' " he 
 quoted in English. " Like Bassanio of old among the 
 caskets, I find herein fair Margaret's counterfeit." 
 Then seeing a look almost of consternation on her face, 
 he added, hastily : " Perhaps I am taking too much in 
 choosing this. Are you attached to it ? Is it perhaps 
 a souvenir?" 
 
 " I have promised, and I must not hesitate," she re- 
 plied. " It is not a souvenir, but I frankly own that I 
 am attached to it, as it is the medal of my two patron 
 saints." 
 
 " If you will spare it to me," he said, " it shall be 
 sacred to me. I will fasten it to my scapular, with the 
 medal that my mother used to wear, and I will keep it 
 there as long as I have life and faith. But you still 
 hesitate. I release you from your promise," and he 
 laid the chain in her hand. 
 
 She turned the charms over and stood looking at 
 them with downcast eyes. " I wonder why it is," she 
 thought, " that when I saw you a few months ago, for 
 the first time in many years, I felt repelled and disap- 
 pointed, and yet to-night you are more sympathetic to 
 me than any man I have known. Awhile ago I avoid- 
 ed you, I shrank from meeting you, yet now that you 
 
 213
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 are near me your presence seems like something holy. 
 Which instinct shall I be guided by, that or this ? for 
 both cannot be right." 
 
 But both were right, nevertheless, as she will under- 
 stand some day. 
 
 Silently he stood by her as she fingered the trinkets 
 thoughtfully, hesitatingly. He felt almost superstitious 
 about her decision. At last she lifted her head and 
 gazed smilingly into his eyes. 
 
 " I do not care to be released from my word," she 
 said, simply, and detaching the medal from its chain 
 handed it to him again. 
 
 With a beating heart Adriano received it from her, 
 bowing low over her hand. He felt a sense of relief 
 that made him happy and light-hearted as a boy, and 
 she, with that color in her cheeks and that light in her 
 eyes, looked like the Margara of six years ago, the 
 Margara that had believed in knights and heroes, in 
 brave men and true hearts, in Percivals and Gala- 
 hads. 
 
 " If St. Margaret is my counterfeit, I suppose the 
 dragon is yours," she said, laughingly. Since she had 
 decided to have faith in him, her heart felt wonder- 
 fully easy and gay. 
 
 " It is mine in that I am at your feet," he replied, 
 bending towards her, and they smiled into each other's 
 eyes in sheer happiness. Then she dropped hers with 
 a slight sigh, and he sighed too, though hardly know- 
 ing why. 
 
 But such moments of happy understanding are brief. 
 Other guests were arriving, and Margara moved gra- 
 ciously and sweetly forward to fulfil her duties as one 
 of the hostesses of the evening. 
 
 A hand was laid on Daretti's shoulder and he turned 
 214
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 round to look into Sir Guy Ainsworth's open, pleasant 
 countenance. 
 
 " I've been hunting high and low for you to intro- 
 duce you to Victoire, and lo ! here I find you chatting 
 with her as if you had been intimate for years. Who 
 forestalled me, I should like to know ?" 
 
 " Victoire ? Lady Ainsworth ?" stammered Adriano. 
 " What do you mean ? I have been talking to a young 
 lady that I used to know as Margara de San Roque." 
 
 " It is years since any of us have called her by that 
 name," said Sir Guy. " When she married Phil there 
 were so many Margarets in our family my mother, 
 my sister, and my father's sister that we began to call 
 her by her second name, Maria -de -las -Victorias in 
 Spanish, which we shortened into the French Vic- 
 toire. I do not know of any one who calls her Mar- 
 gara nowadays." 
 
 When she married Phil ! Victoire, Lady Ainsworth ! 
 The room seemed to whirl round with Adriano. She 
 had said, " I used to be known as Margara." Yes, of 
 course, he might have guessed it ! Hers was just the 
 face for the sad little history that had always so touched 
 him. He had put Lady Ainsworth up on a pedestal 
 as " a widow indeed," far removed by her tragic little 
 romance from every-day loves and lovers, and it had 
 been a positive shock to him to have Ainsworth sug- 
 gest that she might marry again. And she now turned 
 out to be his Margara, his princess ! Here a fierce 
 pang of jealousy shot through him. Who was that 
 man who had stepped in between them and carried 
 her off, and won the first tender devotion of her maiden 
 heart ? Yet, after all, poor fellow, who could be jeal- 
 ous of the helpless sufferer who had won, not a wife, 
 but only a nurse to soothe his dying pillow ? And Guy 
 
 215
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 had said that it was more from pity and gratitude than 
 for love that she had come to his side. Adriano caught 
 his breath. Surely the eyes that had looked into his 
 to-night had never so brightened for any other man ! 
 Heaven had kept her for him at the price of that other 
 poor fellow's suffering and untimely death ! 
 
 When the young widow knelt at her bedside that 
 night there were happy tears in her eyes, and her 
 prayers were frequently interrupted by a sobbing, 
 " Thank God ! Thank God !" Why she wept, or why 
 she should be grateful, she hardly knew. Her mind 
 dwelt on the twenty-two years of her life her happy, 
 busy, loving childhood, her visionary, romantic girl- 
 hood, the touch of first love on her innocent heart, her 
 cruel disillusions, the tragedy of her short, unhappy 
 married life, and the lonely years of her widowhood 
 with its unsatisfied aspirations. And now, suddenly, 
 a new light broke in that seemed to glorify a tall, stal- 
 wart form, and beam from a handsome, intellectual 
 countenance and deep, expressive eyes, glowing with 
 truth and tenderness. Victoire Ainsworth buried her 
 face in her hands, and again and again sobbed beneath 
 her breath, though she hardly knew why, "Thank 
 God ! Thank God !"
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 " Tremble, thou wretch, 
 That hast within thee undivulged crimes, 
 Unwhipp'd of justice !" 
 
 King Lear. 
 
 HORTENSE DELEPOULE had taken Lady Ainsworth 
 and her sister to see the last rehearsal of " Cordelia," 
 and she now begged the Darettis and Choulex, with 
 young D'Usseglio, to return to her rooms and have 
 lunch informally with her, as Espiritu had come in for 
 the day to see Catalina, and they would make a merry 
 little feast over the newly betrothed. 
 
 Pepilla's gay voice greeted Adriano. " You know 
 we leave for London in a few days, Count Daretti, and 
 the very first time you sing there in ' Don Juan ' I 
 am coming to see you whisked away by the devils !" 
 
 " How much you will enjoy it !" he exclaimed, and 
 they laughed merrily. " But I am so sorry to disap- 
 point you, Dona Josefa, for I have turned over a new 
 leaf. Instead of Don Juan, I am to make my first 
 London appearance as Wolfram in ' Tannhauser,' and 
 he is a most saintly character, I assure you." 
 
 " He is dreadfully good," she pouted, " and oh, dear ! 
 he is such a bore !" 
 
 " You don't blame Elizabeth, then ! Ah, Dona Jo- 
 sefa, I fear women are very much alike all the world 
 over. They are dreadfully shocked when men are bad, 
 and yet when they are good they vote them uninter- 
 
 217
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 esting ! It is a crime to be bad, but it is a blunder to 
 be good, and a blunder is worse than a crime." He 
 felt very much at ease with the bright young girl, and 
 the thought flashed through his brain, " How well we 
 should get on as brother and sister." He tried to check 
 the thought, but his cheeks burned with it. 
 
 " I am glad we shall hear the Wagner music-dramas 
 at last," said Lady Ainsworth. "I am looking forward 
 very impatiently to the London season." 
 
 "We open in ' Tannha'user ' Catalina, Lennartsen, 
 and I but I do not think you will like Wolfram 
 any more than your sister does ; he is too goody- 
 goody." 
 
 " Oh, you are a so much nicer villain !" exclaimed 
 Espiritu. 
 
 " We all know that Espiritu adores villains," smiled 
 Victoire ; " she positively revels in the worst kind of 
 crimes." 
 
 They all burst out laughing at this picture of poor 
 Espiritu. " It is perfectly true," continued Victoire, 
 gravely. " You should see her visiting the poor. When 
 the Sisters take her to see the worst cases, where they 
 hardly dare go themselves, she is simply radiant. 
 When she meets a really hardened sinner, degraded 
 and brutal, then it is happiness, for she has found a 
 soul truly worth loving." 
 
 Espiritu was scarlet and her eyes were full of tears, 
 but she laughed heartily with the rest. 
 
 " I know it," said Teodoro, solemnly, "and it makes 
 me feel badly, for I fear I have deceived the poor child. 
 I was so afraid she would not accept me that I led her 
 to believe I was an abandoned reprobate of the dark- 
 est hue, and she took me at once without a murmur. 
 What troubles me is that I have got to keep up the 
 
 218
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 character if I wish to retain her affection, and I fear 
 it will be a difficult task." 
 
 " Why should it be difficult ?" retorted Espiritu. 
 " You are certainly ready enough at invention." 
 
 " Comfort yourself, Teodoro," put in Choulex. " The 
 afflicted are almost as dear to her as sinners, and as 
 the years go on there will be less need of deception. 
 When you are old and decrepit and bald and hard 
 of hearing and rheumatic and feeble-minded, then she 
 will love you dearly for your own sake, and your de- 
 clining years may be spent virtuously." 
 
 " Oh, don't, don't," pleaded Espiritu. " It is too 
 bad to talk of me in this way. It is all Victoire's 
 fault ; she began it, and I will have my revenge. She 
 loves sinners herself, for all she may say, and a great 
 deal more than I possibly could. Why, we have been 
 going for days to see a horrible old creature, repulsive 
 to the last degree, who railed against the rich and 
 against religion till it made your blood curdle. But 
 somehow the grace of God touched her, and at last she 
 asked for the sacraments. Then you should have seen 
 Victoire ! She rushed up to this dirty old hag and act- 
 ually threw her arms round her, and hugged and kissed 
 her as if she were the loveliest object in the world !" 
 
 Lady Ainsworth flushed in her turn and pretended 
 to shudder. 
 
 " It makes me creep now to remember it," she said, 
 laughing, and giving her dress a little shake. During 
 Espiritu's recital she had looked down steadily, but 
 now as she raised her eyes she felt rather than saw 
 that Daretti's were fixed upon her with an expression 
 of indescribable tenderness, his dark lashes wet with 
 unshed tears. 
 
 Catalina, sitting opposite them, also saw the expres- 
 219
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 sion of his eyes. Something seemed to draw tightly 
 about her heart, she felt faint, and the air of the room 
 grew suffocating. It was with an effort that she con- 
 trolled herself sufficiently to remain seated. She hard- 
 ly knew what was being said around her. At last she 
 excused herself on the ground of being fatigued after 
 the rehearsal. Daretti followed her to the door. He 
 was deeply concerned at her paleness. 
 
 " I have begged you not to overwork, Catalina," he 
 said, kindly, " and I fear you have not listened to me. 
 Believe me, I would rather give up 'Cordelia' alto- 
 gether than feel that the strain was injuring you. 
 It is not too late now to put it off. Let me speak to 
 the management and they will arrange another date ;" 
 and he looked down on her with a tender solicitude 
 that almost made her forget that other glance she had 
 intercepted a moment before. 
 
 She shook her head. " It will be better to have it 
 over," she repeated. " I could not stand the strain of 
 delay, or the humiliation of giving it up. I only wish 
 it were to-night instead of to-morrow." 
 
 He turned away with a half sigh and many misgiv- 
 ings. 
 
 Catalina passed another restless night with many 
 wakeful hours and distressing dreams. In the morn- 
 ing she summoned her maid, and, without confiding in 
 Madame Delepoule, stole from the house to consult a 
 famous physician much in vogue among singers and 
 actors for his skill with refractory throats and nerves. 
 By noon she already felt excellent effects from his 
 remedies. In the afternoon she had a long, refreshing 
 sleep, accompanied with roseate dreams. She had had 
 a grand success. The fortune of her family was se- 
 cured and Adrien was fully justified in his choice of 
 
 220
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 her, and was kneeling at her feet pouring out expres- 
 sions of gratitude and admiration. 
 
 The most crowded house of several seasons greeted 
 "Cordelia " that night. Catalina's refined, picturesque 
 beauty had never appeared to greater advantage than 
 in the gentle dignity, the noble simplicity and truth 
 of the Cordelia of the opening act. The exquisite re- 
 pose and tender, childlike grace of manner were fas- 
 cinating. The lyric role of the King of France was 
 assigned to Octave Fariaulx, who rendered it with 
 much manliness and charm. The"rese Vibault and 
 Caroline Brenne* were the Regan and Goneril, both 
 good singers and consummate actresses. So well did 
 they enact the feigned tenderness and enthusiastic 
 devotion of the elder daughters, that one hardly won- 
 dered at the misguided Lear for turning to them rather 
 than to the proud, shy reticence of the younger. The 
 whole of the first act went off without a drawback. 
 "Cordelia" was an undoubted success. 
 
 The second act gave Daretti greater opportunity 
 than the first. The grief, humiliation, and despair of 
 the old king, despised, insulted, driven from his home 
 by the cruelty of his daughters, wandering on the 
 storm-driven moor at the mercy of a poor faithful fool 
 and a mad stranger, and yearning for his banished 
 child all were most touchingly and powerfully de- 
 picted. Catalina did not appear in this act, and the 
 triumph was all Adrien's. The audience knew how 
 largely he was responsible for the beauties of the li- 
 bretto, and the enthusiasm knew no bounds. The 
 noble, beautiful music was felt to be the crowning 
 work of Federici's genius. It was a wonderful even- 
 ing for all who had the privilege of being present. 
 
 The libretto had been greatly altered from the plan 
 221
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 of Shakespeare's tragedy. Many characters and inci- 
 dents had to be cut out to preserve the broad and 
 simple outlines of the music-drama, but the main pur- 
 pose of the story was the same. The principal change 
 was in the third act, where Cordelia hears of her sis- 
 ter's cruelty and her father's degradation, and, forgiv- 
 ing all, takes leave of her husband, and rushes to meet 
 the stricken old man. The last act represented the 
 defeat of the French armies and the grief of Lear over 
 the murdered form of Cordelia, supported by and 
 dying in the arms of the faithful Edgar. It was the 
 third act that was considered the gem of the whole 
 opera, and was almost wholly sustained by Cordelia. 
 
 As Adriano retired from the ovation after the sec- 
 ond act, Madame Delepoule met him at his dressing- 
 room door. She was greatly agitated. Catalina had 
 suddenly felt very faint and had sent for Miss Carson. 
 They had given her restoratives and she was now bet- 
 ter and ready to go on the stage, but still very ner- 
 vous. Adriano hurried round to the flies, where Cata- 
 lina was already standing. She was deadly white, but 
 she smiled bravely at him and held out her hand. 
 
 " This is my opportunity to justify your choice," she 
 said, gayly ; but as he came up to her, taking her hand 
 and trying to say something cheering and flattering, 
 she suddenly clung to him with an agonized cry, and 
 fell fainting in his arms. 
 
 They carried her to her room and laid her on the 
 sofa and applied restoratives, but all felt instinctively 
 that no amount of restoratives would bring her into 
 condition to sing again that night. In his distress, 
 Adriano would have given up everything, but the 
 manager recalled him to his senses. Miss Carson was 
 Senorita Disdier's understudy, she was on hand and 
 
 222
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 ready to take the part, and after a word of explana- 
 tion to xthe audience the curtain would go up in five 
 minutes. Adriano looked down at the half-conscious 
 form of Catalina much as Lear must have looked at 
 the murdered Cordelia supplanted by her sisters. Ma- 
 dame Delepoule was wringing her hands in anguish, 
 and the sympathetic Teodoro was crying like a child. 
 
 Louise Carson took Paris by surprise that night. 
 She was a popular singer, with a light, trilling, bird- 
 like voice, and was a bright and attractive actress. 
 As Zerlina, or Rosina, or Lady Henrietta, she was 
 perfection, but no one had ever associated ideas of 
 tragedy or pathos with her brilliant, somewhat flip- 
 pant personality. It came to them as a revelation 
 when she appeared on the stage as Cordelia, with much 
 of the noble simplicity and pathetic charm which had 
 distinguished the Disdier. Her voice was a little light, 
 her figure somewhat diminutive for the part, but her 
 impersonation was fairly ideal. Who had ever dreamed 
 that the little American could sing with such breadth 
 and sustained power, could phrase with such perfec- 
 tion of musical grace, could throw such tenderness, 
 such grief, such courage and fervor, such depth of 
 love and sacrifice into her voice, could act with such 
 finished art, with such appealing grace and sweetness ! 
 The very surprise of the thing added to her triumph. 
 The Disdier was forgotten. 
 
 But Adriano did not forget. Every gesture, every 
 intonation, every finest touch that he and Choulex 
 had labored to impart to Catalina, or that her own 
 genius had suggested, were faithfully and most effec- 
 tively reproduced by Miss Carson, but Catalina's glo- 
 rious voice, Catalina's beautiful presence, and the spon- 
 taneity and freshness and magnetism of her genius 
 
 223
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 were to him fatally wanting. The pathos of the sit- 
 uation made his own acting, as the despairing, grief- 
 stricken, dying father, more intense, more real. His 
 Lear of the Paris stage was, if possible, more wonder- 
 ful, more heart-breaking than that of his first triumph 
 on the stage of* La Scala at Milan. 
 
 The cruel situation had worked his feelings up to 
 the highest pitch. At the green-room door was Oeg- 
 laire, carrying Miss Carson's cloak ostentatiously over 
 his arm. He sauntered up to Daretti, and inquired 
 for Miss Disdier's health with hypocritical concern. 
 Adriano replied shortly and contemptuously, but the 
 ill-concealed sneer of triumph on Oeglaire's face was 
 too much for his long-pent-up anger. He raised his 
 hand and gave Catalina's treacherous foe a stinging 
 blow across the cheek. 
 
 Oeglaire sprang back as pale as death, the breath 
 hissing through his closed teeth. He looked around. 
 There were no witnesses to the deed. 
 
 " Coward !" he exclaimed ; " yes, coward ! You are 
 twice my size, and you know that I am no swordsman. 
 But I should have expected an Italian to give a blow 
 in the dark !" 
 
 " The choice of weapons lies with you," replied Da- 
 retti, scornfully, turning on his heel. " I await your 
 convenience." 
 
 " I shall not give you the satisfaction of the fight 
 you would like," hissed Oeglaire, " but I challenge you 
 in my own way. Understand that it is a duel between 
 us from now on a duel to the death. To the death !" 
 he repeated. 
 
 " A duel, if you will," replied Daretti, carelessly. " In 
 your own way, with your own weapons, and to the 
 death !" 
 
 224
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 " Alas ! for Love, if thou art all 
 And naught beyond, O Earth !" 
 
 ffemans. 
 
 THE physician pronounced Catalina's illness to be a 
 case of low fever and nervous prostration brought on 
 by overwork and worry. He prescribed six months 
 of absolute rest and freedom from excitement, and, as 
 soon as she was able to bear the fatigue of travelling, 
 complete change of air and scene. The girl was too 
 ill and weak the first few days to think or care how 
 much this entailed, but she gradually roused to a con- 
 sciousness of the situation, which was a very serious 
 one. She saw herself ill, penniless, and a failure. De- 
 pending upon her fine health and extraordinary capac- 
 ity for work, she had never foreseen the possibility of 
 sickness and idleness, and had made over every penny 
 she could spare from her earnings to her grandmother 
 and sisters. So far from being able to repay her they 
 were in more crying need than ever of her aid, and she 
 was helpless and absolutely dependent for daily bread 
 and medical care upon the generosity of the teacher 
 whose hopes she had so disappointed. It was a cruel 
 position, and Catalina's health did not improve in pon- 
 dering over it. To be sure, her friends had not failed 
 her. Victoire Ainsworth had been most tender, most 
 generous, but Victoire had to leave for London to at- 
 tend her sister's marriage a few days after Catalina 
 P 225
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 was taken ill, and remained there to be her widowed 
 mother's companion and fill Pepilla's place in the fast- 
 narrowing family circle. Sir Guy, nothing daunted 
 by Catalina's failure and the announcement of her 
 father's clandestine marriage, had, with a manly sim- 
 plicity that touched Catalina to the heart's core, laid 
 his love, his title, and his fortune at her feet. With 
 tears in her eyes the girl begged him to forget her ; 
 that she was, oh, so sorry, so sorry, but it was impos- 
 sible, and he must forgive her. He had replied that 
 there was nothing to forgive, that she had never en- 
 couraged him, and that he ought not to have given 
 her the pain of refusing him. When he bade her fare- 
 well she extended her hand to him to kiss. He did 
 not seem to know what to do with the proffered hand, 
 shook it awkwardly, and bowed himself off. His awk- 
 wardness brought the first smile of her illness to Cata- 
 lina's lips. 
 
 " I forgot he was an Englishman," she murmured. 
 
 The day before the Darettis' departure for London, 
 Espiritu knelt by Catalina's couch and embraced her 
 tenderly. 
 
 " Dear sister," she said, " you have done so much for 
 me, and given me so generously of your prosperity, 
 now you must let me share with you in your adver- 
 sity. Dear Catalina, don't worry about the future ! 
 I have a little something now, and you must not re- 
 fuse me. You must let me make some return to you 
 for all your generosity." 
 
 " And when did you come into a fortune, Espiritu ?" 
 asked Catalina, suspiciously. 
 
 " Oh, there are still fairies in the world !" laughed 
 Espiritu. " Perhaps some good St. Nicholas has given 
 me a dowry !" 
 
 226
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " You cannot deceive me, Espiritu ! I know that 
 Theodore is at the bottom of this. There, you are 
 blushing." 
 
 " Well, is he not to be your brother, and may not a 
 brother help a dear sister?" 
 
 " Listen, Espiritu ! Would you ever consent to re- 
 ceive a penny from your lover, no matter how much 
 you were in need, until he was your husband, and you 
 had a right to all that was his ?" 
 
 " No, indeed !" cried the proud little Spaniard, with 
 fire. 
 
 " Then why should I consent to receive from your 
 lover what you would not take yourself ?" 
 
 " Oh, oh," stammered Espiritu ; " indeed I never 
 thought of it as receiving money ! I only thought of 
 the pleasure it would give Theodore to enable me to 
 make you easier and happier !" 
 
 " Well, you see now, my dear little sister, that it is 
 impossible. I can receive help from dear Madame 
 Delepoule, for she loves me like a daughter and has 
 no children of her own, and some day, when I recover 
 my health, I may yet make fame and fortune, and she 
 will then feel more than repaid. But in the mean- 
 while, dear, I shall not starve or suffer, and your ten- 
 der little heart may be at ease. You will need all that 
 the good fairies may bring you for yourself some day." 
 
