Page:The Coming Race, etc - 1888.djvu/299

Rh Isabel uttered a cry of joy, seized his hand, and kissed it through burning and impassioned tears. Zicci raised her in his arms, and imprinted one kiss upon her forehead.

"Do not deceive thyself," he said; "consider well. I tell thee again, that my love is subjected to the certain curse of change. For my part, I shall seek thee no more. Thy fate shall be thine own and not mine. For the rest, fear not the Prince di . At present I can save thee from every harm."

With these words he withdrew himself from her embrace, and had gained the outer door just as Gionetta came from the kitchen with her hands full of such cheer as she had managed to collect together. Zicci laid his hand on the old woman's arm.

"Signer Glyndon," said he, "loves Isabel; he may wed her. You love your mistress; plead for him. Disabuse her, if you can, of any caprice for me. I am a bird ever on the wing."

He dropped a purse, heavy with gold, into Gionetta's bosom and was gone. CHAPTER IV.

HE palace of Zicci was amongst the noblest in Naples. It still stands, though mined and dismantled, in one of those antique streets, from which the old races of the Norman and the Spaniard have long since vanished.

He ascended the vast staircase, and entered the rooms reserved for his private hours. They were no wise remarkable except for their luxury and splendour, and the absence of what, men, so learned as Zicci was reputed, generally prize, viz., books. Zicci seemed to know everything that books can teach; yet, of books themselves he spoke and thought with the most profound contempt.

He threw himself on a sofa, and dismissed his attendants for the night; and here it may be observed, that Zicci had no one servant who knew anything of his origin, birth, or history. Some of his attendants he had brought with him from other cities; the rest he had engaged at Naples. He hired those, only, whom wealth can make subservient. His expenditure was most lavish; his generosity, regal; but his orders were ever given as those of a general to his army. The least disobedience, the least hesitation, and the offender was at once dismissed. He was a man who sought tools, and never made confidants.

Zicci remained for a considerable time motionless and thoughtful.