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Don
already tin often fouehed. Above all, the r Heetedri'-ss of the
two generahs was so profound, so calm, sn sublime, that i
not repress my emotion at tli.' wight of them. Des'des, most of
the officers who surrounded them shed abundanc - of team."
Who, indeed, could have restrained his tears iu i
such devotion and courage united to such faith and pi I y ?
Who would not have felt moved at the sight of so irmny heroes,
who, prostrate at the feet of the Mother of God, renewed in her
pres< neo the sacrifice of their lives at the very moment when
they were about accomplishing it.
Joseph and Martin slowly withdrew from the altar, with profound
recolleotedness and touching fervor. As to Victor, one
had taken him ior a ir.arble statue, so absorbed was he in fervent
prayer, anil completely indifferent to all that was passing
arouud him. At that solemn n oiuenthehadonly one thought,
one wish he was praying for his father.
And when at last he recrossed the threshold, going, -with his
companions, towards the place of combat, he stopped for a
moment to turn aside his head and glance again beseechingly
towards the smiling Virgin on the altar, murmuring: ' O father,
father !"
CHAPTER XL
THE ABYSS.
While Lamoriciere's valiant little nrmy halted for an instant
under the shadow of the sanctuary of Loreto, the Pieumoutese
forces, who were manoeuvring to surround them, distributed
themselves in great numbsrs through all the neighboring vil-
lages. Already Orsino, Camerano, Castelfidai-do, and the intervening
hamlets had been occupied by the enemy's regiments,
who, confidi .g in their immense numerical superiority, saw,
undismayed, the moment of combat approaching.
On the evening of the appointed day on (hut very evening
when Victor and his companions, to prepare for battle, were
reconciled to God iu the sacrament of Penr.nce two Piedm
iii'-se soldiers, quitting their comrades' noisy groups, were
walking hide by side to the top of one of the hills overlooking
the town of Caste fldardo.
One of them, who looked from twenty-five to thirty years of
age, had recently arrived utthe Piedmontese camp, and seemed
t (i be a native of the : outheru provinces of Italy. He had pre-
sented himself at the camp a few days before the invasion of
the Pontifical frontiers, and af er a rather long interview
with the General-in-Chief, had been incorporated in an infantry
company.
No one knew this new-comer ; and the mystery surrounding
him was not slow to excite general curiosity. To what end
had he come, and what secret mission had he to fulfil 'i Several
of the officers of the army, wishing to appear more far-sighted
and better informed in their comrades' eyes than they really
were, maintained that this stranger was none other than one of
the chiefs of the C rbonari sent by Garibaldi to carry out in
rmy some project known to the revolutionist alone. Bo
that as it may, they knew nothing positive touching the rrigiu
and plans of that unknown one who, moreover, appeal (
tremtly reserved and very uncommunicative towards his com-
panious-in-arrr.s.
He seemed, however, from the first, to exhibit a very S]
confidence in one of the soldiers of his company the 1'ied-
montese Orazio; so they were often met walking and chatting
together. The Piedmoutese, very probably, knew well the
history and antecedents of his mysterious friend; but he was as
mute as the tomb on that subject.
At the moment we speak of, the two friends, having reached
the edge of a little plateau that crowns the summit of the
mountain at this side, had stretched themselves on the ;
rest.
" What a fine evening !" cried the stranger, after ;
" And it precedes n clay still finer the day of my \
"Say of mi r i.i-mornm
mtese.
ih the
eneiiu.
'
'
>r. now that 1 think of i (
, might you hiw:i
116 p'-rsoird veli^eane:-,
mult of tlii! fi^ht V"
( ', '. ill the tu-
iiaro for that unhappy one had joined the I'
,
battalion.-.
!y after his departure Trio
paused and appeared to n-flert for some instants. At
length he replied:
" Indeed I have ft vengeance
to wreak. List
Orazio: I'm going to tell you niy history. I shall not h
blush before you, for I know you, my friend. Have you not
obeyed one c >inuiai>dinent of our pociety, which orderto
plunge your poniard into the heart of youmwn brnti
O'-a/.io lr re g ew pale ; a convulsive trembling
his limliH. and his brow drooped under th:; sharp glanciiaro
fixed upon him.
" Bon't be afraid ; you have nothing to fear," quickly re-
sumed the latter, with an indulgent smile ;
" only I wished to
show how far I had the pleasure and honor of knowi ;g you.
even know something more ; I know that at first, at that su-
preme moment, the poniurd fell from your hands, and that, if
you again raised it to boldly execute the order given it was bo-
;
cause you feared our powerful society, frustrated in its designs,
would wreak its vengeance upon you. Well, Orazio, have I
spoken the truth 1"
"
Certainly," stammered the miserable fratricide iu his excessive
confusion and
"
terror certainly. But it was so dark
then how could you know?"
" What's it to you ? You see nothing escapes our society.
But this, however, has nothing in common with my hi
Let us come to the point, then ; it seems to me I'll solace my
heart in telling you upo:i whom I wish to revenge myself, and
why I've come here. My f imily is of Neapolitan origin. My
happy childhood glided by in the cool and pleasant
I
shade of a
villa situated a short distance from that city. My mother's
name was Benedetta, my father's Bernardo Biauchi ; I w. s
their second son ; I've a" ready told you ray childlno.lwa ; care-
had friends.
less and happy. Fortune smiled upon us we ;
My father passe 1 with good reason for the most eloquent advi'eate
in the city, and every day pleaded several causes bril-
.
liantly and successfully. However, this peaceful hap;
was not to last long. My fat'jcr, however honored he wa 1, had
enemies. They circulated malevolent rumors, hateful calumnies
adroitly, dissimulated about him, and the number of those
who esteemed and it spected him was not slow to sensibly docrease,
while the influx of clients and cases diminished. What
could one do under such circumstances? Bring a legal action
against the calumniators ? But unfortunately, the plot was so
carefully woven, the source of the calumnies so cleverly dissembled,
that it was impossible to discover it by such means.
My father felt hims-'if sinking under the weight of auger and
and lau-
despair ; my poor mother, cut to the heart, decayed
gni hed. Alas, she was not long iu succumbing
t > her sunvr-
ing.
you
O mother, justly cherished, how much I lost iu losing
! O-i ! you loved me so much, too tenderly loved per-
! haps
" Our sojourn in our native city had become odious to my
afilicted father ! Immediately after my mother's death he
abandoned it for ever, and came to establish himself in
Borne.
" Ho then attributed, I don't well know why, the infernal
calumnies of which he had been the victim to the powerful inrcl
societies he had always combated with all
.er of his eloquence, and hoped t > shelter himself from
their dreaded sway by establishing hiins 'It' iu the capital of
Christendom. Besides, he had bade adieu forever to the labora
and du.ios of hia profession, and only wish' d to pass the
rest of his days in the hum 'le tranquility of the domestic
hearth.
" As to mo, r.s long as my mother lived, I had remained
faithful to the habits of order, prudence, and moderation my
parents strove to make ir.o contract from my childhood. But