 Catalina was sitting up in the great easy-chair in 
 Hortense Delepoule's salon the day that Adrien Da- 
 retti called to take leave of her. He had not seen her 
 alone since the fateful night of " Cordelia." 
 
 He had been strangely grave and preoccupied since 
 then, and seemed to have something on his mind. He 
 had written the next day to excuse himself from an 
 appointment to visit the Salon with Lady Ainsworth 
 
 227
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 and her mother, and had let them leave for London 
 without calling to say farewell. His manner to Cata- 
 lina was full of reverence and tender consideration. 
 
 " I shall pray that you may find your happiness in 
 London," she said, gently, and without faltering, as 
 she greeted him. 
 
 " My happiness ?" he repeated, inquiringly. 
 
 "Ah, Adrien, perhaps I know your secrets better 
 than you do yourself ! I read your heart in your eyes 
 the day that Someone lunched with us, and I hope 
 with all my heart for the happiness of my two dearest 
 friends." 
 
 "Don't, Catalina, don't !" he almost groaned, cover- 
 ing his eyes with his hand. He was overpowered and 
 confused with the generosity of the poor, suffering 
 girl. Perhaps he had read what she feared to have 
 him see in her own eyes, perhaps she had said more 
 than she knew that evening that she fainted in his 
 arms. At any rate, he now felt stunned and uncertain. 
 God help him, he wanted to do what was right ! A 
 great wave of pity for her overwhelmed his heart. If 
 only she had not read his secret he might have done 
 so much to make her happy ! But now that she knew 
 his love had gone out to another woman, and that 
 woman her dearest friend, he feared that it would be 
 useless to speak to her as he had prepared himself to 
 do. And yet he should feel like a brute to leave this 
 woman, who loved him, ill and in poverty, while he 
 rode off to seek his own success and happiness else- 
 where. 
 
 " Dear Victoire has had her share of sorrow and suf- 
 fering and disappointment," went on Catalina. " Adri- 
 en, if you are fortunate enough to win her love, be- 
 lieve me, it will be truly the first love of her heart." 
 
 228
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 He looked up, his eyes full of tears. For the life of 
 him he could not speak. She smiled tenderly, almost 
 gayly, up into his face and held out her hand to him. 
 
 He was not an Englishman, he knelt on one knee 
 before her and pressed the thin white hand to his lips 
 with infinite reverence. Then he rose and drew a 
 chair near to hers and bent over her. She felt rather 
 than saw that he was looking down at her with tender, 
 intent gaze. He had forgotten MargaYa, forgotten 
 Casimir, most of all had forgotten himself in the one 
 feeling that this brave, proud, sweet girl, who had been 
 friend and sister to him for so long, must be comforted, 
 must not be allowed to suffer in her tender woman's 
 heart for his unworthy sake. 
 
 " Catalina, you are very dear to me !" he was saying. 
 " I do not deny that what you read in my eyes was in 
 part true, but remember, dear, that I have only met 
 Lady Ainsworth twice, and that so sudden an admira- 
 tion cannot be very deep-rooted. If you will consent 
 to be my wife you need have no fear of my affection 
 and fidelity. The tenderness I have always felt for 
 you, and feel now more strongly than ever, will in 
 marriage deepen into the one true love of my whole 
 life, and I shall find my sole happiness in you, as I so 
 fervently hope you may find yours in me. Catalina, 
 dearest, do not cry so ! This is no sudden impulse, 
 no new thought. It has been in my heart for years. 
 Did they never tell you, Catalina, how I asked six years 
 ago for leave to try and win you for my wife ?" 
 
 " My father told me of it for the first time the other 
 day," she replied in a stifled voice ; " but it was the 
 very day that I first saw you with Victoire, and felt 
 that you had new thoughts in your mind." 
 
 An intense sympathy for the weeping girl over- 
 229
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 whelmed him. He knelt by her side and spoke sooth- 
 ingly, earnestly, his kind eyes full of tears. 
 
 " Catalina, I never had your answer. They did not 
 let me speak to you, they refused me without consult- 
 ing you. My life might have been so different if I 
 could have persuaded you then as I hope to persuade 
 you now. Let it be between us as it might have been 
 then ! Give me my answer now, dearest ! Catalina, 
 have you heard me ? Are you still crying ?" 
 
 Slowly, very slowly she raised her head, brushed the 
 tumbled hair from her brow, and looked at him with 
 sad, heavy eyes. At last she drew back and shook her 
 head sorrowfully. She was very calm now and not 
 afraid to look him full in the face. 
 
 " Dear Adrien," she said, smiling bravely. " I, too, 
 can learn to conquer my heart and find peace in making 
 another happy. I, too, can renounce !" 
 
 He looked at her a little blankly. He was not sure 
 what she meant to imply. 
 
 "What do you mean, Catalina?" he stammered. 
 " What have I said ? Are you sending me away ?" 
 
 " I am giving you the answer to the question you 
 wanted to ask me six years ago," she said, still smiling 
 with gentle dignity and cheerfulness. " I feel sure 
 that what was decided for us then was for the best, 
 and is so still. There is another to whom I could bring 
 more happiness than I can to you. There is another 
 who will bring you more happiness than I ever could. 
 Speak the truth to me, Adrien. Tell me you would 
 be glad to be true to her. Honor me by showing you 
 think I have courage to bear it !" 
 
 " I should like to be loyal to my friendship for Guy 
 and Casimir," he replied, simply. " I wish that you 
 could find happiness in the devotion of one or the 
 
 230
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 other of those noble fellows who love you so disinter- 
 estedly. If I felt that, then I might indeed be glad 
 that I was free to try and win Lady Ainsworth. But 
 I cannot feel so now. I am not worthy of you, Cata- 
 lina, but I still think that we could find much happi- 
 ness in each other !" 
 
 The tears rushed blindingly to Catalina's eyes, and she 
 turned away. His very willingness only seemed to re- 
 move him further from her, his perfect renunciation 
 stirred all the spirit of sacrifice within her. His fut- 
 ure lay in her hands. She loved him too truly to ac- 
 cept from him the oblation he offered ; and yet the man 
 had never seemed more manly, more lovable, more 
 desirable than as he stood before her at that moment. 
 But might not that other woman find him lovable 
 also ? Victoire had such high ideals, she cared so much 
 for faith and chivalry and virtue ; and where, outside 
 of the cloister, where among men of the world, would 
 she find chivalry and virtue greater than his? At last 
 she broke out vehemently : 
 
 " Go to her, Adrien go to her, and God's blessing go 
 with you ! I could never be happy as your wife. I 
 should feel that I was in another woman's place, and 
 that woman my dearest friend, and one who has suf- 
 fered more than I. Such a feeling would be mis- 
 ery to me. Believe me, this is best. Go, Adrien, 
 kindest, noblest, dearest friend and brother ! Pray 
 for me, that I may have the blessing of bringing hap- 
 piness to some one else who is dear to you, and do 
 not give another thought to what has passed be- 
 tween us." 
 
 " It was best for us to talk it over," he said, not know- 
 ing what else to say. " You will take up new interests 
 now and be happy yourself in making another happy. 
 
 231
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 But do not ever forget the deep affection and respect 
 that I bear you." 
 
 " No, I shall never forget it," she said, smiling grave- 
 ly. Then as he kissed her hand and turned to leave 
 the room she stepped after him. 
 
 "Adrien!" she hesitated; "if you if you should 
 happen to meet Monsieur Choulex, tell him that I 
 think it would rest me and cheer me to hear a little 
 of his music !"
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 " We were created to love only the Infinite, and this is why, when we 
 love, that which we love seems so perfect to our heart." Lacordaire. 
 
 THE operatic season at Covent Garden, which was 
 now fast drawing to a close, had been in many respects 
 a singularly brilliant one. Madame Ewald and the 
 Collas brothers, Miss Lynde and Bruno Speidel, were 
 all favorites of many seasons, and there were newer 
 friends in Oscar Lennartsen, in the beautiful Hilde- 
 garde Strong, and the great Russian basso, Kern. But 
 the greatest interest of the season had centred in the 
 English de*but of the king of barytones, Adriano Da- 
 retti, and of his young brother who was fast leaping 
 into the highest ranks of fame. Zo6 Lenormand and 
 Louise Carson, of the Paris OpeYa, also made their first 
 appearance with great success, and there were numer- 
 ous lesser lights both new and old. There had been 
 some talk occasioned by the non-appearance of the 
 Senorita Disdier, who had made such a fine impression 
 two seasons previously, but she seemed to have failed 
 of a re-engagement, and after a little wonder people 
 soon ceased to inquire for her in the interest over the 
 new-comers. 
 
 As Adriano had foreseen, Teodoro came to the Eng- 
 lish people as a revelation. He was the emotion of the 
 season. Adriano had carefully selected the roles in 
 which he was to appear Walther von Stolzing and the 
 young Siegfried of Wagner, Gounod's Romeo, and Mas- 
 
 233
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 senet's Cid. These were parts, unlike as they were, 
 to which Teodoro was born " by the grace of God." 
 Etienne Collas retained his old favorites, on which he 
 seemed to hold some sort of a patent Faust, Lohen- 
 grin, Don Jose", and Raoul de Nangis while the heroic 
 Lennartsen stood incomparable in Radames, Vasco de 
 Gama, Othello, Tannhauser, and Tristan. It was a 
 season long to be remembered. 
 
 The only opera in which the brothers appeared to- 
 gether was " The Master Singers," and it was always 
 a gala night when that was given. Adriano revelled 
 in the humorous, large-hearted Hans Sachs, the cob- 
 bler poet, and Teodoro was a vision of glorious young 
 knighthood and ardor as Walther von Stolzing, sing- 
 ing the Prize song like the very child of inspiration. 
 
 The little circle in Paris watched eagerly for news. 
 Adriano wrote from time to time, chiefly to Madame 
 Delepoule and Choulex, though there was an occa- 
 sional letter to Espiritu when Teodoro had had some 
 particularly brilliant success. The letters were full 
 of brotherly pride and rejoicing over his " baby-boy," 
 while Teodoro's letters, at least such parts of them as 
 Espiritu cared to read aloud, were crammed to over- 
 flowing with rapture over Adriano. " You never saw 
 anything so magnificent as he is this season. He is 
 singing in a lot of operas you never hear in Paris. 
 The house is simply spellbound before his Flying 
 Dutchman and Hans Heiling, and every girl in Lon- 
 don has lost her heart to him in ' The Trumpeter of 
 Sekkingen.' Our Austrian blood comes in well in 
 these operas. He and Lennartsen and Madame Ewald, 
 the most noble, the most elevating trio of singers that 
 the world ever saw, have lately been appearing with 
 enormous success in Goldmark's ' Queen of Sheba,' 
 
 234
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Verdi's ' Otello,' Meyerbeer's ' L'Africaine ' and ' Di- 
 norah,' Wagner's 'Tannhauser' and 'Valkyrie,' and, 
 for a contrast, ' Figaro ' and ' Don Pasquale !' You 
 cannot appreciate, without seeing them, the dignity 
 and splendor they add to everything they undertake, 
 and even in comedy they act with a light touch and 
 irresistible entrain that place them far ahead of those 
 that make comedy their specialty. I never had so 
 much fun in my life as over ' Don Pasquale.' Every 
 one in the audience felt so at home and so jolly ! But 
 just imagine this trio in such operas as ' L'Africaine,' 
 and 'Otello,' and the 'Valkyrie'! Adriano is per- 
 fectly grand as Wotan. With the exception of Lear's 
 lament over Cordelia, I never heard anything so grand- 
 ly pathetic as his farewell to Brunnhilde. I am heart- 
 broken that I have to act in 'The Master Singers,' 
 and cannot see Adriano, for every one is raving over 
 the charm of his delightful Hans Sachs." 
 
 Teodoro's letters were always sure to wind up the 
 operatic bulletin with regrets that Catalina was not 
 there to share the laurels. "I believe Adriano act- 
 ually hates Miss Carson, and if it were not for his 
 friendship for Federici would not give 'Cordelia ' at all. 
 He usually sings in roles with Marie Ewald, who is his 
 ideal of an operatic actress; but if ever he has to sing 
 with any of the other soprani, he always comes home 
 with the sigh, ' She was very good, but she was not 
 Catalina!'" Such passages as these in the letters 
 drove Madame Delepoule to despair. 
 
 " Just wait, my fine ladies !" she would say. " When 
 Catalina is well again, you will have to hide your di- 
 minished heads !" 
 
 But Catalina was very slow in getting strong. It 
 would probably be a year, the doctor said, before she 
 
 235
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 was able to resume her professional work. As soon as 
 she could be moved, Madame Delepoule took her to 
 the Isle of Wight for a quiet, restful summer, away 
 from all that might remind her of home worries or 
 professional disappointments. There they led a rural, 
 out-of-door life, absolutely bereft of music, except on 
 the occasions when Choulex stopped to see them on 
 the journeys he frequently found necessary to take 
 between London and Paris. 
 
 His coming and going made little difference with 
 Catalina at first. She felt that she had committed 
 herself in encouraging his attentions in so explicit a 
 manner, but she dreaded his pressing his suit, and was 
 a little indifferent and reserved in her manner tow- 
 ards him. A girl who had just parted from the 
 man she loved could hardly be expected to throw 
 herself at once into the arms of another man, no 
 matter how devoted and worthy ! She must have 
 time to forget the old, and time to cultivate new, 
 feelings ! Perhaps he understood this. At any rate, 
 although a frequent and regular visitor, there was 
 absolutely nothing in Casimir's manner to suggest 
 the lover. He was kind and friendly, very much 
 absorbed in music and in his opera of " Sintram," en- 
 thusiastic over Adriano's work on the libretto, and 
 ready to play to the ladies by the hour, or wait upon 
 them in their walks and drives, but that was all. There 
 was no sign whatever of any recognition on his part 
 of the encouragement Catalina had extended to him, 
 or of any desire to avail himself of it. She began to 
 feel piqued. Was it possible that she had been mis- 
 taken in supposing him to be in love with her all 
 these years? 
 
 Teodoro made little mention in his letters of the 
 236
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 social attentions with which they were overwhelmed. 
 It was impossible to accept them all, and neither 
 brother cared to do so, for each was preoccupied 
 with affairs of his own which rendered him some- 
 what oblivious of the interests of the world at large. 
 Since the occasion of the entertainments given in 
 honor of Pepilla's marriage to Gentile d'Usseglio, the 
 brothers had gone very little into general society. 
 Lady Ainsworth had laid aside her mourning at the 
 wedding, and the beautiful Marchioness of Palafox 
 had put off her heaviest weeds, and both were occasion- 
 ally seen at smaller gatherings. The public quickly be- 
 came aware that it was precisely at these gatherings 
 that the handsome Daretti was also most frequently 
 to be seen. 
 
 As his attentions became more marked the young 
 widow grew disturbed and preoccupied. It was not 
 that she felt his profession to be a barrier. Although 
 carefully sheltered in the atmosphere of modesty and 
 retirement surrounding the young women of French 
 and Spanish households, Lady Ainsworth's education 
 had been a strong one. She had worked in her girl- 
 hood on the benches of the College of France and in 
 the studios of Paris side by side and in competition 
 with those who were to gain their livelihood in these 
 studies, and later she had turned from the riches and 
 ease which widowhood had brought her, to find her 
 consolation in serious, devoted work. Victoire, there- 
 fore, was not the woman to look upon any man's hon- 
 orable profession in the light of a disadvantage, and, 
 in the case of the Chevalier Daretti, the profession 
 was one with which her artistic spirit was in deepest 
 sympathy. The manly singer, with his glorious voice, 
 and refined, poetic tastes, was a most congenial com- 
 
 23?
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 panion, and he in his turn was ever more and more 
 attracted to the remarkably gifted young Spanish 
 lady a painter of much power and originality, a fine 
 organist, a skilful and brilliant pianist, and possessed 
 of a singularly deep and beautiful though not very 
 powerful voice, which she used with great effect in a 
 manner of singing that was less like singing than like 
 an exquisite piece of elocution. It never failed of 
 making a deeply dramatic and sympathetic impres- 
 sion, and the artist soul of Daretti had fallen captive 
 to its spell. How perfectly these two gifted natures 
 seemed formed for each other J And yet Lady Ains- 
 worth was troubled. 
 
 The momentary prejudice, formed from a first 
 glimpse of Daretti after many years' absence, had dis- 
 appeared upon a nearer view. Gazing into his face 
 that evening at the Usseglio reception she had been 
 inspired with a feeling of confidence in his upright- 
 ness and sincerity. Surely there were no lines of 
 coarseness or dissipation in that refined and noble 
 countenance ! From Guy, from Madame Delepoule, 
 from Catalina, she had heard his praises sung as a man 
 of faith and principles. She had learned other in- 
 stances of his delicacy of conduct besides that she 
 knew of towards the little Voquelin. It seemed as if 
 she had at last met her ideal. Perhaps she would have 
 had no doubts, perhaps she would have accepted as 
 final the testimony of his friends and her own favor- 
 able impressions, but for certain anonymous commu- 
 nications she began to receive about this time. 
 
 The first came in the form of a marked copy of a 
 Paris newspaper. The article to which her attention 
 was thus called contained thinly veiled aspersions on 
 the moral character of a certain singer much in vogue 
 
 238
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 in Paris salons. No names were mentioned, the lan- 
 guage was carefully guarded, but to any one familiar 
 with Paris society it was easy to recognize the singer 
 as the Chevalier Daretti. Lady Ainsworth flung the 
 paper from her in indignation. The implied accusa- 
 tions might be true or might not be true, but she was 
 of too loyal a nature not to defend a friend from a 
 thrust in the dark. Other journals received appar- 
 ently from the same source were consigned to the 
 flames unopened. Shortly afterwards came a letter, 
 the first words of which roused her suspicions. She 
 glanced at the signature, saw that it was a feigned 
 one, and, loyalty overcoming a natural feminine curi- 
 osity, the letter followed the journals to the flames un- 
 read. 
 
 But the poison of distrust had entered her soul. 
 Blind faith was no doubt a beautiful thing in friend- 
 ship, but for marriage one wanted something more 
 substantial than faith, and Victoire Ainsworth knew 
 that it was no longer a question of friendship but one 
 of marriage that she would be called upon to settle. It 
 was knowledge and not faith that she needed in this 
 most important of all decisions, and what knowledge 
 had she of this man's true character ? If her first ex- 
 perience had taught her anything it was that, to a nat- 
 ure like hers, reverence was the necessary foundation 
 for love. Without reverence love would turn to loath- 
 ing. She recalled those terrible hours of her first 
 marriage when she had prayed to die rather than live 
 to be the wife of a man whom she could not respect. 
 But how was it with her now ? She had fallen in love 
 with the outward show of a fascinating personality, a 
 splendid physique, a glorious talent, a cultivated in- 
 telligence, a gentlemanly bearing ; but what did she 
 
 239
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 know of the inward man, of his principles, his convic- 
 tions, his moral calibre ? How blank his past life was 
 to her, how unintelligible his present! In his early, sim- 
 ple young manhood her father had loved and admired 
 Daretti, but since then he had become the petted hero 
 of the musical world, the courted and feted darling of 
 the effeminate and dissolute society of fashionable 
 London and Paris. How should she, a lonely, retiring, 
 unworldly woman, be any judge of the character of 
 such a man, or of his fitness to meet her high ideals 
 of married life ? 
 
 It can hardly be said that Victoire was incredulous 
 when her mother came to tell her that the Chevalier 
 Daretti had made a formal offer for her hand. She 
 had felt instinctively that this was inevitable, yet she 
 turned pale and trembled and seemed deeply disturbed. 
 " It is so hard to know what to do !" she sighed. 
 
 " It ought not to be so very hard," said the mother. 
 "You have only to question your own heart. I have 
 spoken to Guy about it and he is delighted. He ad- 
 mires Daretti beyond expression and says he is calcu- 
 lated in every way to make his wife a happy woman. 
 Do you not love him a little, my dear you who are 
 so wrapped up in music and art ?" 
 
 " How do I know ?" she said, in deep agitation. Then 
 she came and knelt by her mother and hid her face in 
 her shoulder. "Mother, dearest mother, I do not 
 want to marry at all unless my life could be blessed 
 as yours was. I should want my husband to be the 
 stainless, upright man my dear father was. You 
 know, mamma, what I have suffered in the past, that I 
 would not wish to make another such mistake. You 
 know that I could not endure to accept what some 
 women will, that I could not love if there was any 
 
 240
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 memory that destroyed the reverence I should wish 
 to feel for the man who was to be all things to me. 
 Oh, mamma, I long to have blind faith in him, and yet 
 my heart is full of mistrust and fear ! I know how 
 sympathetic he is to me, I know his genius and his 
 manly beauty, I know his tenderness for his brother 
 and the loyal affection that his men friends bear him. 
 I know all that, and he has fascinated my imagination 
 from childhood. Oh, mother, I could worship him if 
 I only knew that he is, besides, all that I desire !" 
 
 " Victorias, darling," said the marchioness, stroking 
 the bowed head tenderly. " I believe, and Guy believes, 
 that you will always find him a true, Christian gentle- 
 man, and that your future will be safe and happy in 
 his hands. Is not that enough, dearest ?" 
 
 Lady Ainsworth glanced up suspiciously. " Mamma, 
 there is something in the past, then, and you know it 
 and are afraid to tell me !" 
 
 " Victorias, I do not say there is anything, but if 
 there were, would you not rather hear it from his own 
 lips ?" 
 
 " Mother !" she cried, sharply. " It is so, then, is it, 
 even as I feared ? I ought to know, it is my right to 
 know ! Do not try to keep it from me ! Do you not 
 see that I must know before I can decide ?" 
 
 " My poor little child, do not take it so to heart ! 
 What is past is past, and you can have perfect faith 
 in the present and for the future. Some of the great- 
 est saints, dearest, have been penitents. It is true that 
 for four years Victorias ! Do not look like that !" 
 
 The white, stern look on her daughter's face ap- 
 palled the marchioness. She held out her arms to her, 
 but the young woman drew herself away. 
 
 " My darling child !" cried the mother, appealingly. 
 Q 241
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " What our Lord has cleansed we have no right to 
 consider unclean. If this man has been dear to you, 
 surely you will feel some joy over his conversion, some 
 sympathy for his repentance !" 
 
 "What do I know of his repentance?" asked Vic- 
 toire, querulously. " It seems to me that such things 
 should be repented of in sackcloth and ashes, and some- 
 how," with a contemptuous shrug of the shoulders and 
 a forced laugh, " I fail to associate the Chevalier Da- 
 retti's comely, genial personality with any idea of sack- 
 cloth and ashes." 
 
