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Amante went on whistling a little lower, out of respect to the conversation. 'They will not escape me; but every minute is a minute of misery to me, till I meet my wife. Madame has sympathy, has she not? He drew his face into a hard, unnatural smile, and then both went out to the forge, as if once more to hasten the blacksmith over his work. Amante stopped her whistling for one instant.

For Amante knew or conjectured far more than I did of the atrocity of the gang to which M. de la Tourelle belonged; and every now and then, just as we seemed to be sinking into the calm of security, we fell upon traces of a pursuit after us in all directions.

"Léon has hit the nail," thought Elvira to herself. "I wonder how." The how was plain enough. Léon had asked the painter if there were no air connected with courtship and pleasant times; and having learned what he wished, and allowed an interval to pass, he had soared forth into "O mon amante, O mon désir, Sachons cueillir L'heure charmante!"

The door led into a kind of cellar, through which we groped our way to an opening like a window, but which, instead of being glazed, was only fenced with iron bars, two of which were loose, as Amante evidently knew, for she took them out with the ease of one who had performed the action often before, and then helped me to follow her out into the free, open air.

"Dov' e mai quel core amante," she murmured in Italian, as la Tinti began the delightful aria of the stretto in which she implores pity for her grief. "But what is the matter? The pit are dissatisfied " "Genovese is braying like a stage," replied the Prince. In point of fact, this first duet with la Tinti was spoilt by Genovese's utter breakdown.

It was of no use for Amante to say that, after all, she might be mistaken that she did not read writing well that she had but a glimpse of the address; I let my coffee cool, my food all became distasteful, and I wrung my hands with impatience to get at the letter, and have some news of my dear ones at home. All the time, Amante kept her imperturbable good temper, first reasoning, then scolding.

Then we fell asleep, and slept sound and long. The next morning, when I awoke, I saw Amante, half raised, resting on one hand, and eagerly gazing, with straining eyes, into the kitchen below.

At length Amante went up to the landlord, and asked permission to leave his inn, doing all openly and humbly, so as to excite neither ill-will nor suspicion. Indeed, suspicion was otherwise directed, and he willingly gave us leave to depart.

Presently, Amante followed. 'Poor madame, said she, consoling me to the best of her ability. And then she told me by degrees what more she had learned respecting my home, about which she knew almost as much as I did, from my frequent talks on the subject both at Les Rochers and on the dreary, doleful road we had come along.

One day Amante returned from her work, full of news some of it good, some such as to cause us apprehension. The good news was this; the master for whom she worked as journeyman was going to send her with some others to a great house at the other side of Frankfort, where there were to be private theatricals, and where many new dresses and much alteration of old ones would be required.