In Direst Peril | Page 3

right to think, even in his own heart, too
admiringly of a young lady at their first meeting. At the very moment
when I saw my wife I thought her, I knew her, indeed, to be the most
faultlessly beautiful woman I had ever seen, and I was as certain as I
am now that her soul was as flawless as her face. My heart was right,
but I was too precipitate in my feelings, and if I had dared I would have
knelt before her. All this, I dare say, is romantic and old-fashioned to
the verge of absurdity; but it is so true that all the other truths I have
known, excepting those I have no right to speak of here, seem to fall
into insignificance beside it. I fell in love with my wife there and then;
and without even knowing it I was vowed to her service as truly as I
have been in the forty-two years that have gone by since then. I thank

Heaven for it humbly, for there is nothing which can so help a man in
his struggles against what is base and unworthy in himself as his love
for a good woman. If that has grown to be an old-fashioned doctrine in
these days I am sorry for the world. It is true, it has been true, and will
be true again.
"I have heard of you often, Captain Fyffe," said the charming voice,
"and I am delighted to meet you. Your old comrade, Jack Rollinson, is
a cousin of mine."
I blushed again at this; but I could have heard nothing that would have
pleased me more, for, early as it was, I would have given anything to
stand well in this lady's eyes, and Rollinson and I were fast friends. I
had the good-fortune to save his life in a row at Santa Fé, and from that
hour poor Jack sang my praises in and out of season. I knew that if
Miss Rossano had gained any opinion of me from Jack Rollinson it
would not be a bad one. Indeed, my only fear was that Jack had
probably praised me so far beyond my merits that nobody who had
seen the portrait would have the slightest chance of recognizing the
original. But when I had once heard my old comrade's name I was able
to identify this charming young lady. Rollinson had more than once
spoken of his beautiful cousin, Violet Rossano, and I knew a little of
her history. I learned more of it that night, and myself became
concerned in it in a very surprising manner.
Miss Rossano and I talked of Jack and of our common adventures, and
to my delight, and the great easing of my embarrassment, she treated
me almost like an old friend. She was swept off by the crowd at last;
but in going she bade me call upon her at her aunt's house-Lady
Rollinson's-where I might have news of my friend; and it need scarce
be said that I promised eagerly to accept her invitation.
When I saw that I had seen the last of her for that evening I had no
desire to stay in the crush which filled the rooms; and finding Brunow
in the same mind as myself, I went away with him. Brunow lived off
Regent Street, in a garret handsomely furnished and tenantable, but
stuffy and confined to my notions, used as I had been to the open-air
life of a soldier on active service. We threw the windows wide open,

and sat down beside them with a tumbler of cool liquor apiece, Brunow
with his cigar, and I with my pipe-which I was glad to get back to after
a regimen of those beastly South American cigarettes--and we made
ourselves comfortable. My mind was so full of my beautiful new
acquaintance that I must needs approach her in my talk, and I used Jack
Rollinson as a sort of stalking-horse. Brunow, as I found out later on,
was in love with her-after his fashion--which, as I shall have to show
you, was not very profound or manly; but, at any rate, he was glad of a
chance to talk about her, and I was glad to listen.
"That beautiful girl you met to-night," he told me, "has a strange
history. She is one-and-twenty years of age, and her father is still living,
but she and he never saw each other in their lives."
I said something to the effect that this was strange, and I asked the
reason of it.
"I dare say," Brunow answered, "that I am the only man in England
who knows the truth about the matter. The world has given the Conte di
Rossano up for dead years and years ago. His