 " But, dearest " began the mother, but Lady Ains- 
 worth interrupted her. 
 
 " I must have a few minutes by myself, mother," she 
 tried to say calmly, though her voice was very hoarse. 
 " There is nothing you could say just now that would 
 do me any good. I must be by myself." And very 
 sorrowfully the marchioness withdrew. 
 
 Lady Ainsworth stood in the middle of the room as 
 her mother had left her, and gazed straight before her 
 with great, sad eyes. So it was over ! the doubts and 
 the hopes, the joys and the fears that had kept her 
 heart in sweetest torment for the last two months were 
 ended now. She had wished to know, and now she 
 knew ! In her eyes the stain once there was there for- 
 ever. No doubt, in the mercy of God, such sins could 
 be forgiven, but could she ever forget ? She grew cold 
 and still, her head reeled, her heart almost ceased to 
 beat. " I could never forget," she said. " He is dead 
 to me forever, and oh, my heart dies with him !" 
 
 She felt truly sorry for herself, for the heart-broken 
 woman that stood there with the tears raining down 
 her cheeks and her arms out-stretched. " Poor Mar- 
 gara !" she said to her. " Poor Margara ! He never 
 
 242
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 existed, this perfect hero of your fancy. He is not 
 gone, for he never was there ; you only saw him in your 
 imagination. Say 'good-bye' to him, Margara! Say 
 ' good-bye, dear love ! Good-bye, sweet hero ! Good- 
 bye, dearest friend and companion of my holiest 
 dreams ! Good-bye, oh, darling ! oh, husband !' " and 
 she covered her face with her hands, and, tottering 
 forward with a low cry, flung herself on the lounge in 
 an agony of sobs.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 " What art thou, then, O human life ? Thou art only a road, an nn- 
 equal road, long for some, short for others ; joyous for some, sad for 
 others ; but for all without return. We but march through it to reach 
 the country beyond." St. Columbanus, Sixth Century. 
 
 TEODORO had shrewd suspicions of Adriano, and he 
 chuckled over them in private. 
 
 " He thinks I do not see anything !" and Teodoro 
 seized the sofa-cushions and kicked them up to the 
 ceiling in his delight. Then he gave another sly laugh. 
 
 " It would be just the thing," he thought. " She is 
 so clever and so sweet, and she is Espiritu's dearest 
 friend. Oh, Sir Adriano ! You think I do not know 
 that your turn has come at last ! But I will have a 
 fine revenge !" 
 
 But when Adriano returned to the hotel early that 
 evening, Teodoro lost all spirit for revenge. He knew 
 in a moment that something was wrong, and yet Adri- 
 ano was holding himself very erect and proud, and was 
 smiling and laughing with reckless, gay bravado. His 
 friends thought him more than usually whimsical and 
 entertaining, but Tedi's loving eyes saw the telltale 
 whiteness of the lips and the nervous tightening of 
 the hands, and Tedi's ears heard a hollow sound to the 
 laugh and a cynical ring to the words. As the last 
 friend took leave, Adriano threw himself wearily into 
 an arm-chair. 
 
 " Well, well ! The world seems to go on as usual, 
 244
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 after all ! By-the-way, Tedi, I am under the impres- 
 sion that I am to sing to-night do you happen to re- 
 member what I am to appear as ?" 
 
 " Wolfram," replied Teodoro, laconically. Then he, 
 too, dropped into a chair, and stared dumbly at Adriano. 
 
 " Indeed ! Wolfram, the rejected and dejected ! 
 Most appropriate, I am sure !" and Adriano began to 
 rattle off the " Evening Star " in absurd parody. " Why, 
 what is the matter, Tedi? You look as if as if you 
 had been refused yourself !" and he burst into a loud 
 laugh. " Never mind, Tedi ! Misery loves company. 
 If Espiritu throws you over, then you and I will go to 
 the devil together !" 
 
 " Don't, Adriano, don't speak so ! You break my 
 heart ! I never once, not once, thought of this pos- 
 sibility !" 
 
 " Neither did I ! That sounds very conceited, doesn't 
 it ? I suppose I am very conceited, and that I needed 
 a sharp discipline. I have certainly got it !" he added, 
 bitterly. He flung himself across the arm of his chair, 
 burying his face in his hands, and there was a long 
 silence. 
 
 "Well, Tedi," he said, at last. "Why don't you 
 triumph over me ? My hour has struck at last. You 
 very kindly wished, once upon a time, to see your big 
 brother in torments of love and suspense, and now 
 you have your wish, except that the suspense is un- 
 fortunately over and only the torments left." 
 
 " Dear big brother !" exclaimed Teodoro, affection- 
 ately. " Do not despair so ! I am sure there is some 
 mistake. Perhaps the family have made some diffi- 
 culty about your profession, but they will surely yield 
 in time. Be patient, and time will make it all right." 
 
 Adriano groaned. " If it were only that !" 
 245
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 "You cannot mean that she it is not " Then, 
 with conviction, " But, Adriano, she surely loves you !" 
 
 Adriano raised his head and pushed the disordered 
 hair from his brow. " She did love me," he said, very 
 low. 
 
 "Then she loves you still," exclaimed Teodoro. 
 "Those things do not come and go in a minute. 
 There must be some misunderstanding." 
 
 "There is no misunderstanding," said Adriano, quiet- 
 ly. " She understands me only too well, and I have 
 nothing to say. Oh, my God ! I often wondered 
 that my past sins should have gone so long unpun- 
 ished, and now that the punishment has come it is 
 almost greater than I can bear !" He sprang to his 
 feet and paced the room restlessly. "There is no use 
 trying to comfort me, Tedi. There is nothing that 
 can be done, and, what is worse, there is nothing that 
 can be undone. I cannot bear to talk about it ; I 
 must fight it out by myself, and you must try and 
 put up with my vagaries for awhile. No, I am not 
 going to the devil. I know I suggested such an ex- 
 cursion, but I have too much salutary fear of hell-fire, 
 when it comes to the point. I must learn to live this 
 down, and as for you, Tedi, you must act as if noth- 
 ing had happened. Be especially cordial with with 
 her family. You will be much thrown with them ; it 
 is inevitable, through their connection with our broth- 
 er Bindo's wife, and through their friendship with Es- 
 piritu and Catalina. You will say or do nothing to 
 make her or them feel any awkwardness, and as for 
 me, I shall simply obliterate myself. Tedi, you young 
 fool, I believe you are positively crying !" 
 
 There was much deep, unspoken sympathy between 
 Daretti and Ainsworth in these dark days. Little 
 
 246
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 confidence passed between them, but they clung to 
 each other instinctively in their common disappoint- 
 ment. Choulex looked on without a shadow of jeal- 
 ousy in his big heart. He would do all he could for 
 Adriano's happiness, but, if any one else could do more, 
 he would step aside and give up his place to that one. 
 " Sintram " was finished now and in rehearsal, which 
 kept him very busy. Still, under ordinary circumstances 
 he would have managed to find time to slip over to 
 the Isle of Wight for a day, but such a visit now would 
 have seemed like a direct slap in the face both to Da- 
 retti and to Ainsworth, and Choulex satisfied himself 
 with a weekly letter to Madame Delepoule about the 
 progress of the opera. Perhaps the ladies would miss 
 his visits a little, and that was already something 
 gained ! 
 
 The widowed Marchioness of Palafox planned to 
 spend the summer with Pepilla near Genoa, and Lady 
 Ainsworth took a cottage at Ventnor, to be near Cata- 
 lina Disdier. Her two younger brothers were with 
 her, and Guy had put a pretty pair of ponies and a 
 saddle-horse at her disposal during her stay there. 
 Victoire was glad to see Catalina improving in 
 strength and gaining daily in courage and hope- 
 fulness. Sometimes she imagined that Catalina's eyes 
 looked at her a little wistfully, as if there were some- 
 thing she would like to ask, but the days went by and 
 there were no questionings or confidences between the 
 friends. 
 
 It was well on towards the middle of September, and 
 Casimir Choulex had not been to the Isle of Wight for 
 two months. He was in Paris overseeing the rehears- 
 als of " Sintram " all this while, to be sure, but Catalina 
 judged from the weekly bulletins that the rehearsals 
 
 247
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 were hardly so frequent as to require Casimir's con- 
 stant presence. She had not realized before how 
 necessary to her the silent devotion of years had 
 become, but now that it was withheld from her, for 
 no apparent reason, she began to miss it sorely. No 
 one had such a delicious touch on the piano as Chou- 
 lex, no one entered so naturally into her moods, no 
 one was so unobtrusive, so unexacting a friend in 
 prosperity, so stanch and faithful and untiring in 
 adversity. And now he had suddenly deserted her ! 
 Madame Delepoule and Victoire did everything in 
 the world to make her happy and comfortable, and, 
 of course, she was most grateful to them and enjoyed 
 their dear companionship ; the two boys were as gal- 
 lant and chivalrous and attentive to her as any grown 
 man could be, and yet there was something lacking. 
 The one strong hand that was most helpful in all the 
 world was not there to assist her, and the scene did 
 not seem quite so fair unless a pair of brown eyes 
 were gazing at it with her. She had set herself to 
 learn a new lesson of love, fearing that the task would 
 be long and difficult and that there would be much to 
 unlearn, and now, in less than three months, the lesson 
 was already learned, and so quickly and easily that she 
 could hardly believe that she had not always known it. 
 She was sitting on the veranda with Victoire, 
 watching a beautiful sunset of early autumn over 
 the sea, when suddenly the sound of exquisite music 
 came to them from within the little drawing-room. 
 There was but one such touch in all the wide world, 
 and the delicious tones fell upon Catalina's hungry 
 soul like dew-drops on a parched land. The color 
 rushed all over her face, she clasped her hands and 
 rose to her feet with an inarticulate murmur, and then 
 
 248
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 impulsively moved to the open French window and 
 stood on the threshold of the little room. 
 
 Choulex saw the shadow, which seemed to glorify 
 rather than darken the atmosphere. He looked up. 
 She was standing there with tearful eyes and out- 
 stretched hands. 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad !" she exclaimed, and then burst 
 into tears. 
 
 It seemed the most natural thing in the world that 
 he should be standing by her with his strong arm 
 about her, and that she should lay her head on his 
 broad shoulder and clasp her hands round his neck. 
 
 "Oh, where have you been all this long time?" she 
 cried. " I missed you so ! I missed you so !" 
 
 He pushed her a little away from him and looked 
 into her face as if he would read into her very soul. 
 What he saw in the depths of those dark eyes appar- 
 ently satisfied him. He drew her close to him again. 
 
 " Catalina," he said, gently, " when did you learn 
 your lesson ?" 
 
 " Casimir," she sobbed, " I believe I have known it 
 always !" 
 
 Victoire Ainsworth, left alone on the veranda, still 
 gazed out to sea. " Poor Guy !" she murmured. " It 
 is all over with him ! Dear Catalina ! She will have 
 a noble husband to turn to in all her troubles." 
 
 One morning that autumn a quiet little wedding 
 took place on the Isle of Wight. The same day a brief 
 note went out by mail addressed to his excellency Ad- 
 riano dei Conti Daretti-Mannsfeld, at the Ponte a Se- 
 raglio, Lucca. It contained the following words : 
 
 "Catalina has learned a new role, to the entire satisfaction of her 
 teacher, and to-day makes her first appearance as his wife. 
 
 "CASIMIR." 
 
 249
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " It takes a man who cannot win a wife for himself 
 to make matches for his friends," thought Adriano. 
 " See how well I have done by Theodore and Oreste> 
 and now by Casimir ! It seems as if the gods ought 
 to reward me for my labors in the cause of matri- 
 mony. I natter myself that I have accomplished par- 
 ticularly good work in Oreste's case. What would he 
 have done without me? These good people in their 
 pride thought best to delay and consider, and recon- 
 sider and delay, all to impress him with the idea that 
 they had not been waiting for years to jump at his 
 offer. Poor Oreste, in his humility, would have given 
 up in despair if I had not worked for him with all the 
 diplomacy I could muster. Now he is safely betrothed, 
 and will be married at Christmas, and I have only my- 
 self to thank for a lonely and blighted career without 
 him. How I shall hate my new valet !" 
 
 Adriano had now passed two months among the 
 chestnuts and firs of the Apennine mountains, or 
 at his brother's shady, pleasant villa above the Baths 
 of Lucca. The mountain-air and out-of-door life was 
 usually all that he needed to put him in fine condition 
 for his winter's work, but this year he did not seem to 
 have gained from them the usual tonic effect. He 
 had lost flesh and there were dark rings under his 
 eyes, and his hearty opera-singer appetite had failed 
 him. He was making a brave fight with his disap- 
 pointment, struggling hard to be cheerful and not 
 brood over his prospects, but the sight of Bindo and 
 Elena in their beautiful home, with their little flock 
 growing up about them, was almost too much for him, 
 and as he watched his elder brother romping with 
 Binduccio and Carlotta, teaching Camillo to ride, and 
 tossing baby Marc -Antonio in his arms, his heart 
 
 250
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 seemed full to bursting. As if that were not enough, 
 the happiness of others was continually being thrust 
 before him Gentile d'Usseglio, with his merry, dainty 
 little Spanish wife, passing several weeks with Bindo 
 and Elena at the villa, while Oreste's ecstatic bliss 
 with his betrothed seemed to crown the misery. 
 
 " My next valet shall be a woman-hater," said Adri- 
 ano, decidedly. "I get one piece of comfort out of 
 this affair, and that is that Oreste is sure to be hen- 
 pecked. This pretty, gray -eyed Consiglio worships 
 the ground he treads on, but she is never going to let 
 him know it. He will be completely under her thumb 
 in less than a week." 
 
 When an affectionate, urgent invitation came from 
 Casimir to stop on his way to Paris and see Catalina 
 and himself in their little apartment in Turin near 
 the university, Adriano felt that it was the last straw. 
 
 " I cannot do it," he groaned. " The sight of anoth- 
 er happy bridegroom would finish me. And when I 
 get to Paris there will be Teodoro ! Heaven help me ! 
 I must ask Guy to spend the winter with me or I shall 
 die of too much happiness in others !"
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 " There shall be joy before the Angels of God upon one sinner doing 
 penance. " Gospel. 
 
 BUT unalloyed happiness is rare on earth, and even 
 Casimir and Teodoro had their crosses. The first 
 news that greeted Adriano on arriving in Paris was 
 that " Sintram " had been taken out of rehearsal. An 
 opera by a French composer had been substituted, in 
 which Miss Carson had the principal role. The man- 
 agement explained that " Cordelia " had made Miss Car- 
 son the rage in Paris and that the public was clamor- 
 ing for her, and they feared that under the circum- 
 stances " Sintram," in which she had no part, would not 
 be well received. Some of the journals stated, how- 
 ever, that the libretto of " Sintram " was a failure, and 
 that the opera stood no chance of success either dra- 
 matically or musically. Teodoro had worked himself 
 up to a fine frenzy of indignation over these articles. 
 
 " The idea," he exclaimed, " of a twopenny dilettante 
 like Oeglaire setting himself up to condemn your 
 poetry and Casimir's music, which the greatest artists 
 and critics in Paris have declared to be of the very 
 highest order ! Why, some of them just rave over 
 the excerpts that have been privately given. Of 
 course, he is engaged to the little Carson, and it is 
 natural that he should do all that money and news- 
 paper influence can do to push her to the front. But> 
 
 252
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 do you know, Adriano, I think he must have some 
 special grudge against you besides ?" 
 
 " Do you think so ?" remarked Adriano, indiffer- 
 ently. " Oh, I suppose you refer to those articles that 
 appeared about me last summer. But do not worry, 
 Tedi. I do not think he can do me any serious harm." 
 
 It was true that Daretti's popularity with the gen- 
 eral public had suffered no diminution from these in- 
 sidious attacks on his private character, and among 
 his friends they had aroused only indignation and 
 contempt for the unknown writer. But Adriano had 
 suffered more keenly from them than he was willing to 
 admit to any one but Monsignore lanson. Although his 
 assailant painted him in blacker colors than he de- 
 served, there was still sufficient substratum of truth 
 underlying the accusations to make them practically 
 unanswerable. His humiliation was intense. How 
 could he, in the face of these things, hope to have any 
 influence for good among the youth of Paris? How 
 could he carry on the modest apostleship that his con- 
 fessor had planned for him? If his life was no longer 
 unworthy, at best it seemed useless enough. But he 
 must not burden Tedi with his despondencies, for 
 Tedi's reports from the little home that interested 
 him were not encouraging. He too had his burden to 
 bear. 
 
 " Espiritu looks so pale and tired," he confided to 
 Adriano. " It is awfully hard for her there. At her 
 grandmother's she managed everything, but of course 
 Disdier's wife looks on her as an intruder and does 
 not let her have any authority. The wife is a silly, 
 extravagant creature, without an idea beyond dress 
 and jewelry and bonbons. Disdier provides her with 
 everything she wants, in a desperate sort of way, even 
 
 253
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 when there is almost nothing to eat in the house. I 
 suspect that he knows that she is bound to have these 
 things, and that when he ceases to be able to give them 
 to her she will find some one else who can. It is 
 awfully sad. He feels his terrible mistake, but I can- 
 not help respecting him for bearing it as he does. 
 Sometimes I think he would be tempted to let her go 
 if it were not for the child. It is a sickly little fellow 
 with great pathetic eyes, and he simply adores it. She 
 is just the sort of a mother you would imagine. Oh, it 
 is no place for Espiritu; and yet when I tell her so 
 she says, in her angelic way, ' It is worse for my father 
 than it is for me, and I believe that without me the 
 little boy would die !' It is true, and I can have noth- 
 ing more to say. The poor baby was simply dying of 
 neglect, and she has saved its life and brought it a 
 little bit of sunshine and happiness." 
 
 Adriano frequently drove out to see Madame Va- 
 lorge, who confirmed everything that Teodoro said. 
 Now that Disdier had once broken the ice he talked 
 freely to his mother-in-law, and she knew even more 
 of his affairs than Espiritu. 
 
 "It is no place for my poor little Espfritu," she 
 sighed, "and yet her father is happier for having her 
 there, and the boy is happier and better for her gentle 
 care. Who knows but she may in time win even this 
 vain, selfish woman's heart ? But I have little hope 
 of it. Six years of an equivocal position, in which her 
 vanity and extravagance have gone on unchecked, has 
 almost destroyed any spark of wifely and womanly 
 feeling in L6ontine. Poor Ramon! He has been 
 very, very weak, but he is suffering for it so keen- 
 ly and yet so patiently that I feel as if his fault 
 were already expiated. I am most anxious about 
 
 254
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 my little girl. It is hard for her to have to see all 
 this." 
 
 " Poor little Espiritu ! poor little dove !" murmured 
 Adriano. " No wonder you say it is no place for her ! 
 No wonder Teodoro chafes under the necessity of see- 
 ing her endure this position !" 
 
 " I see no way out of it at present," sighed Madame 
 Valorge. " But of course her life must not be sac- 
 rificed forever this is a mere temporary expedient, 
 and we may be able before long to devise some better 
 arrangement for this unhappy home." 
 
 Teodoro was now singing for the first time at the 
 Grand Opera, in the absence of Lennartsen, who had 
 engaged to sing as guest in Wagner roles at the lead- 
 ing German theatres until the opening of the spring 
 season at Covent Garden. If Adriano had had any 
 doubts as to Teodoro's capacity for heroic roles they 
 were quickly dispelled. The young man seemed born 
 to the part of lyric star, but in tragedy he was trans- 
 formed. His very youth and beauty seemed to lend a 
 certain godlike splendor and immortality to his crea- 
 tions. There was a dignity, a maturity, a grandeur 
 about his impersonations of Vasco de Gama and Jean 
 de Leyde and Radames, of Sigurd and Samson and 
 the Cid, that even Lennartsen did not surpass ; and 
 thrown over the whole was the translucent veil of 
 ideality and poetic illusion. Without effort, without 
 apparent study, he seemed in very truth to be the 
 character he was enacting. The noble young voice 
 seemed inexhaustible in volume and range it whis- 
 pered in dreamy tenderness that floated into every 
 heart, or it rang out with heroic fire that kindled the 
 spirits of his audience to the white heat of enthusiasm. 
 He flashed into the operatic firmament with meteoric 
 
 255
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 splendor, leaving a trail of glory in the memory of his 
 hearers. Adriano fairly trembled. 
 
 " It is too perfect, too glorious, for this frail world," 
 he thought, lost in admiration that was almost awe. 
 " It seems as if something must happen." 
 
 Teodoro appeared not to work as others worked to 
 attain his ends, but he had a method and a teacher 
 that the world at large knew not of, though Adriano 
 knew. The young man simply lived and breathed 
 with his heroes in the realms of the imagination. He 
 put himself in their place, his heart throbbed as theirs 
 had throbbed, he loved and suffered as they loved and 
 suffered. He even knew the passions of hatred and 
 revenge in dream-land, and this dream-land accom- 
 panied him everywhere. It was about him when he 
 walked in the streets, when he dined or drove, walking 
 or sleeping. It had been the playground of the gen- 
 tle, lonely, motherless boy. He lived and breathed in 
 the atmosphere of opera ; its heroes were his heroes. 
 History and poetry and tales of adventure and knight- 
 ly lore were his passion. The legends of Charlemagne 
 and Orlando, of Rollo and Tancred, of the Round 
 Table and the Holy Grail ; the adventures of Herod- 
 otus, of Marco Polo, of Vasco de Gama, of Magalhaes 
 and Pizarro; the dramas of Shakespeare, of Schiller, of 
 Racine and Corneille, of ./Eschylus and Sophocles ; the 
 poems of Ariosto, of Tasso, and Alfieri, of Lope de 
 Vega and Calderon, and the tales of Manzoni and 
 Scott these were the things upon which his childish 
 soul had fed till they were to him realities and the 
 actual world about him an impertinent interruption. 
 By birth and education seven languages, with all that 
 their literature contained of poetry and heroism, were 
 at his command. The language of Spain was that of 
 
 256
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 his nursery ; France, that of his boyish studies ; Ger- 
 man he learned at his Austrian mother's knee, and 
 Italian from the lips of father and brothers before he 
 was able to read. English, Greek, Latin had formed 
 part of the curriculum of his school studies, and he 
 had acquired them with an astonishing facility aided 
 by the fascination their literature had for him. Hand 
 in hand with imagination had trod the heavenly figure 
 of music. Every vision of chivalry, every tale of ad- 
 venture, was wedded in the boyish mind to the tones 
 of Casimir's piano, of Saverio's violin, or of Adriano's 
 rich and manly voice. He had heard only the best, 
 he had nothing to unlearn. Casimir had spoken to 
 him of wondrous harmony and beautiful modulations, 
 Saverio had illustrated the exquisite workmanship of 
 a perfect technique, Adriano had formed the singer, 
 and, from the time he had first piped a childish treble, 
 Teodoro had never known what it was to do otherwise 
 than phrase musically, breathe properly, and place his 
 tones correctly. When the voice of manhood devel- 
 oped he had nothing more to learn. The rules of art 
 were his own ; the leading operas he knew by heart, 
 even in their most difficult instrumentations ; and the 
 fire of his own genius was ready to flame forth when 
 the torch of opportunity should be applied. 
 
