last compass a meeting. Perchance some princess is in need of my
arm, or some affair of high policy is afoot in this jumble of old
masonry. You will laugh at my folly, but I had an excuse for
it. A fortnight in strange mountains disposes a man to look for
something at his next encounter with his kind, and the sight of
Santa Chiara would have fired the imagination of a judge in
Chancery.

I strode happily into the courtyard of the Tre Croci, and
presently had my expectation confirmed for I found my fellow,--a
faithful rogue I got in Rome on a Cardinal's recommendation,--hot
in dispute with a lady's maid. The woman was old,
harsh-featured--no Italian clearly, though she spoke fluently in
the tongue. She rated my man like a pickpocket, and the dispute
was over a room.

"The signor will bear me out," said Gianbattista. "Was not I
sent to Verona with his baggage, and thence to this place of ill
manners? Was I not bidden engage for him a suite of apartments?
Did I not duly choose these fronting on the gallery, and
dispose therein the signor's baggage? And lo! an hour ago I
found it all turned into the yard and this woman installed in its
place. It is monstrous, unbearable! Is this an inn for
travellers, or haply the private mansion of these Magnificences?"

"My servant speaks truly," I said firmly yet with courtesy,
having no mind to spoil adventure by urging rights. "He had
orders to take these rooms for me, and I know not what higher
power can countermand me."