have been killed. I shall have much power if we win. When I
say much power, I mean much power in Messina, in that little
corner of the world, and I wish to use it worthily and well.
I am afraid I should not have thought of it," he went on,
naively, as though he were trying to be quite fair, "had not
Father Paul pointed out to me what I should do, how I could
raise the people and stop the abuses which made them drive us
from the island. The people must be taxed less heavily, and
the money must be spent for them and not for us, on roads and
harbors and schools, not at the Palace on banquets and fetes.
These are Father Paul's ideas, not mine,--but now I make them
mine." He rose and paced the length of the little arbor, his
hands clasped behind him and his eyes bent on the ground.
"Yes, that is what I mean to do," he said. "That is the way I
mean to live. And if we fail, I mean to be among those who
are to die on the fortifications of the capital, so that with
me the Kalonay family will end, and end fighting for the King,
as many of my people have done before me. There is no other
way. For me there shall be no more idleness nor exile. I
must either live on to help my people, or I must die with
them." He stopped in his walk and regarded the girl closely.
"You may be thinking, it is easy for him to promise this, it
is easy to speak of what one will do. I know that. I know
that I can point back at nothing I have done that gives me any
right to ask you to believe me now. But I do ask it, for if
you believe me--believe what I say--it makes it easier for me
to tell you why after this I must live worthily. But you know
why? You must know; it is not possible that you do not know."

He sat down beside her on the bench, leaning forward and