 All these had been his teachers, and there was yet 
 another the gentle figure of a young girl living in a 
 shabby fourth -floor apartment in an unfashionable 
 quarter of the city, toiling at common household 
 occupations, not knowing one note of music from 
 another, and never having seen an opera in all her 
 short life of seventeen summers. But Espiritu shared 
 his dream-land. The world of the imagination had no 
 mysteries from her all that he knew and loved were 
 R 257
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 also dear realities to her. She knew the story ; she 
 knew every slightest detail of every opera that Teo- 
 doro sang every hope and fear that agitated the 
 hero's breast, every woe or bliss of the heroine. She 
 felt instinctively, when Teodoro sang to her, all that 
 the music expressed, and that it completed the beauti- 
 ful dream. Had he failed to make the impersonation 
 fit the dream, her sensitive soul would have recoiled, 
 even as a sensitive ear quivers under the shock of a 
 discordant tone. She was his truest inspiration, his 
 subtlest critic. 
 
 They were all in all to each other, these two young 
 lives, for Espiritu needed the encouragement of his 
 tender devotion, even as he needed this pure shrine to 
 worship at. Her life had so little in it of all that usu- 
 ally surrounds youth. A careworn, anxious father to 
 sustain and cheer ; the constant companionship of a 
 selfish, silly, complaining woman to endure ; the un- 
 remitting care, night and day, of a sickly and fretful 
 although precocious and sensitive child ; and a con- 
 tinual round of homely duties made difficult by the 
 necessities of rigid economy and the constant friction 
 of divided interests these were the things that would 
 have broken and saddened the tender spirit and slight 
 frame without the infusion of sunshine and strength 
 and joy and romance that Theodore's daily visits 
 brought to the shabby little home. Occasionally 
 there were other bright spots in the weary life. 
 There were the Sundays when her father was at 
 home, and she could take the little Maxime with her 
 to Passy, where he had happy hours playing with 
 Lolita and the kitten in the little garden, and she 
 could sit by dear grandmamma's side and feel like a 
 truly little girl again. And there were days now and 
 
 258
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 then when the Marchioness of Palafox or dear Mar- 
 gara would be in town and would stop in the carriage, 
 bringing fruit and flowers to brighten the table, and 
 toys for little Maxime, and would let the child drive 
 up and down, proudly seated in the coach, while they 
 stopped to chat with Espiritu. Then Margara would 
 whisk on an apron and help her with the dusting or 
 the preparations for the mean little dinner or with 
 the ever-growing pile of mending. These were truly 
 happy days, and Espiritu was very grateful for these 
 dear friends. 
 
 One day Lady Ainsworth chanced in when Teodoro 
 was with his betrothed. She kissed her laughingly 
 and told her to take a little holiday, and that the good 
 fairies would do her work for her. For more than an 
 hour Margara sat darning stockings and amusing the 
 little Maxime till the young people called her into the 
 salon. It pleased her to see how rested and refreshed 
 Espiritu appeared. The girl wanted her to look at a 
 beautiful photograph Theodore had shown her for the 
 first time, taken in London, of Adriano and himself 
 together as Hans Sachs and Walther von Stolzing. 
 It was wonderfully characteristic of the story the in- 
 spired, dreamy young knight, the embodiment of ro- 
 mance and song, and the poetic, far-seeing soul of the 
 genial Sachs, shining from noble brow and luminous 
 eyes. Espiritu was enraptured. 
 
 " It is just as you are, my Theodore," she exclaimed, 
 "the flower of knighthood and song ! Ah, you needn't 
 blush, dear, for it is only Margara who hears, and she 
 will understand. And our dear Adriano, too, so noble 
 and good and true and self-sacrificing." 
 
 " He is all that and more too," cried Teodoro, en- 
 thusiastically. " Our dear Adriano is of the very stuff 
 
 259
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 that the saints are made of!" Margara turned her 
 sweet, pale face a little towards him, but without rais- 
 ing her eyes. Teodoro continued with some emotion. 
 
 " Oreste says he is growing every day more and 
 more like my saintly mother, and I think it must be 
 so. I wish I could tell you half of what I know about 
 him." Theodore lowered his voice. " I almost feel as 
 if it were wronging him to speak of these things, be- 
 cause his humility would shrink so painfully from hav- 
 ing them known. Yet it does one good to hear of 
 practices from the ages of faith, and you, Lady Ains- 
 worth, who belong to a family which has done heroic 
 things for God, and who are so fervent yourself, you 
 will rejoice in hearing of them. I long suspected that 
 Adriano practised corporal penances, and I have some- 
 times crept to his door in the middle of the night and 
 heard him using the discipline on his bare shoulders, 
 and have knelt outside of the room, crying like a child 
 and not daring to disturb him. And lately Oreste 
 discovered a hair-shirt among Adriano's things and 
 brought it to his master in great distress, and Adriano, 
 seeing that he could not conceal it any longer, ad- 
 mitted that be wore it under his dress every time that 
 he appeared in public, whether on the stage or in so- 
 cial life. Oreste says he spoke most humbly and beau- 
 tifully about his penance, and made him promise sol- 
 emnly never to breathe a word to a soul of the matter. 
 And, indeed, I do not think the fellow would have 
 told, he is so loyal, if I had not suspected and dragged 
 it out of him." 
 
 "'The kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence,"' 
 quoted Espiritu, softly, "and our Adriano is one of 
 the strong ones who know how to take it by storm." 
 
 Lady Ainsworth was filled with a wild longing for 
 260
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 tears. Hurry home she must, to find a spot where she 
 could indulge in that luxury, and ease her overflowing 
 heart. It was a relief when her carriage was announced. 
 The horses started off at a smart trot, but it seemed 
 to her that they crept all the way to Neuilly. At last 
 they reached the Villa Selva Alegre, and she flew up 
 the stairs and rushed to the sanctuary of her own 
 room, where she sank on her knees by the bedside be- 
 fore a picture of the Ecce Homo, and burst into a 
 passion of hysterical weeping. 
 
 The marchioness was standing near the door of her 
 bedroom when Margara took her stormy flight through 
 the upper hall. As she stood uneasily wondering what 
 could be the cause of her daughter's precipitate move- 
 ments she distinctly heard the sound of low, passion- 
 ate sobbing. In a moment she was at the door, and, 
 looking in, saw the bowed and shaking figure by the 
 bedside. 
 
 " Margara !" she exclaimed. " My Margarita, my 
 child ! What has happened ? Oh, what is the matter, 
 my dearest daughter ?" 
 
 Margara raised her head, and turned her face tow- 
 ards her mother. The tears were raining down her 
 cheeks, but her eyes were glowing and radiant. 
 
 " Oh, mamma !" she cried, exultantly, flinging out her 
 arms. " It is true ! The sackcloth and ashes ! Oh, 
 God in heaven be praised, it is true !"
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 "Well, it is gone at last, the palace of music I reared." 
 
 Browning. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. DARETTI, It has come to my ears that young 
 Bartolini, a countryman of yours and a music student here, whom you 
 have befriended in the past, is in great straits from poverty and sick- 
 ness. His talents, as you know, are only mediocre, and he has found 
 it impossible to make his way. His belongings have been seized for 
 debt, and he is sick and alone in the attic of No. Rue Mazarine. He 
 will not let you know of his situation, as he hates to appeal to your char- 
 ity after all you have done for him. Forgive me for writing you, but 
 a girl cannot go to such a case herself not even an American girl ! 
 and I know of no one but yourself who would be interested in this 
 poor young stranger in his desperate plight. 
 
 " Sincerely yours, LOUISE S. CARSON." 
 
 IT was late in the evening when this note was 
 brought to Daretti. He was very tired, and the night 
 was stormy. " I will do all I can for him to-morrow. 
 It will be time enough to look him up in the morning. 
 It is not likely that any harm will happen to him in 
 one night," he thought, turning lazily to his room. 
 
 But there was no more peace in Adriano's soul. A 
 gnawing reproach fastened there and would not leave 
 him. Here was the stranger, fatherless, friendless, ill, 
 and he was turning from him in his need. His heart 
 smote him heavily. At last he could bear its prompt- 
 ings no longer. 
 
 " Oreste, instead of laying out my night-shirt you 
 
 262
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 may give me my overcoat. You need not look at me 
 as if I had gone demented, for you have not heard half 
 yet. Just make up some kind of a shake-down for me 
 on the sofa in the salon. I am going out now, and I 
 may not return all night, but if I do, I shall bring back 
 an honored guest with me who will sleep in my bed, 
 which you will have ready for him. Yes, I see that 
 you are stricken dumb ! It is a merciful dispensation 1 
 Let me go while its happy effects are still upon you ;" 
 and he started off, his heart so light and peaceful within 
 him that he felt sure he was doing the right thing. 
 
 Oreste shrugged his shoulders. He was getting 
 used to these vagaries of his master. " He is a saint," 
 he said to himself, " and the saints were always doing 
 queer things." 
 
 Daretti found his way rapidly to the Bohemian neigh- 
 borhoods across the river about the Rue Mazarine, 
 and climbed up to the attic where young Bartolini 
 had taken his poor room. The house seemed very 
 quiet and deserted. The bare little studio was dimly 
 lighted by one tallow-candle. A slovenly old woman 
 was watching by the broken-down bed. She seemed 
 to be expecting Daretti, for she expressed relief but 
 no surprise at his appearance. 
 
 " He will not know you," she said ; " the doctor gave 
 him some drug to quiet him. I will go out and get 
 this prescription filled if you will sit with him till I 
 come back." 
 
 Evidently there would be no question of moving the 
 sick man ; he was too ill for that. Adriano sat by his 
 side on the one rickety chair that the room afforded, 
 and waited for the old hag's return with the medicine. 
 An hour, two hours, several hours passed by and she 
 did not come back. The sick man was suffering se- 
 
 263
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 verely and gasping for breath. Adriano nursed him 
 tenderly, bathing the fevered brow, smoothing the hot 
 pillow, and doing what he could for his comfort with 
 the few means at his disposal. He dared not leave 
 him to seek- help, for the patient was out of his head 
 with fever and the effects of the drugs. The weary 
 hours dragged by and the sick man's sufferings in- 
 creased. At last, as daylight was breaking, the old 
 witch reappeared with some muttered excuse about the 
 druggist's shop having been closed. Adriano slipped 
 some money into her hand to secure her good-will for 
 the sufferer, then found his way rapidly to the street 
 below and to the house of a neighboring physician, 
 begging him to call without delay and spare no ex- 
 pense for the patient's comfort. 
 
 There was a long and exhausting rehearsal of Saint- 
 Saens's " Henry VIII." that morning, and through the 
 afternoon Daretti slept soundly, wearied with his long 
 night's watch. In the evening a grand concert was 
 given at the Trocadero for the benefit of a charity 
 which appealed with great force to the hearts of the 
 Parisians. A large number of the most noted musi- 
 cians in the city had offered their services, and a mighty 
 concourse of people filled the noble hall. Dubois pre- 
 sided at the organ, while Louis Dimmer and Madame 
 Roger-Miclos at the piano and Sarasate with the violin 
 aroused storms of applause. Massenet and Saint- 
 Saens led chorus and orchestra in the execution of 
 their newest choral works, Marie Ewald and Caroline 
 Brenne sang with superb effect. The great audience 
 was keyed up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm when, 
 towards the end of the programme, Adrien Daretti 
 was announced to sing. As the tall, commanding 
 figure of the great barytone, in evening dress, his breast 
 
 264
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 covered with decorations, appeared upon the stage, 
 his manly, agreeable countenance and handsome eyes, 
 the graceful dignity of his manner and the charm of 
 his smile instantly found royal road to the hearts of the 
 great throng, of which many, not being regular patrons 
 of the Opera, had perhaps never had an opportunity of 
 hearing this prince among singers. It was long before 
 the applause could be sufficiently subdued for the 
 music to begin. Rich and full, sonorous and sweet, 
 thrilling and exultant, the superb tones of the phe- 
 nomenal voice rang out in the song of triumph from 
 Federici's " Orlando." At the very first phrase a sort 
 of shudder of delight seemed to seize the vast audi- 
 ence, a murmur ran from end to end of the hall, in- 
 creasing in intensity, swelling in volume, till, borne 
 away by a common emotion, the whole throng burst 
 forth in a frenzy of enthusiasm. A scene of wild com- 
 motion followed, men stamping and cheering and 
 throwing their hats in the air, the women waving 
 their handkerchiefs and fairly sobbing with excite- 
 ment. The conductor was forced to lay down his 
 baton, and, turning towards Daretti, led the applause 
 with his own hands. The orchestra put aside their in- 
 struments, and, rising to their feet as one man, clapped 
 and shouted out their approval. It was the apotheo- 
 sis of the singer. 
 
 Daretti, standing alone on the soloist's platform 
 and surveying the mighty host at his feet swayed to 
 frenzy by the magnetism of his genius, felt sensations 
 of unspeakable sadness steal into his soul. He had 
 reached the summit, it seemed to him that he must 
 now descend. The hand of destiny was laid upon him 
 and he must submit, but ere he should die he would 
 sing his swan-song. He lifted his hand and the tumult 
 
 265
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 ceased, the mass was swayed to his will. The heavens 
 seemed to open before him and he sang on as one in- 
 spired. There was an awe-struck silence for a moment 
 after he ceased. Coming back to earth with a half-sigh, 
 the audience that he had carried with him to the heights 
 seemed to realize that this was the supreme effort of a 
 glorious career and that they should never hear its 
 like again. The tumult broke forth afresh as with a 
 certain solemnity the singer retired from the stage. 
 It seemed now that nothing but sheer physical ex- 
 haustion could calm the renewed uproar. The rule of 
 the evening had been that no numbers were to be 
 added to the lengthy programme, but, moved by he 
 knew not what impulse, the conductor signalled to his 
 orchestra and turned to Daretti for instructions. 
 Startled and unprepared, Adriano hesitated a moment. 
 He must choose something familiar, that the mag- 
 nificent orchestra might accompany him from mem- 
 ory. He whispered to the conductor " Wagner's 
 'Evening Star.' " 
 
 The audience waited in breathless suspense while 
 the slight preparations were made, the seven harps of 
 the picked orchestra gathering in a semicircle about 
 the form of the singer, and then, without notes, the 
 well - trained musicians slid into the exquisite open- 
 ing bars accompanying the recitative. With ineffable 
 sweetness and nobleness, elevation and pathos, the 
 singer breathed the beautiful melody into the souls of 
 his hearers, and received from them the tribute of 
 tears and murmurs of sympathy. They were weep- 
 ing, though they knew it not, for the voice that spoke 
 to them for the last time. 
 
 Adriano had never felt so weary after singing two 
 short selections as he felt this night. Passing from 
 
 266
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the greenroom to his carriage, a young woman pushed 
 her way up to him. In her distressed, agitated face 
 and manner he hardly recognized Louise Carson. 
 
 " Mr. Daretti !" she called, breathlessly. " I beg 
 you, tell me if you received a note from me last even- 
 ing, asking you to aid young Bartolini ?" 
 
 "Yes, I received such a note," he replied, wondering 
 at her agitation. 
 
 " You did not go to him !" she cried, wildly. 
 
 " Yes, I went, and sat with him the greater part of 
 the night." 
 
 She clasped her hands in anguish. " And you did 
 not know that he had diphtheria ?" 
 
 He started. He seemed to have foreseen this. The 
 pressure of the hand of destiny sank deeper yet into 
 his soul. 
 
 " Why did you wish me to go to him ?" 
 
 "Before Heaven, I knew nothing of it!" she sobbed. 
 " I was told he was ill and in poverty, and was asked 
 to write you and beg you to do this act of charity to 
 your countryman. I never dreamed of its being any- 
 thing catching. I have only this moment found out 
 that they had him removed to the pest-house this morn- 
 ing, but they knew what it was yesterday before they 
 sent you to him. They tore down the placard from 
 the building so that you should suspect nothing, and 
 the wretched woman who nursed him was bribed to 
 stay away." 
 
 " Who do you mean by ' they '? Who did all this ?" 
 he asked, sternly. 
 
 " Look here !" she cried, holding up her hand, on 
 which the diamond ring still glistened. She tore it 
 off, threw it on the floor, and stamped it fiercely under 
 foot. " I never knew that he was your enemy, I do 
 
 267
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 not know now why he hates you. He deceived me 
 and made me think he was helping us all the time. I 
 never dreamed that he was using his power to injure 
 first Catalina, then you. Oh, I have been cruelly de- 
 ceived ! Oh, say that you believe me, that you know I 
 was innocent !" 
 
 " I cannot do otherwise than believe you, Miss Car- 
 son. You have indeed been deceived ; but be thank- 
 ful that your eyes were opened before you were bound 
 for life to such a man." 
 
 "But I may have caused your death !" she cried, 
 seizing his hands. " If anything should happen to 
 you, I could never, never get over it to my dying 
 day. Promise me that you will take care of yourself. 
 Are there not preventives you can use ?" 
 
 " Do not distress yourself about me," he replied, very 
 gently. " I promise you to be prudent and to consult 
 a physician at once about preventives. Do not fear 
 that you will regret having written me. Perhaps but 
 for that you would never have learned the true char- 
 acter of the man you were engaged to till too late. I 
 do not wonder that you were deceived in him. He is 
 a good-looking, plausible fellow, but we who knew him 
 in boyhood know that he was always tricky and re- 
 vengeful." 
 
 "Nobody warned me against him," she said, still 
 weeping. " Because I was independent and self - re- 
 liant, in my American way, nobody would believe how 
 much I needed help and advice. But I am going home 
 now. I wish I had never left it ! I hate Paris ! I 
 hate the stage ! I hate these horrible associations ! I 
 am going back to my own country, where I under- 
 stand the people and they understand me. Remember 
 me as a vain, silly, ambitious girl if you will, but be- 
 
 268
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 lieve that I was innocent and unsuspecting. And oh, 
 for Heaven's sake, take care of yourself, or I shall feel 
 as if I had killed you !" and she pressed his hands 
 passionately to her lips. 
 
 " He chose his own weapons," he murmured, as he 
 watched her go off weeping. " It is indeed a duel to 
 the death !" He felt strangely calm. He was ready 
 to meet his fate. 
 
 "I cannot avoid it, but it shall find me prepared," he 
 said to himself. " I do not think I shall die, but I 
 know now that I shall never sing again." 
 
 He followed to the letter the advice of the physician, 
 and under the pretence of finishing some work, kept 
 entirely by himself. But there came a night of sud- 
 den unrest and misery, and without waiting for the 
 light of day he struggled from his bed, dressed with 
 unspeakable weariness, crept down the stairs, and 
 dragged his aching, fainting frame through the dark, 
 silent chill of deserted streets till he reached the fever 
 hospital and its gates had closed upon him. 
 
 It was not yet dawn when Teodoro and Oreste were 
 awakened by the authorities, who took the apartment 
 in charge for fumigation. Adriano's physician was 
 with them to break the news to the startled family. 
 
 " Oh, why did he not let us nurse him ? We would 
 die with him gladly," sobbed the heart-broken Teo- 
 doro, while Oreste paced the room like a mad thing, 
 wringing his hands and beating his breast. 
 
 " Do not talk of dying," said the physician, cheer- 
 fully. " Intelligent care will do more for the sick man 
 than the most devoted affection, if ignorant. Besides, 
 he would be constantly worrying about you. You and 
 Oreste have others to live for, and he is cheerful now 
 because he hopes that you will escape infection. He 
 
 269
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 has a comfortable room in the hospital, and all will be 
 done for him that science can do." 
 
 But the two men would receive no comfort. They 
 could hardly force themselves to take rest or food, and 
 their misery was pitiable. They were placed under 
 quarantine for a while, and could not even seek con- 
 solation from their friends. Poor little Espiritu cried 
 her eyes out over the pathetic, despairing notes that 
 Theodore sent her two or three times a day. The bul- 
 letins from the hospital were not unfavorable, but the 
 misery was that Theodore -could not go to Adrien and 
 Espiritu could not go to Theodore. Margara came to 
 see her every day, and Espiritu would sob out her 
 woes in her friend's arms as they pored over those 
 letters together, letters both penned and read in utter 
 wretchedness. At last there came a day when the bul- 
 letins were less favorable, and when the elder woman 
 suddenly dropped her head on the younger one's shoul- 
 der and cried out : 
 
 " I, too, know what this suffering, this separation is, 
 Espiritu ! I know what it is, too ! Oh, Adrien ! My 
 love, my love, my love ! If they would only let me go 
 to you !" 
 
 Then Espiritu saw how blind she had been. "Oh, 
 Margara, I am so selfish ! So selfish both in my joy 
 and in my sorrow that I never guessed this, never 
 guessed it for a moment ! And I made you comfort 
 me when your own dear, brave heart was breaking !" 
 
 So they wept in each other's arms and prayed and 
 waited. But there was one person who, in spite of phy- 
 sicians and police regulations, forced the quarantine and 
 found her way to Teodoro's side. Louise Carson was 
 wild with grief and remorse, and sobbed out the whole 
 story, as she knew it, to her victim's brother. Oeglaire 
 
 270
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 had hastily left Paris, and she had no absolute proof of 
 his villany nothing beyond her own suspicions and 
 the confused story of the wretched nurse. It was use- 
 less to talk of prosecution or arrest, but it relieved her 
 agonized feelings to see Teodoro's indignation and 
 horror. His young face blanched and grew set and 
 stern till almost beyond recognition. 
 
 " May he never cross my path !" he muttered. " Had 
 he injured me, I could forgive him, but he has sought 
 my darling brother's ^life. God keep him out of my 
 way, for if Adriano should die, I could not hold my 
 hand back from murder !" 
 
