who have not scrupled to destroy every picture in my galleries that contained a nude figure or a wanton attitude—­I, who have been blessed from childhood by tokens of divine favour and miraculous intervention—­can I doubt that I have earned the privileges of that higher state in which the soul is no longer responsible for the failings of the body?  And yet—­and yet—­what if I were mistaken?” he moaned.  “What if my advisors have deceived me?  Si autem et sic impius sum, quare frustra laboravi?” And he sank back on his pillows limp as an empty glove.

Alarmed at his disorder, Odo stood irresolute whether to call for help; but as he hesitated the Duke feebly drew from his bosom a gold key attached to a slender Venetian chain.

“This,” said he, “unlocks the small tortoise-shell cabinet yonder.  In it you will find a phial of clear liquor, a few drops of which will restore me.  ’Tis an essence distilled by the Benedictine nuns of the Perpetual Adoration and peculiarly effective in accesses of spiritual disturbance.”

Odo complied, and having poured the liquor into a glass, held it to his cousin’s lips.  In a moment the Duke’s eye revived and he began to speak in a weak but composed voice, with an air of dignity in singular contrast to his previous self-abandonment.  “I am,” said he, “unhappily subject to such seizures after any prolonged exertion, and a conversation I have just had with my director has left me in no fit state to receive you.  The cares of government sit heavy on one who has scarce health enough for the duties of a private station; and were it not for my son I should long since have withdrawn to the shelter of the monastic life.”  He paused and looked at Odo with a melancholy kindness.  “In you,” said he, “the native weakness of our complexion appears to have been tempered by the blood of your mother’s house, and your countenance gives every promise of health and vivacity.”

He broke off with a sigh and continued in a more authoritative tone:  “You have learned from Count Trescorre my motive in summoning you to Pianura.  My son’s health causes me the liveliest concern, my own is subject to such seizures as you have just witnessed.  I cannot think that, in this age of infidelity and disorder, God can design to deprive a Christian state of a line of sovereigns uniformly zealous in the defence of truth; but the purposes of Heaven are inscrutable, as the recent suppression of the Society of Jesus has most strangely proved; and should our dynasty be extinguished I am consoled by the thought that the rule will pass to one of our house.  Of this I shall have more to say to you in future.  Meanwhile your first business is to acquaint yourself with your new surroundings.  The Duchess holds a circle this evening, where you will meet the court; but I must advise you that the persons her Highness favours with her intimacy are not those best qualified to guide and instruct a young man in your position.  These