"Pardon my boldness to interrupt you, milady," cried the Italian;
"your ladyship was about to say that you could easily understand
that I had got possession of your names by means of your
domestic. But in thinking so, you do injustice to the fidelity
of your servant, and, I may add, to the skill of one who is also
not less your humble servant--Baptista Damiotti."

"I have no intention to do either, sir," said Lady Bothwell,
maintaining a tone of composure, though somewhat surprised; "but
the situation is something new to me. If you know who we are,
you also know, sir, what brought us here."

"Curiosity to know the fate of a Scottish gentleman of rank, now,
or lately, upon the Continent," answered the seer. "His name is
Il Cavaliero Philippo Forester, a gentleman who has the honour to
be husband to this lady, and, with your ladyship's permission for
using plain language, the misfortune not to value as it deserves
that inestimable advantage."

Lady Forester sighed deeply, and Lady Bothwell replied,--

"Since you know our object without our telling it, the only
question that remains is, whether you have the power to relieve
my sister's anxiety?"

"I have, madam," answered the Paduan scholar; "but there is still
a previous inquiry. Have you the courage to behold with your own
eyes what the Cavaliero Philippo Forester is now doing? or will
you take it on my report?"