 But Adriano knew from the first that he would not 
 die. The only visitor permitted to cheer the solitude 
 of the sick-room at the fever hospital was Monsignore 
 lanson, and his big frame and bigger soul, his genial 
 kindliness and the glorified common-sense of his fer- 
 vent piety brought Adriano unspeakable consolation. 
 Sometimes his physical sufferings were so intense that 
 he almost longed for death, and when he remembered 
 how little there was to come back to in life, he coward- 
 ly felt as if it would be a relief to lay it down. All of 
 his nearest and dearest were happily provided for and 
 had no need of him, though, indeed, they would miss 
 him for a while, till new and increasing joys took away 
 the sadness and he was only a tender memory. Lady 
 Ainsworth would, perhaps, shed a startled tear when 
 she heard of his death a tear for what he might have 
 been rather than what he had been to her. But she 
 was young and lovely, and the knight that she waited 
 for would surely appear to claim her, and her perfect 
 womanhood would be rounded out to ineffable beauty 
 under the love of husband and the caresses of children. 
 What need had earth of his empty arms and vanished 
 
 271
 
 talents ? But Adriano lived, and he accepted life even 
 as it appeared to him, desolate and ruined. 
 
 There was great joy in his home when he returned 
 to them at last, the very shadow of himself and scarce- 
 ly speaking above a whisper, and yet his own dear self, 
 with the same adorable smile, and eyes that were larger 
 and more luminous than ever. He must be kept very 
 quiet and free from excitement, the physician said ; so 
 Teodoro and Oreste tiptoed about, anxious and wor- 
 shipping, ready to cut off their hands for his com- 
 fort and pleasure. Even Baptiste the silent stole 
 frequently from his kitchen, and, pushing page and 
 valet contemptuously aside, bore with his own hands 
 the masterpieces of his creation to the invalid's couch 
 to try and tempt the slowly returning appetite. 
 
 One at a time a few friends were admitted Mon- 
 signore lanson and the young Viscount de Bryas, Guy 
 Ainsworth and Giannetto d'Usseglio. The latter of- 
 fered himself as travelling companion, for Adriano was 
 ordered to Algiers to escape the trying climate of win- 
 ter and early spring for his delicate throat. Oreste was 
 preparing everything for his master's comfort on the 
 journey. The day fixed for Oreste's wedding had long 
 since passed, but the gray-eyed girl at Lucca under- 
 stood him now and he received no reproaches. On 
 the contrary, when he wrote her that he should start 
 for Algiers in a week, to be gone he knew not how 
 long, she only replied that that was as it should be, and 
 quietly locked up her simple trousseau in its big chest. 
 
 But Oreste was destined to travel in another direc- 
 tion than Algiers. There were whispered consulta- 
 tions latterly between Adriano, Teodoro, and D'Usse- 
 glio. Adriano seemed to be a little nervous about the 
 luggage, and insisted that Oreste should prepare the 
 
 272
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 boxes and have Jules send them on to Marseilles a day 
 ahead. The valet obeyed, although this seemed to 
 him a foolish precaution. His own small trunk he 
 would take with him. The same afternoon that the 
 luggage departed, Adriano took his first drive, accom- 
 panied by Teodoro and D'Usseglio, in the closed car- 
 riage. When the landau returned an hour later, the ' 
 Contessino Teodoro dismounted from it alone. To 
 Oreste's startled inquiries he replied by handing the 
 valet a letter and package addressed in Adriano's hand- 
 writing. The letter said : 
 
 " I have played a trick on you, my poor Oreste, but you must for- 
 give me, for I have done it out of very love for you and regard for 
 Consiglio's future. I am now seated in the train with Count d'Usseglio, 
 and shall be started on the way to Marseilles when you are reading this. 
 My new valet is doing all he can to make me comfortable. Do not 
 hate him, Oreste, for though he is an excellent valet and no doubt 
 worth ten of you, yet I foresee that I shall never love him. There is 
 one thing, however, lacking to my complete comfort and ease of mind, 
 and that can only be supplied by your sending me a despatch to Mar- 
 seilles to say that you are on your way to Lucca and will be married 
 directly you arrive. 
 
 "I send with this my wedding -gift to you, the title to a little 
 vineyard near the Ponte a Seraglio. In this way I secure you as a 
 neighbor for future summers. Dear Oreste, you are now no longer a 
 valet, but a landed proprietor, and the friend of 
 
 " Your devoted companion of eleven years, 
 
 "ADRIANO MARIA DOMENICO, 
 
 of the Counts Daretti-Mannsfeld." 
 
 "It was the only way he could do it," said Teodoro, 
 laughing at Oreste's consternation. " You know your- 
 self you never would have consented to leave him. 
 He had to run away from you for your own happiness !" 
 
 And two days later the gray-eyed Consiglio unlocked 
 the big chest and drew forth from it her wedding finery, 
 s 273
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 " Shalt show us how divine a thing 
 A Woman may be made." 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 IT was with inexpressible sorrow that Adriano learned 
 from his brother a few weeks after his arrival in Al- 
 giers of the failing health and rapid decline of his dear 
 old friend Madame Valorge. Lolita had given up her 
 lessons in Paris to devote her whole time to the dear 
 grandmother, and Lady Ainsworth spent part of every 
 day with them, and was tenderness and devotion itself, 
 for Espiritu could not be spared from her father's 
 home. 
 
 " Catalina Choulex has sent many presents for her 
 grandmother's comfort, and Madame Delepoule, who 
 has now adopted Rafaela in Catalina's place, goes back 
 and forth from Paris to Passy, and smuggles in many 
 a useful gift," so wrote Teodoro. " Imagine how I 
 feel, having to stand by, my pockets bursting with 
 money, and see them want, while I can do nothing ! 
 Of course these dear little girls will never starve while 
 they have such friends as Lady Ainsworth and Ma- 
 dame Delepoule, but the trouble is that they are so 
 proud they will not let anyone know that they suffer a 
 single pang of hunger." 
 
 At last a day came when Espiritu was perforce 
 spared to be by the grandmother's side, when the 
 tender, exalted spirit took its flight from the world of 
 
 274
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 darkness to realms where the blind eyes would be 
 made to see those glories which the mind of man hath 
 not conceived. It was the first bereavement of the 
 young girls, for not even Catalina remembered their 
 mother. 
 
 The illness and death of Madame Valorge brought 
 about a crisis in Disdier's unhappy household. He had 
 felt that he must let Espiritu go to her grandmother's 
 dying bed. Little Maxime was croupy and fretful, 
 and it was with many misgivings that Espiritu had 
 parted from her little charge, leaving full directions 
 with his mother about the medicines to be adminis- 
 tered to him and the preparation of his simple dinner 
 and supper. Leontine Disdier was beyond measure 
 annoyed and disgusted at finding herself burdened 
 with these cares. She had planned to spend the after- 
 noon at a fete with the wife of a silk merchant on the 
 first floor, who had many gay bachelor friends, and 
 held out to her the promise of drives and opera and a 
 late supper. Leontine must have a new bonnet and 
 gloves for the occasion, and she came to Disdier for the 
 money before he started for his office. 
 
 " God help me, I have nothing to give you, Le*on- 
 tine !" he groaned, burying his face in his hands. 
 
 " I should like to know why you have not ?" she ex- 
 claimed, petulantly. " I don't know where all the 
 money goes to. I am sure I don't get much of it. I 
 have to live in this shabby, miserable home, where I 
 am ashamed to have my friends see me, and my child 
 is dressed like a common workman's boy. Why did 
 you marry me if you could not give me enough to 
 keep us decent ?" 
 
 "Why, indeed?" he muttered. Then he turned to 
 her appealingly. " Be patient with me a little longer, 
 
 275
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Le"ontine. I have done my best by you. Did those 
 jewels and laces that you wear cost nothing? Have 
 you not wardrobes full of costumes that I am still 
 starving myself to pay for ? Do I not work nights as 
 well as days to try and make a little more money ? 
 You have urged me to speculate, even to gamble, to 
 try and increase my income, and what is the result ? 
 My first wife's children are earning their own bread, 
 and her mother is dependent on them for a home to 
 die in, and I have nothing but debts and the interest 
 on debts staring me in the face." 
 
 "Is it my fault that your speculations were unfort- 
 unate ?" she cried, with irritation. " Other men spec- 
 ulate and grow rich, why cannot you ? I am sure I 
 have always heard that jewels and laces are a good in- 
 vestment, and I wish you had put more money into 
 them instead of wasting it at the Bourse. Then we 
 should have something to show for it. As for your 
 first wife and her children and mother, I don't think 
 you ought to be throwing them in my face all the 
 time as you do. It is dreadfully poor taste. I don't 
 wonder they try to earn something for themselves if 
 their father is as mean with them as he is with me. 
 You had better look out that I don't find other ways 
 of getting what I want than asking you for it !" 
 
 This threat, often resorted to, rarely failed of bring- 
 ing the proud, jealous Spaniard to terms. It was a 
 wretched state of affairs where a man had to bribe his 
 wife to stay with him, but to his keenly sensitive 
 spirit any misery was better than dishonor. 
 
 " I will try and bring you the money this afternoon," 
 he said, humbly. But before afternoon he had a message 
 by pneumatic post that Madame Valorge had reached 
 the extremity, and he hurried out to Passy, not know- 
 
 276
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 ing whether he should be able to come back at all that 
 night. The placid end came early, however, and after 
 lingering to render what last sad services he could, he 
 returned about an hour before midnight to his own 
 home. 
 
 He opened the door to find the apartment dark and 
 cold. It was not silent, however, for there struck his 
 ear the distressing sounds of a child's strangling cough 
 and restless, choking cries in the agonies of croup. He 
 rushed to the door of Espiritu's room, where Maxime 
 slept, but it was locked. Fortunately the key was on 
 the outside, he turned it hurriedly and pushed into 
 the room. It was dark and cold as the rest of the 
 house. Striking a light hastily, he saw the little fel- 
 low lying fully dressed in his crib, moaning and strug- 
 gling for breath. It was by far the worst attack he 
 had ever had, and Disdier was terrified. The little 
 table with spirit-lamp and medicine-chest, which Es- 
 piritu kept ready for such emergencies, stood near the 
 crib, and Disdier worked over his child for two hours, 
 fearing that every gasping breath would be the last. 
 When the symptoms were slightly relieved and he 
 felt for the first time that it would be safe to leave 
 the little sufferer for a moment, he went into his wife's 
 room and lighted the lamp. She was not there. Seiz- 
 ing the lamp he hurried through the apartment, but 
 it was empty. Returning to the child's side, he stooped 
 down and whispered gently : " Does Maxime know 
 where mamma is ?" 
 
 The child opened his big, pathetic eyes wide. " I 
 cried," he said, in his husky, choked voice " I cried, 
 and she said it was naughty, and she put me in my 
 crib and said I must go to bed without my supper. 
 Then she locked the door." 
 
 277
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " That was before supper, dear. Have you not seen 
 her since?" 
 
 " No, I was alone all the time in the dark. I cried 
 some more, but that must have been naughty, for she 
 never came back again." Then seeing that his father 
 stood there silent and stern, he asked : " Am I a naughty 
 boy, papa ?" 
 
 The one thing that Disdier loved best in the world, 
 loved with all the passion of his soul, was this frail 
 mite of a child with the thin, hectic cheeks and big, 
 appealing eyes. He could have killed the woman who 
 deserted it. He fell on his knees, fondled the child, 
 and covered him with kisses. 
 
 " No, no ! my little Maxime, you are not naughty, 
 you are only very, very ill." And for another hour 
 he nursed the little sufferer till the child fell into a 
 doze. Leaving the light burning low and the door 
 ajar, Disdier opened the outside door of the apartment 
 and looked down the well-hole of the public staircase. 
 A light was still burning in the porter's lodge. He 
 stole down the stairs, his ears open to catch every 
 sound from the room above. 
 
 " You are up late," he observed to the porter. 
 
 " Yes, sir. There is an entertainment going on in 
 Madame Lemoux's rooms. They came home from the 
 opera awhile ago with a party of ladies and gentlemen, 
 and are having a champagne supper. It sounds merry, 
 doesn't it?" 
 
 Disdier listened a moment to the sounds of hilarity 
 coming from the floor above the porter's lodge. Then 
 the porter suddenly bethought himself. 
 
 " Perhaps you are sitting up, too, for the party to 
 be over. I saw that Madame Disdier was among the 
 guests." 
 
 278
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Disdier had been too proud to question the porter 
 about his wife's movements. He had hoped to find 
 out indirectly, and now he knew. 
 
 " Will you kindly go up to Madame Lemoux's door," 
 he said to the porter, " and send in word to Madame 
 Disdier that her child is very ill, perhaps dying." 
 
 " I am very sorry to hear it, sir. I will go at once. 
 Can I get a doctor for you, sir ?" 
 
 Disdier hesitated. His physician had refused to 
 come again till the bill was paid, and he had not fif- 
 teen sous in his pocket. His credit was gone, and 
 would a strange doctor be willing to take the case ? 
 Surely one could be found to come in the name of 
 common humanity ! He accepted the porter's offer to 
 call in a neighboring physician, and hastened up-stairs. 
 
 Maxime was still sleeping, but it was a restless, fe- 
 vered sleep, and Disdier watched him with ever-in- 
 creasing anxiety. There came a sound from the outer 
 door, and he went out into the hall, closing the cham- 
 ber door behind him that the child might not be dis- 
 turbed. His wife stood there in her ball-dress, her 
 cheeks flushed with the champagne she had had, and a 
 silly smile on her pretty face. He folded his arms 
 and surveyed her contemptuously from head to foot. 
 She had the grace to look ashamed. His look of dis- 
 dain gradually turned to one of deep hatred. He went 
 up to her with flashing eyes, took her by the bare, 
 white shoulders, and shook her furiously. 
 
 " Woman !" he thundered. " Wretched, heartless 
 woman ! You have deserted that innocent child, and 
 left him to starve and suffer and die ! Leave my sight 
 forever, if you wish to save your silly, selfish life !" 
 
 " Ramon !" she whimpered. " You hurt me ! Oh, 
 you hurt me !" 
 
 279
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Do I ?" he said, releasing her. " I am glad of it. I 
 have been watching your child suffer for three hours, 
 till I have no'pity left in my heart. Go! There is the 
 door ! Go back to your friends. They are dearer to 
 you than your child or your husband ; let them take 
 care of you. But, stay a moment ! You remarked 
 this morning that jewels were a good investment. So 
 they are. Those that you wear can be turned into 
 money readily to pay your child's physician, and pro- 
 cure him food and medicine and warmth and an effi- 
 cient nurse." As he spoke he seized her hands and 
 stripped from them the rings and bracelets that covered 
 them. He unclasped the necklace of pearls from about 
 her neck, and removed the diamonds from her ears with 
 no gentle hand. She moaned under his cruel grasp. 
 
 " Now go !" he said, pointing to the door. " I have 
 done with you." 
 
 But she sank crouching to the floor, and gazed up 
 at him piteously. Terror had brought her completely 
 to her senses, yet she hardly recognized her husband. 
 Hitherto he had been weak towards her. A few com- 
 plaints or a few caresses, an occasional threat of leav- 
 ing him, with these weapons she had easily been able 
 to manage him and bring him to her will. But this 
 new man, stern and vengeful, with flashing eyes and 
 cruel hands, this man terrified her. He was some- 
 thing to fear and to respect. 
 
 "Oh, no, no !" she cried, moaning and clasping her 
 hands. " Don't send me away ! Let me stay with 
 you ! I will do anything you say !" 
 
 Just at this moment the physician was heard com- 
 ing. Disdier hurriedly signed to his wife to go into 
 the salon, while he led the doctor to the child's bed- 
 side and anxiously waited his verdict. 
 
 280
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 " The immediate attack is spasmodic croup," said 
 the doctor, " but the child is evidently laboring under 
 another trouble. He appears to be well formed and 
 of a naturally good constitution, but his whole system 
 is suffering from want of proper nutrition. What 
 does he eat ?" 
 
 " Heaven knows !" groaned Disdier. " His sister has 
 cared for him the past few months and he had seemed 
 better, but his babyhood was neglected. I did what I 
 could, and it was nearly all the care he got, but I was 
 at my work all day and half the night ; what could 
 I do ?" 
 
 The physician was new in the neighborhood and a 
 stranger to the family. " Ah," he said. " Motherless ! 
 I thought so ! Want of care, and poor feeding in his 
 infancy, have stunted his growth and overtaxed his 
 nervous system. It will take two or three years of 
 unceasing care and tenderness to bring him right, but 
 whoever gives him this attention will be rewarded. 
 He has the makings of a fine little fellow. I will pre- 
 scribe the treatment to be followed now. What he 
 will need later is mothering." 
 
 Entering into elaborate details and minute direc- 
 tions about diet and nursing, the physician concluded : 
 " Some one should sit up with him for the next three 
 nights, and he should not be left for five minutes in 
 the daytime. Can this be managed, or shall I send a 
 Sister of Bon Secours ?" 
 
 "Yes, that will be best," said Disdier. He still 
 clutched his wife's jewels in his hand, and felt with 
 triumph that Maxime could now have the best of 
 everything. As he accompanied the doctor to the 
 door he caught sight of a white figure fluttering away. 
 Le"ontine had evidently been listening to hear what 
 
 281
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 was passing in the sick-room. Disdier cared little for 
 her movements. Let her go or stay, there was misery 
 either way. 
 
 An hour or two later the nursing-sister was estab- 
 lished in the sick-room. The child had gazed at her 
 quaint garb in some alarm at first, then he had smiled 
 and accepted her services. Disdier withdrew to seek 
 some much-needed rest. He glanced into his wife's 
 room. She had thrown herself across the bed in her 
 ball-gown, and had evidently sobbed herself to sleep. 
 There were traces of tears on cheek and pillow. He 
 smiled grimly, then taking a rug, wrapped himself in 
 it, and throwing himself on the parlor sofa sank into a 
 heavy sleep. 
 
 Daylight was struggling in when he awoke. It was 
 bitterly cold, and he sprang up to take some wood into 
 Maxime's room and to light the kitchen fire, for the 
 char-woman who came in for a few hours every day to 
 do the heavy work about the house their only ser- 
 vant would not come for another hour yet. As he 
 entered the little kitchen he saw a figure bending over 
 the stove, a figure like Espiritu's, slender and rather 
 tall, dressed in a simple, dark, and ill-fitting gown of 
 Espiritu's own, and with fair hair neatly brushed and 
 knotted as Espiritu wore hers. Surprised at her early 
 return he called her by name ; the figure turned, and 
 then he saw that the face was his wife's. Her unac- 
 customed hands were burned and blackened with her 
 efforts to light the fire. He snatched the kindlings 
 impatiently from her and lit it himself. She stood by 
 humbly, waiting for directions and obeying with alac- 
 rity his slightest gesture. With his own hands, and 
 waited upon assiduously by Le"ontine, Disdier pre- 
 pared for the child the food ordered by the doctor, 
 
 282
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 and afterwards their own coffee. Once Leontine 
 asked to sit with Maxime while the nurse had break- 
 fast, but her husband turned on her with such a look 
 that she shrank back and was silent. 
 
 When the char-woman came, Disdier engaged her 
 to stay the entire day, and gave her instructions for 
 the work and the cooking, entirely ignoring his wife. 
 As he was preparing to start for his office, Le"ontine 
 called him timidly and led him to the door of her room. 
 There on the bed lay piled up all of her gowns and 
 bonnets, her laces and furs and finery. 
 
 "There are people who buy such things," she said. 
 " I know there are. Take them all and sell them. I 
 can never put them on again." 
 
 He gave a short, dry laugh. " Unfortunately, no- 
 body can buy them, because they are not yet all paid 
 for. They belong to my creditors." He brushed her 
 aside and passed out. 
 
 She watched him with intent eyes, and then went 
 to the window and again watched him going down the 
 street till out of sight. There seemed to her a sort of 
 grandeur in his proud bearing and scornful eyes. In 
 spite of his cares and troubles he carried his forty- 
 eight years well and was still a handsome man. She 
 could have knelt at his feet and kissed the ground he 
 trod on. He was her master, now and forever. 
 
 And Disdier understood this instinctively. The 
 knowledge only filled his heart with bitter, unavail- 
 ing regret. Of humblest origin, an uneducated, spoiled 
 beauty, she might still have developed into an efficient 
 housewife and tender mother had he from the first as- 
 sumed the mastery that was rightly his by superior 
 breeding, intelligence, and experience, and had he 
 from the first acknowledged her publicly and placed 
 
 283
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 her in the dignified, unequivocal position which was 
 hers by right as his wife. But he had been weak and 
 vacillating, he had shown himself afraid of the world 
 and afraid of her, he had surrendered conscience and 
 judgment to her ever-growing vanity and selfishness, 
 and he had not suffered alone for his weakness his 
 idol, his only boy, was perhaps injured for life by its 
 consequences. He must not blame that silly, ignorant 
 girl more than he blamed himself for the state of things. 
 A short, sharp struggle of five minutes had given him 
 the mastery, and now she was as clay in his hands to 
 mould to his will. She feared him, she respected him, 
 she had fallen in love with him. She could never give 
 him the intelligent companionship that the other wom- 
 en of his family had ; he could never again feel for her 
 the foolish infatuation that her characterless beauty 
 had once stirred in him; he could never rely on her 
 judgment for the direction of house or child; he must 
 stand alone as head of the house and hold the reins of 
 government firmly in his own hand but at least there 
 might yet be honor and tenderness in their relations, 
 Maxime might yet know a mother's devotion and love ! 
 Disdier groaned within himself as he thought how 
 easily this might have been theirs in the past had it 
 not been for his own fatal weakness. 
 
 When Espiritu returned to her father's home the 
 following day she instantly saw there had been a 
 change. She saw her father masterful and sullen 
 towards his wife; she saw Le"ontine abject, humbled 
 to the dust, and touchingly devoted, trying to make 
 herself useful, and weeping piteously at seeing herself 
 shut out of the child's sick-room. With instinctive 
 delicacy Espiritu herself kept away from the little in- 
 valid what right had she where a mother could not 
 
 284
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 go? She was not absolutely needed there, for the 
 trained nurse watched him by day and the father by 
 night, and there were many household tasks depend- 
 ent upon her which she busied herself in fulfilling. 
 Leontine followed her everywhere, watched the deft 
 fingers admiringly, and timidly asked for instruction 
 in the homely accomplishments. 
 
 A week or more passed in this way. Little Maxime 
 improved daily, took an interest in toys, and began to 
 play quietly about his room. At last he nestled against 
 his father's shoulder and looked up at him with trou- 
 bled, inquiring eyes. 
 
 "Is mamma very angry with me?" he asked. 
 
 " No, my darling," answered his father. " Mamma 
 is not angry at all. She is very, very sorry that little 
 Maxime has been so ill." 
 
