into the hands of the ruined noble. He became the guide of princes, the
first magnate of Italy. He founded anew the house of which thou art the
last lineal upholder, and transferred his splendour from Milan to the
Sicilian realms. Visions of high ambition were then present with him
nightly and daily. Had he lived, Italy would have known a new dynasty,
and the Visconti would have reigned over Magna-Graecia. He was a man
such as the world rarely sees; but his ends, too earthly, were at war
with the means he sought. Had his ambition been more or less, he had
been worthy of a realm mightier than the Caesars swayed; worthy of our
solemn order; worthy of the fellowship of Mejnour, whom you now behold
before you."

The prince, who had listened with deep and breathless attention to the
words of his singular guest, started from his seat at his last words.
"Imposter!" he cried, "can you dare thus to play with my credulity?
Sixty years have flown since my grandsire died; were he living, he had
passed his hundred and twentieth year; and you, whose old age is
erect and vigorous, have the assurance to pretend to have been his
contemporary! But you have imperfectly learned your tale. You know not,
it seems, that my grandsire, wise and illustrious indeed, in all save
his faith in a charlatan, was found dead in his bed, in the very hour
when his colossal plans were ripe for execution, and that Mejnour was
guilty of his murder."

"Alas!" answered the stranger, in a voice of great sadness, "had he
but listened to Mejnour,--had he but delayed the last and most perilous
ordeal of daring wisdom until the requisite training and initiation had
been completed,--your ancestor would have stood with me upon an
eminence which the waters of Death itself wash everlastingly, but cannot
overflow. Your grandsire resisted my fervent prayers, disobeyed my most