A Siren

er F

he huge nave. And as she neared it she perceived, with a violent start, that there was a living figure kneeling at it. So still, so utterly motionless had this solitary worshipper been, so little visible in the dim light was the hue of the Franciscan's frock that entirely covered him, that Paolina

covers, which contain the bodies of the earliest Bishops of the See. But the little altar is the sole object that breaks the continuity of the open floor. The body of St. Apollinare was originally laid beneath it, but was in a subsequent age removed to a more specially honourable position under the high altar at t

for the air of the church was deadly cold, and the fever and ague of many a successive autumn had done their work upon him. He was called Padre Fabiano, and was said to be, and looked to be, upwards of eig

r does that. Obedience to the will of his superiors is the only reason for all that, in

hat might suggest itself, though it was little likely ever to be answered. And the absence of all answer to such question was supplied by the gossips of Ravenna, by tales of some terrible crime against ecclesiastical discipline of which the Padre Fabiano ha

approached him, and gravely bent h

I suppose you are the person for who

or whom leave has been obtained

mewhat. You would do better, methinks, not to begin your day

hing with me. I only thought that I would walk out and have a look

it were a thousand miles from a human habitation," said

end to year's end all alone, P

rnaba, a lay brother of our order, is my companio

nvenient to you, Padre mio, to open

here at sunrise, you will find the gate open, and me where you found

aid Paolina, with a glan

e not failed one night to be on my knees where the blessed St. Romauld knelt at the str

of St. Romauld, fathe

our, have I knelt and prayed. And I have heard the moaning of the wind from the Adriatic among the pines of the forest yonder, and I have seen the great crucifix above

d emaciated old man, whose light-blue eyes gleamed out from beneath his cowl, was not wholly right in his mind. She would have been more alarmed had she been a

r, he lifted his head, with another deep sigh, and

r Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare, who brought with him an order from the Archbishop's Chancell

the Bishops of the See from the foundation of it, which circle the entire nave, are very curious. Paolina had engaged to copy two or three of the most remark

Paolina, looking up at the vault. "If I may, I will go up an

that it is quite safe. The Signor Marchese was very particular in

ffolding. And when he had reached the platform at the top, Paolina, more used to such clim

"it is placed just where it should be, and this large window gives just all t

next Easter, and I have never once been in Ravenna in all that time, nor, indeed

, Padre mio. What a lovely view of it! And how beautif

The Venice road lies away to the northward, through the wood that you can see on the f

d you come from Venice?"

e it from this window, it is on the northern side of the church-and looking out over the north Pineta as far as I can see towards it. May God and

ely, to love it so well?" said Paoli

as I well knew you were when you

father. I am an orpha

d looking earnestly into the girl's face, but without any a

he monk was altogether of sound mind, and speaking very quietly and gently; "my father'

se at the corner of the Campo di San Pietro and Paolo," rej

y four years old when they died, one very soon after the other, and

the same dreamy tone, and pressing his thin emaciated hands be

padre guardiano of St. Apollinare was a Venetian. I

e ways of God! Paolina Foscarelli, daug

he spoke, "look! in the bagarino there on the road, just passing the church; certainly that must be the Signor Marchese Ludovico

rn front of the church, and was now moving along the bit of road visi

ch moved, after a fashion that, taken together with the nature of the objects to which she drew his attention, and the fact that it was the Marchese Ludovico who

ace for a moment; and then turning his eyes

Ludovico. The lady I never saw before as far

off from the road to the left. Wher

see there just at the edge of it. You may get as far as the sea-

orn!" said Pao

here are many tracks through the forest. You may get to Cervia, too, that way. But it is hardly likely that any one would leave the road to

district; and she continued to watch it till she saw it stop at the entrance to the yard of the little farmhouse, to which the monk had called her attention. She then saw Ludovico and his companion descend from the carriage, and le

her, from here into the woo

weather like this, a good deal nearer than the road we saw the bagarino follow.

o the city that way, instead of comin

e border of the wood. Then you must fall back into t

, I hope to come and begin my work. I shall have to come in a carriage, at all events, the first time, because of bringing my things. I am so

speak more of that another time-if you will permit an old

pleasure to me to hear the dear home tongue. I will

wning ever-open western door, looking after her as she t