“You have saved a soul from perdition, Signore,” he said, smothering his emotion.  “If the happy knew how much power belongs to a single word of kindness—­a glance of feeling, when given to the despised, they would not look so coldly on the miserable.  This night must have been my last, had you cast me off without pity—­but you will hear my tale, Signore—­you will not scorn the confession of a Bravo?”

“I have promised.  Be brief, for at this moment I have great care of my own.”

“Signore, I know not the whole of your wrongs, but they will not be less likely to be redressed for this grace.”

Jacopo made an effort to command himself, when he commenced his tale.

The course of the narrative does not require that we should accompany this extraordinary man though the relation of the secrets he imparted to Don Camillo.  It is enough for our present purposes to say, that, as he proceeded, the young Calabrian noble drew nearer to his side, and listened with growing interest.  The Duke of Sant’ Agata scarcely breathed, while his companion, with that energy of language and feeling which marks Italian character, recounted his secret sorrows, and the scenes in which he had been an actor.  Long before he was done, Don Camillo had forgotten his own private causes of concern, and, by the time the tale was finished, every shade of disgust had given place to an ungovernable expression of pity.  In short, so eloquent was the speaker, and so interesting the facts with which he dealt, that he seemed to play with the sympathies of the listener, as the improvisatore of that region is known to lead captive the passions of the admiring crowd.

During the time Jacopo was speaking, he and his wondering auditor had passed the limits of the despised cemetery; and as the voice of the former ceased, they stood on the outer beach of the Lido.  When the low tones of the Bravo were no longer audible, they were succeeded by the sullen wash of the Adriatic.

“This surpasseth belief!” Don Camillo exclaimed after a long pause, which had only been disturbed by the rush and retreat of the waters.

“Signore, as holy Maria is kind! it is true.”

“I doubt you not, Jacopo—­poor Jacopo!  I cannot distrust a tale thus told!  Thou hast, indeed, been a victim of their hellish duplicity, and well mayest thou say, the load was past bearing.  What is thy intention?”

“I serve them no longer, Don Camillo—­I wait only for the last solemn scene, which is now certain, and then I quit this city of deceit, to seek my fortune in another region.  They have blasted my youth, and loaded my name with infamy—­God may yet lighten the load!”

“Reproach not thyself beyond reason, Jacopo, for the happiest and most fortunate of us all are not above the power of temptation.  Thou knowest that even my name and rank have not, altogether, protected me from their arts.”

“I know them capable, Signore, of deluding angels!  Their arts are only surpassed by their means, and their pretence of virtue by their indifference to its practice.”