chapter in the thread of our story.






CHAPTER IV.

THE DUKE'S PRIZE.





I see this hath a little dashed your spirits.

-Othello.

CARLTON was a young American, passionately devoted to the art he was
studying at Florence, the home of the arts. His pecuniary means,
which were of a limited character, were, at the time our story
opens, at an unusually low ebb-indeed, he was almost penniless. He
had been able, by losing much valuable time upon trifling and toyish
pieces, to procure nearly enough for subsistence, taken in
connection with the little he already possessed. But of late he had
not been able to find any spare time for the trifles he had
heretofore engaged himself upon at times, when he was obliged to
obtain money for daily food, for reasons which we shall understand
as we proceed with our story.