 " Then why doesn't she come to see me ?" asked the 
 child, anxiously. " I want my mamma ! I want my 
 pretty mamma so much !" 
 
 Disdier put the child down in the crib and laid a 
 little wooden horse in his arms. " Now sit here quiet- 
 ly, dear, while I go and bring mamma to you." 
 
 He opened the salon door and saw Le*ontine seated 
 by the window, trying with awkward fingers to mend 
 a child's frock. She looked up in the timid, beseech- 
 ing way habitual with her nowadays. 
 
 " Leontine !" he called, gently, holding out his hands. 
 
 In a moment she was by his side, ready to kneel at 
 his feet if he would let her. But she was Maxime's 
 mother, and her place was at her husband's side. He 
 took her hands in his and looked down into her face. 
 The beautifying touch of penitence had lightened it 
 with new graces. He bent forward and kissed her brow 
 and drew her to his heart. She gave a little gasp of joy. 
 
 285
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " My wife !" he said, tenderly. " Maxime has asked 
 for his mother." 
 
 She sprang back from the kiss she had thirsted for, 
 she tore herself from the embrace she had prayed for, 
 she flew from him at whose feet she had been ready to 
 worship, and in an instant she was by the little crib 
 and was rocking Maxime in her arms, and he was 
 laughing and shouting and stroking the pretty, tear- 
 ful face with his little hands. 
 
 Disdier leaned against the door, watching them. He 
 heard Espiritu's light footstep and went forward to 
 meet her. 
 
 " Espiritu !" he cried. " My troubles are over ! 
 What is poverty ? What is work ? My child has found 
 a mother and I am a man again !"
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 " Suddenly God took me." Browning. 
 
 IN spite of his great improvement, Maxime remain- 
 ed delicate, and the physician strongly recommended 
 country life and sea-air. The Marchioness of Palafox 
 was now going to Italy to welcome her first grand- 
 child, and the Villa Usseglio was on the sea, in the en- 
 virons of Genoa. The gardener's cottage on the 
 grounds stood close to the water, and there were plenty 
 of rooms in it, so that little Maxime and his mother 
 and Espiritu could be comfortably established there. 
 Espiritu needed the change almost as much as the 
 child, for though her life had been far easier since 
 Leontine shared its toil and since they were all so 
 happy together, yet the long confinement and anxiety 
 and the grief for her grandmother had told upon her, 
 and she looked pale and fragile. The marchioness 
 pleaded with Disdier to let her take both of the women 
 and the child with her, and he was not unwilling to 
 let them go. The separation from his boy was hard 
 to bear, but he could not be selfish where the child's 
 health was concerned. 
 
 But before they started for Genoa, Teodoro had his 
 word to say. It was time that his claim to the gentle 
 young girl was heeded. For almost a year he had 
 been patient, that she might fulfil her duties to her 
 parents, but now they must listen to him and to the 
 
 287
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 need that his young life had of her. And Espiritu 
 laid her hand in his and promised to be his bride at 
 Whitsuntide, for her tender conscience was at peace 
 no duty now stood between her and the youth she 
 loved. On the contrary, she felt that her little work 
 in her father's household was done, and that the wife 
 and mother would grow nearer to husband and child 
 in her absence, and learn to be stronger and more self- 
 reliant than when she had Espfritu to turn to in every 
 emergency. The dear grandmother was gone, Cata- 
 lina was happily married, and Lolita was to have 
 a home with Madame Delepoule. Did not the very 
 Providence that had arranged these matters seem to 
 say to her, " Espfritu, the time has now come for you 
 and your lover to enter into your happiness ?" 
 
 In the interval between Easter and Whitsuntide, 
 Teodoro was to sing in a short season at Covent Gar- 
 den, then he would join Adriano at Genoa and be 
 near his little betrothed, so that he could carry on a 
 happy courtship until the wedding-day. Genoa seemed 
 the best place to have the wedding, for Catalina and 
 Casimir could easily run down from Turin, Bindo and 
 Elena could cross the hills in a few hours from the 
 Baths of Lucca, and Disdier would then be with his 
 family. Lady Ainsworth, too, faithfully promised to 
 join her mother and sister at the Villa Usseglio in- 
 deed, she might perhaps come earlier, so as to help 
 Espiritu with her simple preparations. 
 
 This last parting from Espiritu seemed to Teodoro 
 harder to bear than any since their childish one of 
 seven years before indeed, his mind reverted fre- 
 quently to that one. 
 
 " Do you remember the promise you made me 
 then ?" he asked. 
 
 288
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Of course I remember it, my Theodore, but you 
 must not speak in such a gloomy way. That was a 
 long separation of five years, with everything uncer- 
 tain between us. This parting is only for five or 
 six weeks, and everything is settled. We belong to 
 each other forever now, and nothing can really sepa- 
 rate us." 
 
 " I am not gloomy," he said. " I only wanted to re- 
 mind you that the promise was to hold good for all 
 our lives. The nearer we are to each other the more 
 painful the separation of death would be. Sometimes 
 it is best to dwell on such thoughts, for fear we should 
 forget that this life is not all. But when we can think 
 of an eternity together in heaven, then not even death 
 will seem like a separation." 
 
 Teodoro's triumphs of the winter were repeated in 
 London, where he alternated with Lennartsen in the 
 leading tenor roles. But though rarely alone a moment 
 he was always in a certain sense lonely. Espfritu, 
 Adriano, they were his world, his all; his heart yearned 
 for them, and without them his life seemed empty. A 
 thousand times he was tempted to give up the season, 
 to fly to them from all the glory and applause and 
 brilliancy that surrounded him, but he restrained him- 
 self. Work was the natural vocation of man; he must 
 be a man and not yield to the weak pleadings of his 
 heart. But it was with a sigh of relief that he saw 
 the season come to an end, and with indifference, nay, 
 impatience, submitted to the ovations with which his 
 farewell appearances closed. Even then his work was 
 not over. Every pressure had been brought to bear 
 to induce him to sing in a short supplementary season 
 at Milan. He had persistently refused, for it would 
 shorten the two weeks of courtship that he expected 
 T 289
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 to pass so happily at Genoa. It was now six weeks 
 since he had seen Espiritu, and nearly six months since 
 he had seen Adriano. What was a little more glory 
 or a little extra money to him ? But both the brother 
 and the bride wrote, urging him to accept. " I shall 
 be so busy, you would only be in my way !" wrote his 
 little betrothed, gayly; "and after that we shall have 
 plenty of time to grow 1 tired of each other !" " You 
 have never sung in Italy, your father -land," wrote 
 Adriano, "and the mother-country of song. It seems 
 hard now to sacrifice the few days, but the little sac- 
 rifice is due both to art and to patriotism." With a 
 heavy heart, Teodoro accepted the engagement. It 
 would end the Tuesday before Pentecost. He felt 
 tired of the glare of electric lights, tired of the never- 
 ceasing clamor of crowded audiences, tired of powder 
 and paint and endless making-up. He sighed for a 
 breath of pure mountain air, for the solitude of nature 
 among the lonely hills of his beloved Apennines. He 
 would leave the train from Milan when they reached 
 the spur of those picturesque mountains, and take a 
 short walking-tour of three days through the Pistoiese 
 Alps, joining Bindo at the Baths of Lucca on Saturday 
 morning and going on with the family to Genoa that 
 same day. He could thus spend the feast of Pentecost 
 with Espiritu, and the following day would be their 
 wedding-day. 
 
 Adriano had arrived in Genoa direct from Algiers 
 early in May. He felt that this city would probably 
 be his headquarters for the near future. It was the 
 home of Federici, and the great composer was anxious 
 to secure his collaboration in the opera of " Imogen." 
 He therefore established himself in a modest apart- 
 ment in one of the smaller hotels with his valet, sur- 
 
 290
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 rounding himself with his books and music. As his 
 voice, the source of his income, had failed him, he felt 
 comparatively a poor man, and had broken up his Paris 
 establishment and sold his horses and furniture. He 
 missed greatly his horses, but, after all, what could be 
 more beautiful or of more benefit to him than long 
 walks over the olive - crowned cliffs environing the 
 queenly city, or rowing on the blue waters of the 
 stately bay ? 
 
 One of his first cares had been to report himself for 
 active service with the Confraternity of Mercy of the 
 city. The pious laymen who form this society go 
 about on their errands of charity disguised by long, 
 black dominos, completely hiding face and figure, and 
 thus unrecognized, humbly refrain from letting the 
 left hand know the good works of the right. To give 
 relief to the injured or bear them on litters to the 
 hospitals, to obtain medical aid for the sick and spirit- 
 ual aid for the dying, and to bury the dead, these are 
 the works that occupy them as they go on their rounds, 
 always two together, chiefly among the poor and for- 
 saken. Adriano was detailed with another Brother to 
 attend sick-calls every alternate morning in the suburbs 
 lying towards Pegli. He was rapidly recovering his 
 strength in the bracing sea-air. With his mornings 
 devoted to works of charity, his afternoons to recrea- 
 tion on the water or walks over the hills, and his even- 
 ings to revising the libretto of " Imogen," on which he 
 was now at work, he was enabled to struggle with more 
 or less success against the temptations to melancholy 
 arising from his weakened physical condition, the dis- 
 appointment of all his human ambitions, and the 
 blighting of the tenderest hopes of his heart. 
 
 He had especial need of occupation as the day drew 
 
 291
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 nearer for Teodoro's wedding, and he knew the hour 
 must soon come when he should meet Lady Ainsworth 
 again. During the first month after his arrival in 
 Genoa, Adriano had frequently found his way to the 
 cottage where Espiritu was established with her step- 
 mother and her little brother. He had tenderly en- 
 joyed her sweet companionship, and together they had 
 triumphed in Tedi's triumphs and consoled each other 
 in his absence. Intimate as he was with the D'Usse- 
 glio family, Adriano could not fail on these occasions 
 to stop at the villa where Gentile and Pepilla, uncon- 
 scious of any embarrassment, received him with de- 
 lightful cordiality, and introduced him proudly to the 
 infant son and heir, the tiny Luigi. The Marchioness 
 of Palafox, in the full enjoyment of her new character 
 of grandmother, was consideration and kindness itself 
 to Daretti. But now Lady Ainsworth had arrived 
 there with the younger boys, and Adriano cowardly 
 put off from day to day the meeting that must inevi- 
 tably come, sooner or later. 
 
 It was now within three days of the wedding, the 
 Friday morning before the vigil of Pentecost. A joy- 
 ous letter from Teodoro, in the best of health and 
 spirits, had reached Adriano the night before. The 
 boy wrote that he was on his way on foot into the 
 heart of the Pistoiese Alps, where he would be beyond 
 the reach of letters or telegrams, but that he expected 
 to arrive at San Marcello Friday night, and would 
 start at dawn to drive to the Baths of Lucca, and join 
 Bindo and Elena on their way to Genoa. Would Adri- 
 ano have rooms ready for him by Saturday evening at 
 the latest ? Giving full directions to Simone, the new 
 valet, for the necessary preparations, Adriano started 
 out, while it was yet early, to go on his round of duties 
 
 292
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 with his companion in the band of the Misericordia. 
 As he slipped on the black domino over his dress he 
 half sighed. With Tedi's arrival on the morrow he must 
 perforce leave his retirement, and before he donned 
 his disguise again the wedding would be over, and 
 with it that unavoidable meeting, with all that it en- 
 tailed to him of bitter recollection and disappoint- 
 ment. On joining his companion at the rendezvous, he 
 found that their first sick-call would bring them into 
 the immediate neighborhood of the Villa Usseglio. 
 What matter ? Even if he met some of the family 
 he would not be recognized under his disguising 
 dress. 
 
 Together they wandered on, gradually ascending 
 the gray cliffs that reared their lofty, olive-crowned 
 heads so boldly above the glittering expanse of waters. 
 The companions bore a litter with them, for they were 
 to carry an injured laborer to the hospital. They had 
 not yet reached their destination when cries of dis- 
 tress met their ear. A young peasant girl had caught 
 sight of the Brothers in their weird dress, and was 
 signalling to them wildly. They caught up the litter 
 and ran to the spot. 
 
 " The young lady has fallen on the rocks," she 
 sobbed, wringing her hands helplessly, "and we cannot 
 bring her to. The little child had slipped, and she was 
 trying to save him from falling when she slipped her- 
 self and is lying there unconscious." 
 
 They followed quickly as she led the way. Down 
 among the broken stones at the foot of the rocks knelt 
 Lady Ainsworth, as pale as death, trying to comfort 
 the bruised and frightened child at her side, and at 
 the same time laboring to restore some sign of life to 
 the inanimate form stretched at her feet. She had 
 
 293
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 sent the child's young peasant attendant in search of 
 help, and the minutes seemed hours till her return. 
 With a cry of relief, Margara saw the forms of two of 
 the noble band of Mercy approaching. If ever there 
 were angels of help and charity on earth it was these 
 devoted laymen, who, under their quaint disguise, went 
 about doing good. She rose, the crying child clinging 
 to her. The taller of the two dominos seemed to start 
 at sight of her, and rushing forward fell on his knees 
 by the side of the unconscious figure lying across the 
 stones. 
 
 " Espiritu !" he exclaimed. " Oh, my God ! Espiritu!" 
 There was no further disguise from Margara. The 
 tones of that manly voice would have struck their note 
 of recognition in her heart had she heard them in far- 
 thest desert land or under any concealment. It seemed 
 to her now as she knelt by his side that, whatever hap- 
 pened, all would be well. The companions applied skil- 
 fully such simple restoratives as they carried with them, 
 and had the satisfaction of seeing the eyelids quiver 
 slightly and a smile pass over the sweet lips. There 
 seemed to be no bones broken, what injury there was 
 must be internal. They lifted her tenderly on to the 
 litter, and bore her gently and swiftly towards her 
 home, Lady Ainsworth following with the child in her 
 arms. 
 
 The alarm was quickly given, and help was soon at 
 hand. Le"ontine sobbed over her boy and rejoiced to 
 find him without serious hurt. Disdier and Lady 
 Ainsworth were by Espiritu's side, and in a few mo- 
 ments Pepilla and the Marchioness of Palafox had 
 come hurriedly down from the villa. Adriano re- 
 mained to give what help he could till his companion 
 returned with the surgeon, and then both Brothers 
 
 294
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 waited yet a few minutes for his report, and to know 
 if their services were further desired. 
 
 It was even as Adriano feared. The injuries were 
 internal, the physician said, and the force of the con- 
 cussion had affected both spine and brain. The lower 
 limbs were wholly paralyzed, and if hemorrhage should 
 set in there would be no hope of saving the fair young 
 life. There were plenty of loving hands to nurse her, 
 and there was no further aid that the Brothers could 
 render. They picked up the litter and were moving 
 off. Lady Ainsworth sprang after them. 
 
 " You will telegraph at once for Theodore, will you 
 not ?" she asked of the tall domino. " Pray take my 
 carriage, which is at the door, and drive immediately 
 to the office." 
 
 " I fear, Lady Ainsworth, that a telegram would not 
 reach him as soon as we could wish. The line goes no 
 farther than San Marcello, and he is not due there till 
 to-night at the earliest. I should almost have time to 
 reach there by train and break the news to the poor 
 boy myself, which would be better than the shock of 
 a telegram." 
 
 " The southern express leaves Genoa in half an 
 hour," she cried, eagerly. " You will just have time 
 to catch it if you take my carriage and drive over at 
 once. Is there anything we can offer you for the 
 journey ?" 
 
 The other Brother made a slight sign. Adriano 
 stood rigidly still for a moment, then he said, in a low, 
 strained voice : " I cannot go at present, I am still 
 on duty." 
 
 " But Theodore !" she exclaimed. " Thdodore must 
 be reached immediately, there is no time to lose. 
 Another train would bring you there too late." 
 
 295
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " I cannot go," he repeated, hoarsely. " I am on 
 duty for two hours more. We are on our way to 
 carry a poor laboring man to the hospital." 
 
 To her excited mind it seemed that he did not re- 
 alize the situation. That he could leave his idolized 
 brother to learn of this terrible sorrow alone and 
 through the shock of a telegram, when he might be 
 at his side to support and comfort him, was not to be 
 believed. 
 
 " Count Daretti," she exclaimed, " you do not seem 
 to realize what your catching this train will mean to 
 Theodore !" 
 
 He turned fully towards her. " Do I not realize 
 it ?" he asked, slowly, and there was no mistaking the 
 anguish in his voice. " Lady Ainsworth, I appeal to 
 you ! Help me to do my duty, and leave Teodoro in 
 the hands of the God of all consolation !" 
 
 The tears rushed blindingly to her eyes. She 
 seemed to remember the story of a boy who had left 
 his adored father dying on the field of battle to carry 
 a message of succor to those in danger. The boy was 
 father to the man. She took his hand and raised it 
 humbly to her lips. " Do what is your duty and God 
 will do the rest," she murmured ; " and may He help 
 me, who am so much weaker, who have so much less 
 faith than you !"
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 "The room will sway a little, and a haze 
 
 Cloy eyesight soul-sight even for a space, 
 And tears, yes, and the ache here in the throat, 
 To know that I so ill deserve the place 
 Her arms make for me." 
 
 Whitcomb Riley. 
 
 LADY AINSWORTH and her mother relieved each 
 other in their watch by the sick girl's bedside, vying 
 with each other in their solicitude and tender care 
 for the beloved sufferer. Little Maxime and his moth- 
 er had been sent up to the villa to stay with Pepilla, 
 that the cottage might be kept absolutely quiet, while 
 Disdier and Gentile stepped softly about, longing to 
 be of service. Espiritu lay white and helpless, but 
 she seemed to be conscious the greater part of the 
 time and not to suffer severely. There was a rested, 
 peaceful look on her face, and from time to time the 
 eyes opened and gazed out over the blue waters dancing 
 in the sunlight at the foot of the dark cliffs, whose 
 sloping sides were covered with groves of olive and 
 myrtle and lemon. " Paradise !" she whispered, and 
 her voice was scarcely more than a breath. " Mar- 
 gaVa, I shall see it all soon !" 
 
 " Are you glad to go, dearest ?" 
 
 "Oh, so glad!" 
 
 " But Theodore, dear ! Are you not sorry to leave 
 him?" 
 
 297
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 "We shall not be separated !" but the whisper was 
 so soft that Margara could hardly distinguish the 
 words. A little later the eyes opened again with an 
 eager light in them. " Adrien is there," she murmur- 
 ed. " Margara, send him to me." 
 
 Lady Ainsworth had heard no sound, but passing 
 from the sick-room through the adjoining chamber 
 she could now detect low voices conversing in the 
 anteroom. She entered and saw Daretti, a letter in 
 his hand and a railroad map spread on the table, mak- 
 ing explanations to Disdier and the marchioness. 
 
 "He will cross the frontier of Modena at Bosco- 
 lungo," he was saying, " and goes from there to San 
 Marcello, which he expects to reach to-night. San 
 Marcello is a five-hours' drive up-hill from the Baths 
 of Lucca, and I have telegraphed Bindo to start imme- 
 diately and meet him there. But in this letter Teo- 
 doro says that if delayed later than this evening he 
 will not go to San Marcello at all, but drive directly 
 from Boscolungo to Pracchia to catch the express. In 
 that case, Bindo would miss him, but I believe that by 
 taking the next train to Pracchia, I may yet be in time 
 to intercept him. There are but these two roads, and 
 one or the other of us cannot fail to meet him. I have 
 driven over here before starting to get the last news, 
 and if possible to see her lovely face once more." 
 
 "She has asked to see you, Count Adrien," said Lady 
 Ainsworth, coming forward. " She is waiting for you 
 now." 
 
 He passed into the sick-room alone. At the first 
 sight of the still, white face on the pillow all hope fled 
 from his heart, yet her smile of welcome was bright 
 and tender, almost like her old self. As he bent over 
 to kiss her brow she whispered : 
 
 298
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Dear Adrian, I wanted the happiness of telling you 
 myself that she loves you." 
 
 " Margara !" he exclaimed, startled and incredulous. 
 
 " Yes, dear brother," she whispered again. " While 
 I was well I could not betray her confidence, but in 
 the light of eternity one sees things so differently." 
 She could say no more for weakness. 
 
 " Espiritu," he sobbed, " I would resign my happi- 
 ness to bring you back to life and health again." 
 
 " But I am glad to go," she murmured. " Do not 
 grieve for Theodore, all will be well with him." 
 
 He saw that she had not strength to bear more, and 
 resigned her to the hands of the marchioness. As he 
 crossed the adjoining chamber he caught sight through 
 a half-open door of something that broke his heart 
 Espiritu's bridal robes spread upon a couch, with the 
 filmy veil and the wreath of the little waxen flowers of 
 the Espiritu Santo. He leaned against the doorway, 
 the tears raining down his cheeks. 
 
 When he looked up a moment later, Lady Ainsworth 
 was standing by his side. They were alone together 
 for the first time since she had sent him away from 
 her in repulsion and disdain now nearly a year ago. 
 How differently oh, how differently she felt towards 
 him to-day ! 
 
 " Poor Theodore !" was all she could find voice to 
 say, but she held out her hand to him with averted 
 face. Adriano took the out-stretched hand reverently 
 and gratefully in his. 
 
 " Lady Ainsworth !" he said, his low voice tremulous 
 with feeling. " The good God has sent us grief where 
 we expected joy. Oh, my poor boy ! how will he bear 
 the long years of suffering and loneliness? But we 
 cannot weep for her ; she seems glad to go. We can 
 
 299
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 only weep for ourselves, left to battle out our lives in 
 this weary world of sin and sorrow." 
 
 He would have released her hand, but she did not 
 withdraw it. It lay still within his own, his clasp slow- 
 ly tightening over it. He felt his heart beat almost to 
 suffocation. He pressed the hand eagerly to his breast, 
 and still she did not shrink from him. " Margara !" 
 he cried, bending towards her. " MargaYa, my love ! 
 look up !" 
 
 Slowly she turned towards him her exquisite face 
 and great, love-lit eyes, and in another moment they 
 were locked fast in each other's arms. 
 
 She was the first to speak, but he had to bend his 
 ear close to her lips to hear the whispered words. 
 " Adrien, dear Adrien, forgive me !" 
 
 " Forgive you ? sweetest Margara, dearest friend ! 
 What have I to forgive ? You could not then have 
 done otherwise. Thank God that the gift of your ten- 
 derness and trust has come to me at last ! I know not 
 why you feel differently, it is enough that you do ; I 
 accept it as a gift of pure mercy, the sweeter for being 
 so unexpected, so undeserved." 
 
 " Oh, Adrien ! I presumed to sit in judgment on you, 
 you who are so much better, so much more fervent 
 than I !" 
 
