He obeys my orders promptly, and as he is heart and soul in the
cause of the duchess, I feel sure of his fidelity, especially as
he has had a hard time of it up to now, and is, I think, grateful
to me for taking him. He speaks French very well, and might certainly
be of great use to me in any enterprise that your lordship might
be good enough to entrust me with. Being about the same age, I
think that we might perhaps go together unquestioned where a man
would be unable to pass."

The viscount rode on for some minutes without speaking. "There is
something in what you say, Campbell, and after this journey is
over I may be able to employ you in that way when it is necessary
to obtain information I can get in no other manner. Has he ridden
with you before?"

"Yes, sir, he has ridden behind me each time that I have been away
since I engaged him. When I say behind me, he starts behind me,
but when out of town I call him up beside me, and we talk, or rather
try to talk, in Italian -- or rather I should say in Piedmontese,
for he tells me that each district of Italy has its own dialect,
and that the natives of one can scarce understand the other. I have
bought a book printed here and a dictionary, and of an evening when
I have no duties to perform he comes into my room, and translates
sentence by sentence as I read it to him. I learn it by heart, and
hope that ere long I shall be able to make myself understood in
it."

"You do well -- very well," the viscount said. "If all my young
officers were to do the same, instead of spending the evening and
half the night in drinking and gambling, things would go on much