 " My own sweet Marga*ra, my wife, my love ! There 
 can be no comparisons between us, for we are walking 
 to heaven by different roads ; you by the way of in- 
 nocence, and I, who have sinned, by the path of peni- 
 tence. But, my darling, the two ways lie side by side ; 
 we may walk them hand in hand, helping and comfort- 
 ing each other, loving each other in joy and sorrow, in 
 life and death." He stopped, overcome by emotion for 
 a moment. " Oh, my God !" he murmured, " Thou 
 
 300
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 hast blessed me, even me so far beyond it is too 
 much !" and unclasping his arms from about her he 
 slid down to her feet, kneeling with head deeply bowed, 
 till his lips touched the very hem of her gown. 
 
 She did not prevent him, she seemed to understand 
 that he would take comfort in the self-abasement, but 
 as he slowly raised his head she sank into a chair beside 
 him and drew him, still kneeling, closer to her till his 
 head rested against her shoulder and her cheek felt 
 the touch of his waving hair. 
 
 Now a troubled look stole into his telltale eyes. 
 " But, Margara, I cannot undo the past. Can you for- 
 get it, even as you have so blessedly forgiven it ?" 
 
 " Oh, hush !" she said. " Why should we remember 
 the past, except to rejoice that it is past ? Listen, Adri- 
 en ! The good God remembers no more forgiven sin ; 
 why should I, His frail child ? And does He not love 
 you all the better that He has forgiven you something?" 
 
 " Ah !" he exclaimed, with a long sigh of assent and 
 a beautiful look in his eyes. Then he turned and 
 clung to her, even as when a little child he had clung 
 to his mother as she told him the sad, sweet story of 
 his Saviour crucified. 
 
 The sound of a carriage driving into the court-yard 
 startled them, and they rose to their feet. 
 
 " Margarita, I, with the joy of my life just dawning, 
 I must go to meet that poor boy and tell him that the 
 sunlight is going forever out of his !" 
 
 They looked at each other tearfully. There was 
 nothing they could say. They must leave his soul for 
 comfort to Him who made it. 
 
 The imperturbable Italian train took its leisurely 
 way. The summer sun had sunk and left the world in 
 
 301
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 darkness when they drew up at the little station where 
 one changed to go to Lucca. Daretti was the only oc- 
 cupant of the first-class coupe, and he felt a little an- 
 noyed to hear the door open and see a man's figure 
 present itself. 
 
 "Why did I not think to fee the guard?" was his 
 first thought, and then he sprang forward with an ex- 
 clamation of delight. " Oreste !" 
 
 " Yes, it is I, my dear, dear master ! The Commen- 
 datore sent me your telegrams, and I came to accom- 
 pany you and tell you the plans." 
 
 The engineer whistled and the guard came round 
 shutting the doors and giving warning of the depart- 
 ure of the train. Daretti pulled Oreste into the com- 
 partment with him. "Tell me, has the Commendatore 
 started for San Marcello ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir. He started in half an hour from the time 
 he received your excellency's telegrams. He will reach 
 San Marcello about this time, and if Count Teodoro 
 has not been heard from, will push on to Boscolungo." 
 
 " Ah, there is no time to lose," sighed Adriano. 
 " Oreste, I saw her, and she cannot linger long. One 
 felt the angels hovering over her, waiting to take her 
 to paradise !" 
 
 Both men bared their heads reverently. 
 
 " To think of him wandering up in the hills, careless 
 and happy, looking forward to his wedding, and she at 
 her agony ! O God, what can we do to reach him and 
 let him see her just once more ? Oh, he would never 
 get over it if he were not at her death -bed!" and 
 Adriano threw back his head and struck his hands to- 
 gether in anguish. He loved his brother to idolatry, 
 and with an almost paternal sense of protection and 
 responsibility. It seemed to him at that moment that 
 
 302
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 he could himself have knelt at Margara's death-bed al- 
 most with equanimity, if such a sacrifice could save 
 his baby-boy from the terrible sorrow before him ! 
 
 Oreste touched him on the shoulder. "You have 
 had a long journey from Genoa in the heat, you have 
 been through great distress and have much still before 
 you. Lie down here, sir, while I make it comfortable 
 for you, and try to get a little sleep. Oreste is with 
 you and will warn you as we come near to Pracchia." 
 
 "You are right, Oreste. I must keep strong for 
 what is before me," and Adriano stretched himself 
 out on the cushions while Oreste folded the rug under 
 his head for a pillow, drew the light overcoat about 
 his shoulders, and then climbing up on the seat in- 
 geniously arranged a paper to shade the eyes from the 
 glare of the lamp. As he stepped down, Adriano laid 
 his hand affectionately on the young man's arm. " It 
 is a blessed comfort to have you," he sighed. 
 
 " I know I know, sir," said Oreste, sympathetically. 
 " As for the new one " he never called his successor 
 anything but "the new one" " no doubt he is a good 
 man in his way, he may do his work better than I, 
 but," tossing his head with infinite contempt, " he 
 knows nothing of the sentiment of service." 
 
 Adriano smiled at the expression, so characteristic of 
 the better Italian nature. " Tell me something of your- 
 self, Oreste," he said. " Are you happy ? Is Consiglio 
 happy ?" 
 
 The young man turned red to the roots of his hair 
 and averted his face in delighted confusion. " I am 
 not half good enough for her, sir," he stammered, 
 " but she is an angel and she says she is content 
 with me." 
 
 "And you have left her to come to me?" 
 303
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " I should not care for her as I do, sir, if she had not 
 wished it herself. She told me not to leave you while 
 this trouble lasted." 
 
 Adriano was touched. " Listen !" he said, and now 
 it was his own turn to blush and look away. " Know, 
 Oreste, I, too, have found an angel who says she will 
 be content with me !" 
 
 In a moment Oreste was down on his knees on the 
 carriage floor by his master's side. "Then it is all 
 right !" he cried, joyfully. 
 
 "What is all right?" queried Adriano. "Was any- 
 thing wrong ?" 
 
 "Excuse me, sir, if I am indiscreet, I guessed I 
 feared " 
 
 " What ? Tell me, Oreste, what you guessed." 
 
 " Oh, sir, you had not seemed quite like yourself, if 
 I may say so, since the time we left London. I feared 
 you were not happy here," touching his breast. " Ex- 
 cuse me, sir, but I know how I felt myself before Con- 
 siglio had given me her promise. It will be a joy to 
 her, sir, as it is to me, to know that you have your 
 heart's desire. Now we can enjoy our own happiness 
 with a lighter heart." 
 
 " Happiness !" said Adriano, brokenly. " Do you 
 know, Oreste, I would resign my hard -won heart's 
 desire at this moment to bring back one ray of hap- 
 piness to that poor boy we are going to find ?" 
 
 " God forgive me for speaking of happiness at such a 
 moment, but I was only thinking of you," said Oreste, 
 remorsefully. " But do not be too troubled, sir. Per- 
 haps the doctors are mistaken in thinking Signorina 
 Disdier so ill, and if it is indeed true, it is a sorrow 
 that must come sooner or later to us all. She is more 
 fitted for paradise than for earth, and if it is the will of 
 
 304
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 God to take her, Count Teodoro will know how to 
 make his sacrifice." 
 
 Adriano turned his face to the wall. " I have only 
 been looking at the human side of Teodoro's sorrow," 
 he said to himself, "and this dear fellow reminds me 
 that death is not all despair and affliction to the Chris- 
 tian. Yes, Tedi will bow to the will of God, and she 
 will be a saint in heaven and pray for us all." He 
 closed his eyes and tried to repeat some prayers, but 
 soon the monotonous rumble of the train, the shaded 
 glimmer of the lamp, and the low murmur of Oreste's 
 voice saying his rosary soothed the exhausted nerves, 
 and Adriano sank into a dreamy slumber in which he 
 and Margara sat hand in hand with lovely children 
 playing about them, while Espiritu and Teodoro floated 
 before their eyes in celestial beauty, singing sweet 
 songs and blessing them. 
 
 A touch on his shoulder aroused him. "We are 
 nearing Pracchia, sir," and he tried to shake himself 
 free from the vision. The "new one" now appeared 
 at the door and gathered up rugs and portmanteau, 
 while Oreste selected from among the waiting car- 
 riages one that appeared most suitable for the long 
 mountain drive which was before them, a plain but 
 easy victoria drawn by a pair of strong young horses, 
 their stout harness studded with polished brass and 
 decorated with gay bunches of colored ribbons. 
 
 " There is not much ascent from here to Cutigliano," 
 said the proprietor, coming to the door with the trav- 
 ellers. " We are two thousand feet above the sea-level 
 here and they are only a hundred feet higher, but from 
 there on you will need an extra horse to make the Passo 
 dell' Abetone. The elevation of Boscolungo is two 
 thousand four hundred feet above us at the frontier." 
 u 305
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 The new valet took his seat on the box beside the 
 driver, a weather-beaten, taciturn peasant, whose tall, 
 peaked hat bore a cockade of the same colored ribbons 
 that decorated his horses. Adriano seated himself 
 comfortably in a corner of the carriage and drew 
 Oreste down beside him, though the young man had 
 intended out of respect to crowd himself into the tiny 
 seat opposite. Lanterns were hung on the carriage, 
 and with much cracking of the whip they started off 
 at a round trot into the darkness.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 " Oh, widowed casement, and oh, darkened room! 
 Where sunshine was, are shadow, pain, and gloom. 
 There was the radiant face and laughing eye, 
 And now the very stones weep silently. 
 Shadowed and still are chamber, stair, and floor, 
 The lonely window and the darkened door." 
 
 Tuscan Love Songs. 
 
 THE night was starlit and cloudless, but there was 
 no moon, and the shadow of the neighboring moun- 
 tains made all things black and impenetrable. The 
 lanterns threw weird lights across the road and flick- 
 ered among the bordering trees. The solidly con- 
 structed and well-kept road wound through a region 
 of chestnut and oak groves and mountain streams at 
 the base of the bold and picturesque hills of the Pis- 
 toiese highlands, but of the beauty about them the 
 travellers discerned nothing. They listened intently 
 for the sound of approaching wheels, but they passed 
 no one on the road, either mounted or on foot. The 
 first streaks of dawn were lighting the sky above the 
 dark chain of the Apennines as they drew in at Cu- 
 tigliano to the accompaniment of rattling stones and 
 cracking whip. They stopped at the inn to rest the 
 horses and make inquiries of the landlord, to whom, as 
 members of the Alpine Club which patronized largely 
 the inns at San Marcello and Cutigliano, the Commen- 
 datore Mannsfeld and his brothers were well known. 
 
 307
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " His Excellency arrived at San Marcello late last 
 evening, and has pushed on during the night to Bos- 
 colungo. A peasant lad brought a message not an 
 hour since, that the young count had been delayed and 
 would not reach here till noon to-day, and that we 
 were to have fresh horses ready to drive him with all 
 speed to Pracchia." 
 
 " I will drive on to Boscolungo at once and meet 
 him there," said Daretti. " God grant he may not fail. 
 This delay may cost him dear. There is not a mo- 
 ment to be lost." 
 
 " Poor young man !" murmured the host. His wife, 
 who had been roused by the noisy advent of the 
 victoria, joined in sympathizingly : "Poor young 
 man !" 
 
 The extra horse had now been attached to the car- 
 riage, and large bonnets of coarse straw tied down 
 over the animals' heads to protect them from the 
 summer sun. The road, a magnificent specimen of 
 mountain engineering, wound upward in lengthy zig- 
 zags, clinging to the hill-side on the left of the deep, 
 green valley. They could trace it two thousand feet 
 above their heads through the openings of the forest. 
 They gradually left behind them the region of oaks 
 and chestnuts, and entered that belt of giant firs from 
 which the mountain-pass derives its name, Passo dell' 
 Abetone. The air was crisp and invigorating, the 
 full June sunshine was welcome to mitigate its almost 
 frosty sparkle. 
 
 They arrived in advance of the wanderer at the 
 Hotel Abetone, the ancient custom-house of the fron- 
 tier, but now a favorite resort of Italian aristocracy 
 escaping from the heat of July and August. Noon 
 had come and brought no Teodoro. Bindo and Adriano 
 
 308
 
 B-SPfRITU SANTO 
 
 embraced in infinite sadness ; they could not conceal 
 their anxiety. 
 
 " There is no other road through the pass, he could 
 not escape us," said Bindo, and they waited and 
 watched. Bindo brought out his spy-glass and turned 
 it towards all the openings on the surrounding hills. 
 The setting sun found them alarmed to the highest 
 degree. 
 
 " Some accident may have happened, we had better 
 send out a relief party," suggested Bindo. Three 
 sturdy mountaineers were engaged, and started off 
 with torches to explore the most likely paths that 
 the wanderer would take. Adriano insisted upon go- 
 ing with them. Of course that meant Oreste also. 
 
 " I cannot stay still ; this anxiety will drive me 
 wild," said Adriano. " You, Bindo, must wait here to 
 stop him, if he should miss his road. Simone will at- 
 tend you." 
 
 " You had better let me go with you, sir," said Si- 
 mone. " The duke, my late master, has often climbed 
 about these hills, and I am well used to the emergen- 
 cies of mountain-life." 
 
 So the little party of six men started off through the 
 mountain-roads in the ever-increasing darkness. Bin- 
 do restlessly paced the road in front of the hotel, 
 watching every shadow, and relieving his anxiety by 
 directing the landlord in various preparations to meet 
 every accident that he could foresee. 
 
 And the watchers in the far-off city by the sea had 
 also their anxieties. The gentle sufferer lay in a sort 
 of stupor most of the day, but towards night she grew 
 restless and slightly delirious, calling for Teodoro 
 and her mind wandering back to their childhood. She 
 
 309
 
 ESPIRITU SANTVQ 
 
 seemed to think that it was he dying, and that she \vas 
 strewing flowers of the Holy Ghost on his bier and 
 begging him to sing to her. Saturday morning brought 
 a telegram from Bindo at San Marcello, saying that 
 they had not yet met Teodoro, but hoped to reach him 
 by noon. But noon passed, and the long, hot, weary af- 
 ternoon, and there was no further message. At last 
 Espiritu's weakness became so alarming that they sent 
 for the parish priest. When he came out of the hum- 
 ble suburban church, bearing the sacred Host, preceded 
 by acolytes holding candles and tinkling the little bell of 
 warning, the people knelt by the road-side and bared 
 their heads, praying for the lovely foreign maiden who 
 lay dying when all was prepared for her bridal. After 
 the pious custom of Catholic countries, many joined 
 the little procession and followed reverently, reciting 
 prayers and chanting psalms alternately with the 
 priest, until he entered the door of the modest cottage 
 by the sea. 
 
 Espiritu rallied somewhat and seemed peaceful and 
 happy after receiving the last sacraments, but as the 
 afternoon wore on the restlessness returned, accom- 
 panied by severe suffering. Towards sunset the cool 
 breezes from the sea brought some relief, but great 
 exhaustion took its place and nervous spasms shook 
 her slender frame. All was done that skill and ten- 
 derness could devise to relieve her, and as the sun 
 sank towards the horizon she grew very still and 
 white. " Theodore !" she whispered. " Theodore, sing 
 me to sleep !" The watchers by the bed looked at each 
 other heart-brokenly. Why was he not there to grant 
 her last request ? 
 
 From the convent on the opposite height came the 
 sound of voices singing, for it was the eve of Pente- 
 
 310
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 cost, the monks were chanting the first Vespers of the 
 feast, and the bells rung out with sweet and joyful 
 clangor. Espiritu Santo opened her eyes a last time 
 and smiled at them all. The sun was just sinking into 
 the sparkling sea. The rosy sunset light touched the 
 face that lay on the pillow ; she stretched her hands 
 towards it. " O Lux beatissima /" she murmured, and 
 with a soft, glad cry the gentle spirit breathed itself 
 out. 
 
 And he, where was he who should have been by her 
 side, and for whom she called in infinite longing from 
 her couch of pain ? Gladly hurrying towards her, 
 eager to reach her on her feast day, the eve of their 
 bridal, Teodoro strode along the mountain-paths. The 
 first day of his walking-tour he had not accomplished 
 the distance expected, for he had fallen sadly out of 
 training in a year and a half of city life. The second 
 day he was in better trim, and on Friday sent word by 
 a woodsman passing him on horseback that he should 
 reach Boscolungo by noon. But he was destined to 
 meet with unforeseen delay. In a lonely spot in the 
 Modenese forest he came across two sportsmen, one of 
 whom had just sustained a terrible injury from the 
 explosion of his gun. The other begged Teodoro to 
 stay by his companion while he ran to the nearest vil- 
 lage for help. As Teodoro bent over the sufferer he 
 recognized with a shock the distorted features of 
 Oeglaire, and a sudden loathing filled his soul. His 
 brother's enemy was in his hands. What vengeance 
 should he take ? 
 
 The wounded man clung to him agonizingly. He 
 did not recognize Teodoro, he only knew that it was a 
 human being that he could turn to in his despair. 
 
 " Oh, for the love of God !" he gasped, " hear my
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 confession. Hear the confession of a poor, dying 
 wretch !" 
 
 " But how can I ? I am not a priest, I cannot give 
 you absolution, I cannot do you any good." 
 
 " Listen to me, as you hope for the sacraments your- 
 self on your death-bed," screamed the dying man. " I 
 cannot live to see a priest. I have murder on my soul 
 and you must hear me. I have been an atheist, I have 
 jeered at the teachings of my childhood, I have railed 
 at priests and sacraments, and now my hour has come 
 and God has forsaken me. But, oh, if you have any 
 compassion in your soul, give me a chance for mercy, 
 hear my confession !" 
 
 And Teodoro bent tenderly and reverently over the 
 dying wretch and listened to the long story of sin and 
 shame and crime that poured from those soiled lips. 
 For the first time he heard in all its fulness the tale 
 of persecution of Catalina and Adriano. He knew that 
 it was in his power to leave their treacherous foe in his 
 anguish to die alone and unforgiven. But Teodoro, 
 murmuring a prayer, uncovered his head, and with a 
 certain solemnity laid his hand on the repentant sin- 
 ner's brow. 
 
 " I cannot indeed give you absolution, I cannot bring 
 you the solace of the sacrament of penance," he said, 
 gently, "but God has sent me to give you hope and 
 consolation. In the name of my beloved brother, 
 Adrien Daretti, in the name of him whose life you 
 tried to take, I forgive you, even as he would forgive 
 you were he here in my place !" 
 
 Oeglaire gave a gasp of terror, but as he looked up 
 cringingly into the angelic face above him this terror 
 wore away. He closed his eyes as if unable to bear 
 the merciful glance of those clear orbs. 
 
 312
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Tell your brother," he murmured, " it has indeed 
 been a duel to the death, and the victory is his !" 
 
 Many hours had passed before help arrived and the 
 dead mar was borne to the nearest hostelry. It was 
 Teodoro's first encounter alone with crime and death, 
 and for some time he could hardly shake off the weight 
 of sadness and gloom, but, as he resumed his walk, air 
 and exercise soon restored his ardent young spirit. 
 He had many lost hours to make up, and there was 
 no time to spare. It was now nearing sunset of Sat- 
 urday, and he must make his best speed if he would 
 reach his bride before the Whitsun feast was over. 
 Teodoro wandered on among the mountain - peaks 
 above Abetone, passing the huts of the charcoal-burn- 
 ers with a friendly greeting, which the occupants re- 
 turned with the graceful civility of the Pistoiese peas- 
 ant. With swinging strides he descended into the 
 magnificent pine zone from the fir -crowned ridges 
 above. The sun was at the point of setting, the hus- 
 bandmen were preparing to leave the fields below and 
 seek their mountain homes. How small they looked, 
 a thousand feet below him, moving busily about ! A 
 group of charcoal-burners were working in a clearing 
 among the chestnuts and oaks. Teodoro sprang upon 
 a rock and waved his hat towards them. They swung 
 their caps, and a faint cheer rose to him. How friend- 
 ly and pleasant these good people were ! But who 
 would not have a friendly feeling for that vision of 
 young strength and health, standing in manly beauty 
 in the glow of an Italian sunset, his fine Greek profile 
 cut like a cameo against the purple background of the 
 hills, a ray of sunlight touching the bronze rings of 
 hair that curled over the white brow, the proud, clear 
 eyes gazing half defiantly across the broad horizon as
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 if ready to battle with all that fate might send him, 
 and a radiant smile of hope, of the consciousness of 
 youth, joy, and vigor, parting the perfect lips ? Shape- 
 ly as a Greek athlete, he had unconsciously struck a 
 most picturesque attitude, fearless and graceful, full of 
 curbed-in energy. Warm with exercise he loosened 
 the collar of his shirt, and bared throat and chest to 
 the invigorating mountain breeze. The sun sank 
 slowly behind the dark chain of the Pistoiese hills, 
 leaving the exquisitely tinted, cloudless sky bright 
 with the delicacy of mother-of-pearl. The sound of 
 the compline bells from convent towers dotting the 
 hill-sides was faintly wafted across the valley. The 
 peasants lifted their caps, and, crossing themselves, de- 
 voutly recited the evening prayer. Reverently Teo- 
 doro joined them in spirit, then, standing there in the 
 elevation and solitude, the thought came to him to 
 sing, and lifting up his glorious, soaring voice, he sang 
 in the majestic, ecclesiastical chant the compline hymn: 
 
 " Te lucis ante terminum rerum Creator poscimus, 
 Ut pro tua dementia sis praesul et custodia ; 
 Procul recedant somnia et noctium phantasmata 
 Hostemque nostrum comprime ne polluantur corpora." 
 
 Then remembering that in a fair city by the sea the 
 eyes he loved would be watching the same sunset over 
 the wild blue waters, he sang in beautiful melody the 
 sweet hymn to our Lady, Star of the Sea, "Ave, Maris 
 Stella, Dei mater alma /" holding out his hand in- 
 stinctively as if to clasp that of the sweet young maid- 
 en who was so soon to begin life's journey at his side. 
 The shadows were beginning to gather, the peasants 
 were now leaving the valleys below. A party of them 
 turned to wave him a farewell salute. He waved vig-
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 orously back to them. " Oh, good people !" he cried, 
 joyously, " if you only knew ! This is the last evening 
 you will see me here. One more sunset and I shall be 
 standing by my angel bride, far beyond your beloved 
 hills and over the wide seas ! Dear, courteous people, 
 listen while I sing you my farewell song." And throw- 
 ing out his arms exultingly in the exuberance of 
 health and joy, as if the blood bounding so gladly 
 through his veins would sweep him on over every ob- 
 stacle of land or sea to join him to the beloved of his 
 soul, he poured forth in high, thrilling sweetness, his 
 last song. Superbly it rang forth, till it seemed as if 
 those divinely high and beautiful tones would pene- 
 trate the seven heavens to the crystal gate of paradise. 
 Teodoro felt with a glad quick sense of power all the 
 glory and beauty of his voice. Oh, Teodoro, gift of 
 God ! sing on I Sing on, beautiful boy ! The seven 
 heavens are indeed opening to receive thy song and 
 waft it to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Whom is 
 glory and beauty and joy and power forever ! 
 
 But what is the song of earth he is improvising 
 there on the mountain-top, as the signs of human life 
 draw away from the valleys and he is left in the soli- 
 tude of the everlasting hills ? 
 
 " O kindly people from the hills around, 
 I pray you, listen to my song divine ! 
 No more amid the chestnut and the pine 
 You'll hear its upward-soaring, joyous sound, 
 Borne by the echoes to the throne of Love 
 God's angel calls to me from heights above !" 
 
 As the last long sweet notes died away the moun- 
 tain-side seemed to repeat softly " God's angel calls to 
 me from heights above." A white mist crept through
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the valley like a shroud, an unearthly stillness fell over 
 all. A soft whisper seemed to sigh by Teodoro's side, 
 " Come." He seemed to feel the touch of a hand fall 
 lightly on his own. It did not startle him, so sweet 
 and soft was it ; he only smiled and murmured gently, 
 " Espiritu, you fill all my thoughts, and my eyes, 
 dazzled with the brightness of the setting sun, seemed 
 to see your sweet presence before me. Dear love, I 
 come, I come !" 
 
 With the tender smile lingering on his mouth he 
 turned to descend the hill. The white mist was creep- 
 ing slowly upward, the night air was growing damp and 
 chill. Again the whisper breathed with startling dis- 
 tinctness, " Come !" Terrified, he stood still, and called 
 out aloud, " My love, where are you ? What do you 
 want of me ?" He gazed around and listened intently, 
 but a deathly silence reigned and the long shadows 
 of approaching night were covering all things. In 
 vague awe and terror he knelt and bowed his brave 
 young head. Was it a strained imagination or did he 
 again faintly hear the mysterious whisper ? He rose 
 slowly to his feet, but with tired and stiffened limbs 
 and a dazed, bewildered head. The cold night wind 
 struck into his bared chest with piercing chill. He 
 shuddered, and drawing his coat tightly about him 
 again started down the hill-side, but with heavy, weary 
 tread, the shortened breath coming and going pain- 
 fully. The dark night settled down and blotted out 
 the fair and stately scene that a short hour ago had 
 been so full of radiant promise. 
 
 " So earth's best joys decay, 
 Youth, joy, and empire's sway 
 In the dark grave ending."
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 " Understand, my love, that I am already in great peace, but I know 
 not how to enter paradise without thee : prepare, then, and come at 
 thy quickest, that we may present ourselves together before the Lord !" 
 Chronicles of Fontevrault. 
 
 THE torches of pine knots flickered in the night 
 wind and cast strange shadows over the path and 
 athwart the underbrush. The little party of men 
 climbed ever higher up the mountain -side following 
 the trail of the hunters and charcoal-burners, sepa- 
 rating from time to time where the path was doubtful, 
 coming together again at intervals, encouraging one 
 another and signalling to each other by forest cries. 
 Occasionally Adriano or Oreste would call out into the 
 darkness, hoping that the sound of their familiar 
 voices might bring an answer from the wanderer. 
 Adriano, little accustomed to mountain climbing, soon 
 became exhausted. He fell behind the others and 
 leaned wearily against a tree, his head swimming. He 
 planted his torch in the ground and would have sunk 
 down but Simone caught him and held a brandy 
 flask to his lips. A draught of the fiery liquid and a 
 few minutes' rest quickly revived him. 
 
 Oreste and the foresters were by this time far 
 ahead. Adriano had started forward again with 
 Simone by his side, when he thought he heard a faint 
 call near by. He raised his torch and gave a shout. 
 Yes, there was a figure, Teodoro's figure, standing in
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the pathway before him. With an exclamation of joy 
 he sprang forward, but as the torch-light fell plainer 
 upon his brother's face the cry turned to one of horror. 
 It was Teodoro's face indeed, but of a ghastly, waxen 
 paleness, the features drawn with suffering. Adriano 
 threw the torch to Simone and caught his brother in 
 his arms. He was icy cold, and his whole frame shook 
 with convulsive shudderings. " The pain," he gasped, 
 laying his hand on his chest " the pain, here. I can- 
 not breathe, speak." And the words were almost lost 
 as the teeth chattered uncontrollably. 
 
 Adriano's heart sank in terror and dismay. What 
 to do he knew not, but Simone stepped forward 
 promptly, stripped off his overcoat and jacket and 
 spread them on the ground. 
 
 " Lay him down here, sir," he directed. " It is a 
 chill. He has caught cold in the night air. They 
 are probably pleurisy pains that he complains of." 
 Adriano obeyed the valet's directions, who went to 
 work over the sick man without hesitation. He 
 poured brandy down his throat " Not the best thing 
 if he has fever, sir, but it's all we have to warm him." 
 Adriano and the valet stripped themselves to their 
 shirts and wrapped the shaking figure as warmly as 
 possible, kindling a fire of brushwood near him and 
 rubbing his stiff, cold limbs vigorously with their 
 warm hands. " Call to the others, sir," ordered Simone ; 
 " for as soon as he gets over the worst of the shaking 
 we must carry him down to the inn. It has taken 
 him pretty hard. Shouldn't wonder if he was in for 
 the/mrjeftMft." Adriano shuddered at the last word 
 a form of Maremma fever almost invariably fatal. He 
 stood up and raised his manly voice with all the effort 
 of powerful lungs. How faint and small it sounded 
 
 318
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 through the trees, borne back fainter still by the 
 mountain echoes ! Again he shouted, and again. At 
 last another sound came back with the echo, the far- 
 off answering cry of the mountaineers. Nearer and 
 louder came the cries, and then the flicker of torches 
 through the trees. They were running, and a few 
 moments brought them to the side of the little group. 
 
 " Is he killed ?" whispered Oreste, turning pale and 
 trembling. 
 
 " Hush ! It is a chill," said the foresters. " It is the 
 perniciosa" 
 
 The shudderings subsided little by little, his flesh 
 felt warmer and more pliable to the touch, and the 
 livid hue of the face gave way to a more natural color. 
 The foresters and Simone lifted him from the ground 
 on an improvised litter, and Adriano walked beside 
 them, holding the torch. 
 
 " Stamp out the fire," the foresters directed Oreste, 
 "or we shall have the forest burning about us. Throw 
 earth over the ashes, and then run on ahead and have 
 a room prepared at the inn and a bed well warmed to 
 receive him." 
 
 They bore him down the mountain-side gently and 
 in silence. Once or twice came a whisper from the 
 sick man to complain of the agonizing pain, his lips 
 were set in suffering and the perspiration stood in 
 great drops on his forehead. Half an hour passed be- 
 fore they arrived at the inn door, where Bindo, pale 
 and anxious, awaited them. With him stood the inn- 
 keeper and the few servants who were there so early 
 in the season. They undressed the sick man and laid 
 him in the well-warmed bed, and Simone took com- 
 mand of the sick-room in the absence of a physician, 
 all instinctively submitting to his superior knowledge.
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 " Oreste," said Adriano, sadly, " we are too hasty in 
 our likes and dislikes, you and I. If the Count Teo- 
 doro gets well, if his life is saved at all, it will be owing 
 to the 'new one.' " 
 
 Oreste hung his head in shamed acknowledgment. 
 He hovered round the sick-room door, obeying ob- 
 sequiously every faintest suggestion of the valet's, and 
 bringing of his own accord everything that might be 
 useful to him. Bindo and Adriano watched by turns 
 at Teodoro's side. Simone never left him. "Not 
 till some one comes who knows more than I," he said. 
 
 The night was a terrible one. Many hours must 
 pass before a physician could be brought, and though 
 they did what they could they were working in com- 
 parative darkness. After the chill, a high fever had 
 set in, the sick man grew restless, his eyes were wild. 
 The fever gave him a certain strength, and at times he 
 would try to spring from bed. " I must go!" he cried, 
 when they tried to hold him down. He did not recog- 
 nize them. " I must go !" he cried, again and again, 
 piteously. " I must go ! I shall be too late !" 
 
 Bindo and Adriano exchanged agonized glances. 
 Like all strong men they were tender, and their hearts 
 were torn with pity. 
 
 " She has called me, I must go," wailed the high- 
 pitched, despairing voice that they could hardly recog- 
 nize as Teodoro's, and again, with their hearts break- 
 ing within them, they forced him back into bed. 
 Sometimes he yielded at once, only looking at them 
 with such reproach in the blue eyes that they almost 
 wept aloud. At other times he resisted fiercely and 
 they had to exert all their strength to hold him down. 
 Once, towards morning, he watched his chance slyly to 
 escape them, and had sprung to the window and climbed 
 
 320
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 half-way out before they seized him. He turned 
 round and fought them like a maniac. 
 
 " See, Teodoro !" called Adriano, suddenly, pointing 
 to the line of purple hills over which the golden dawn 
 was breaking. " See, Teodoro, the dawn of Pentecost ! 
 Vent, Sancte Spiritus /" 
 
 Teodoro's arms fell by his side and his troubled eyes 
 sought the horizon. The sun had not yet risen, but 
 tremulous, golden rays shot up into the sky. 
 
 Adriano saw the effect of his words and began to 
 sing softly : 
 
 " Veni, Sancte Spiritus, et emitte coelitus, lucis tui radium. 
 Veni lumen cordium, Consolator optima, in fletu solatium." 
 
 Teodoro closed the puzzled, tired eyes. He resisted 
 his brothers no longer, and they led him back to bed. 
 The sun of Pentecost sprang up in splendor and shot 
 his radiance over earth and sky. 
 
 " O Lux beatissima" sang Adriano, " reple cordis 
 intima, tuorum fidelium." 
 
 The sick man's lips moved. He was trying to sing; 
 it was the lovers' parting song from "Rome'o et 
 Juliette": 
 
 " Non, ce n'est pas le jour, 
 C'est le doux rossignol qui chante ;" 
 
 but his voice had gone, and only a cracked and husky 
 whisper came forth. He opened his eyes again, but 
 it was a strange room and he was bewildered. 
 
 " Espiritu," he murmured, stretching out feeble, 
 uncertain hands. " I am coming, dearest, but give 
 me thy hand, for I cannot find the way." 
 
 Then the strong men by the bedside fell on their 
 knees and wept. 
 
 x 321
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 Teodoro looked at them, he spoke their names, but 
 he did not seem to understand why they were there 
 nor where he was. The effort at recollection seemed 
 to tire his brain ; he sank into a sort of stupor which 
 lasted through the day. 
 
 Adriano stood by the window of the sick-room, to 
 watch for the coming of the physician who had been 
 telegraphed for from San Marcello. Directly opposite 
 the inn, on an eminence, was the little, old, country 
 church of San Leopoldo a plain, rustic, stone struct- 
 ure, the tower of which had long remained unfinished. 
 The country people were now making an effort to 
 complete it. They came to the Mass of Pentecost from 
 their little huts on the mountain-side for miles around, 
 and each one, as he came, brought his contribution to 
 the new tower in the shape of a stone. Adriano 
 watched them winding up the high-road and the vil- 
 lage paths in their holiday costume, prayer-book in 
 hand, and each bearing his pious burden poised on his 
 head the little children bearing small stones, the 
 women larger ones, the men sometimes bearing two 
 or three. They walked erect and free, with the 
 swinging, graceful gait of the nations who bear their 
 burdens on the head and not on the back. Each, as 
 he reached the church door, deposited his stone at the 
 foot of the tower and silently blessed himself. Before 
 long the last one had entered the building, and soon 
 Adriano heard the strains of their sweet Italian hymns 
 and canticles rising to his ears. There was no organ 
 or instrument of music in the rustic church, but men, 
 women, and little children raised their voices together 
 with fervent zeal in prayer and praise. There came 
 a moment of solemn hush, and the tinkle of the little 
 altar bell, borne across the sweet summer air, an- 
 
 322
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 nounced the consecration of the Host. Adriano knelt, 
 and burying his face in his hands, remained some time 
 absorbed in prayer. By the bedside, Simone, too, had 
 heard the warning bell and knelt to recite a Pater and 
 Ave. At last another sound reached their ears, this 
 time from the village road, the welcome sound of 
 horses' hoofs and the crack of the driver's whip. 
 Leaving Simone in the sick-room, Adriano ran lightly 
 down the stairs to the court-yard where the handsome 
 landau drawn by four horses was just entering over 
 the cobble-stones. He recognized at once the good 
 physician from the Ponte a Seraglio, and with him in 
 the carriage were two women who proved to be the 
 Commendatore's wife and Consiglio Gozzoli. 
 
 "Thank Heaven!" cried Adriano; "now we shall 
 know what to do for him." He embraced his sister-in- 
 law cordially, and did not forget to press Consiglio's 
 hand and thank her for having spared Oreste to him 
 in a trouble which had proved greater than they 
 knew. 
 
 " I could not have kept him back from your excel- 
 lency if I would," she answered through her tears. 
 
 He left the women and conducted the physician to 
 Teodoro's room, telling him on the way all that they 
 knew. 
 
 "A case of pleurisy, probably," said the doctor. 
 " He will pull through all right with his sound lungs 
 and vigorous constitution. He had doubtless greatly 
 over-exerted and over-heated himself, and then, when 
 night came on and the nights are piercingly cold in 
 this altitude he was not sufficiently protected and 
 took a chill. It is easily explained, and he will soon be 
 about again. Only," he added, cautiously, " I would 
 keep the news of his bereavement from him till the 
 
 323
 
 ESPfRITU SANTO 
 
 crisis is well over or the shock might prove too much 
 for him." 
 
 "Bereavement!" echoed Adriano. "Have they 
 heard, then ? Is she gone ?" 
 
 " There was a telegram last night and letters were 
 handed us early this morning just as we were driving 
 out of the village. We had the Commendatore's own 
 four horses and did not spare them." 
 
 "When was it ?" whispered Adriano, his hand on the 
 door. 
 
 "Last evening, just at sunset, they said." 
 
 " The eve of Pentecost ! And she is spending her 
 feast-day in heaven !" he murmured, with trembling 
 lips. He let the physician pass on before him into the 
 room, for he was half-blinded by the tears that rushed 
 to his eyes. He leaned his forehead against the frame 
 of the door. " Espiritu ! Espiritu ! Sweet child ! 
 Art thou gone from us?" He did not know till then 
 how strong the hope had been within him that she 
 might live. " The earth will be sadder without thee, 
 our love, our peace, our joy ! Oh, pray for us who are 
 left ! Heaven will seem nearer now that thou art 
 there !" 
 
 Brushing away the tears, he entered the room. The 
 doctor was bending over Teodoro, sounding his lungs 
 and taking his temperature. He looked up and whis- 
 pered to Adriano. " It is more serious than I feared. 
 I shall not leave him till the crisis is over. It is 
 fearfully sudden and acute, but we must hope for the 
 best." 
 
 "The best!" repeated Adriano to himself, slowly. 
 "What is the best?" and he walked to the window. 
 Without was a flood of sunshine, a sky of brilliant, un- 
 clouded blue, the noble hills, the stately forest, the 
 
 324
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 crisp mountain air warmed by the summer sun and 
 scented with the odor of the pines. There was the 
 sound of sweet human voices from the devout throng 
 within the humble walls praising God that this day 
 the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, had descended upon 
 the sons of men. God and heaven seemed very near. 
 Adriano raised his face upward and clasped his hands. 
 " In life or in death, underneath us are the Everlast- 
 ing Arms ! O God, we are Thy servants and the sons 
 of Thy handmaids be it done unto us according to 
 Thy Word !" and he turned from all the beauty and 
 brightness without to where, within, death and a strong 
 young life lay struggling in mortal combat. 
 
 In the rustic church the people lingered to send up 
 a petition before the altar of God. "Your prayers 
 are asked for the speedy recovery or happy death of 
 Teodoro dei Conti Daretti," the priest had said to 
 them. The mountaineers looked at each other won- 
 deringly. They knew him well, the tall, blond youth 
 with the beautiful voice who had climbed among their 
 hills for many summers, and had often lingered at the 
 doors of their huts to exchange a greeting with them. 
 They had often heard his voice ringing through the 
 forest. He sang their mountain-songs, preserved by 
 oral tradition from generation to generation, he sang 
 sweet hymns of the Madonna and saints, he sang of 
 pure, tender love. " Ruba cuori, the ravisher of hearts," 
 they had called him, in memory of one of their famous 
 mountain singers. And so they earnestly entreated 
 the Lord for him who had so lately been among them 
 in perfect health and beauty. 
 
 Bindo and Oreste, who had knelt side by side on the 
 stone floor at the rude wooden benches, rose and left 
 the building to return to their anxious watch. At 
 
 325
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 the inn door they heard the news of the physician's 
 arrival, and in another moment each was receiving the 
 sweetest of earthly help and comfort, the affectionate 
 sympathy of a faithful, loving wife. 
 
 "Consiglio," sobbed Oreste, when he had told her 
 all. "Consiglio mia, I am a wretch ! God forgive me 
 for thinking of myself at such a moment, but I tell 
 thee every thought of my heart, good or bad, and I 
 cannot help fearing that if the Count Teodoro gets 
 well, the master will love the ' new one ' better than 
 he does me !" 
 
 " For shame, Oreste !" cried Consiglio, disdainfully. 
 " Shame on thy suspicions of the master ! No doubt 
 he is grateful, and will give the 'new one ' such a place 
 in his feelings as justice and gratitude require, but 
 hast thou known his excellency so long and fearest 
 that he will forget the devotion of years? Nay, 
 Oreste, I am ashamed of thee for a stupid, jealous 
 fellow !" 
 
 And Oreste wiped his eyes and smiled once more, 
 taking sweet comfort from his wife's reproaches. 
 
 There was little change in the sick man's condi- 
 tion through the weary afternoon, but towards even- 
 ing another chill, of fearful violence, seized his frame, 
 succeeded by renewed fever and delirium, and the rest 
 of the night was passed much as the preceding one had 
 been. They had the comfort of the physician's pres- 
 ence and advice, but otherwise the strain was even 
 more terrible than before. And so the morning of 
 his wedding-day dawned ! 
 
 In the city by the sea, Espiritu lay dressed in her 
 bridal robes. On the sunny hair that clustered over 
 the white brow they laid the wreath of flowers of 
 
 326
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 waxen whiteness the little flowers of the Holy Ghost. 
 The filmy veil was drawn about her, and the hands 
 clasped a silver crucifix and a rosary of mother-of- 
 pearl. The air was heavy with the odor of flowers, 
 the waxen candles standing in tall stands about the 
 bed burned brightly, and the sunshine of the Monday 
 of Pentecost stole into the room through half-drawn 
 blinds. The maidens assembled in the next room to 
 escort the body of the dead bride to the parish church 
 were dressed in white, according to the Spanish cus- 
 tom at the burial of a young virgin, and the cloth 
 thrown over the bier was of white, embroidered in 
 scarlet. In their hands the young girls carried lighted 
 tapers and baskets of fresh flowers. " In Paradisum 
 deducant te Angeli" they sang. 
 
 Alone by the bedside of the dead knelt Lady Ains- 
 worth. One anxiety filled her heart Teodoro ought 
 to, must see, Espiritu once thus in her bridal dress. 
 A telegram the night before had said that he was found, 
 but was, they feared, too ill to come. But Margara 
 hoped and waited. She knew that the loyal, affection- 
 ate heart would brave every difficulty, every suffering, 
 nay, death itself, to meet his bride on their wedding- 
 morn his bride, his ideal, so tenderly cherished from 
 childhood. Some one knocked softly at the door the 
 moment had come to remove the body for its burial. 
 "A few moments more," pleaded Margara, and re- 
 turned to her kneeling vigil. It was the hour fixed 
 for the nuptial Mass, and now it would be a requiem 
 instead ! A second knock, and this time Margara 
 sprang to her feet it could not but be he ! and so 
 strongly was the idea of Teodoro's figure impressed 
 upon her mental vision that she saw him step forth 
 from the half-darkness, and, coming in, stand at the 
 
 327
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 foot of the bed and gaze at the sleeping, white-robed 
 figure. Erect he stood, not in sorrow, but rather in the 
 light of joy and thanksgiving, with radiant brow and 
 shining eyes, and a smile of deep and humble con- 
 tent upon the lips. Margara clasped both hands to 
 her heart and leaned against the wall for support. 
 Was she fainting, that the room seemed to grow dark 
 and the figure dim and far-off before her eyes ? 
 
 Some one touched her on the shoulder. It was 
 Disdier. 
 
 " It must be now," he said, bowed and heart-broken. 
 " They cannot wait longer." And he passed out again. 
 
 Margara started and looked hastily round the 
 room. She and the white figure on the bed were alone 
 within it. A strange, cold feeling of awe crept over 
 her, but the restless anxiety was gone. She stepped 
 calmly to the door and met the bearers. 
 
 " You may take her now," she said. " He has seen 
 her and all is well." 
 
 An hour later the tender chants of the burial ser- 
 vice were ascending from the parish church amid the 
 odors of incense and flowers. " Lux perpetua luceat 
 ei" they sang, "el requiem aeternam dona ei." It 
 seemed to MargaYa that she could not weep for the 
 dead, but to the others it seemed a cruelty, an impos- 
 sibility to lay the young bride in her lonely grave in 
 the cemetery by the sea, while he who should this day 
 have stood beside her at the bridal altar was far away 
 and sent no message. They could not resign them- 
 selves to the sad task. Alone, Margara seemed recon- 
 ciled, she could hardly say why herself, but a certain 
 exaltation of spirit upheld her, a confidence in she 
 scarcely knew what. But a little later she knew, for 
 when the mourners were weeping in each other's arms 
 
 328
 
 ESPIRITU SANTO 
 
 and the white-robed band of maidens were strewing 
 flowers upon the new-made grave, a rapid footstep was 
 heard, and Disdier thrust a long slip of paper into 
 Margara's expectant hand. 
 
 " A telegram," he whispered, in low, troubled tones. 
 "It is from Daretti." 
 
 She took it from him, and the tears that blinded her 
 as she tried to decipher the few words from Adriano 
 to herself were tears of mingled awe and consolation. 
 
 " Our beloved Teodoro has gone to meet Espiritu in 
 heaven." 
 
 THB END
 
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