58 The Rat-Trap. [Jam. 



But our steeds are blood, and our swords are good, 



And the red wine sparkles clear ; 

 And a flask that's bright may kill a dim night, 



So, we'll drink, and be merry here !" 



The sky thickened, and the shower fell faster, as the cardinal, 

 descending from the eminence above, and drawing his cloak close 

 round him for easier passage more than for shelter, pressed through 

 brake and bush, directly towards the hostelry of " the Rat-Trap." 

 Once more, as he drew near, he paused for an instant — not that his 

 purpose ever wavered ; but — on a sudden, the sounds which had yet 

 spoken of revelry, seemed changed to tones of quarrel and contention. 

 This was the fact. While he yet listened, the tumult warmed ; oaths 

 were heard high, within the building — menaces — and tones of defiance — 

 but all blended, confused, and indistinct. The next moment — it was in 

 the height of the quarrel — the legate struck with his staff upon the 

 threshold. A single " hush !" and a slight clink of swords — as though 

 the blow had been half retracted after the caution was given — followed ; 

 and in another second all was mute. — 



" You are early, signor !" exclaimed a storm of voices, as the door 

 flew open ; and the shout sounded as one of welcome ; but the first 

 glance that shewed a stranger discovered the error, and the congratula- 

 tors tumbled over one another for haste in starting to their feet or to 

 their weapons. In the next moment, as the figure of the visitor was 

 seen more plainly, all the alarm subsided into surprise. Fingers, every 

 where, slowly relaxed their gripe ; carbines dropped again into the repose 

 of the half cock ; and daggers, peeping from their sheaths, slid again 

 into concealment, The guests looked, with open eyes, first at the car- 

 dinal — then at the still open door — and then at one another — and then a 

 long burst of laughter — loud and simultaneous — shook the sides of the 

 assembly. 



The apartment into which tlie legate thus unexpectedly intruded 

 himself, was of an aspect very considerably more singular than encourag- 

 ing. Occupying the full range, as regarded the ground floor, of the 

 whole habitation, this floor, speaking as to the capacity of three-fourths 

 of the " Trappola," formed the only one that it possessed ; for the flea 

 warrens which had once served for sleeping chambers, what time people 

 might have slept in the house, and not had their throats cut, were now 

 fallen into disuse and decay, and had originally been only so many sub- 

 divisions of a cock-loft raised over the stable. Facing the door, a huge 

 fire, such as men burn whose fuel costs them little, roared in a chimney 

 something dilapidated, but in which half a troop of horse might still 

 have managed to manoeuvre without much inconvenience. A massive 

 copper lamp, scowered from soot and grease perhaps in the previous 

 century, depended from the rafters by an iron chain, which, judging by 

 the rust upon it, neve- could have experienced the process of scowering 

 at all, and this beacon shed a flickering, wild, uncertain light, 

 chased almost to dissolution, every other moment, by the strong currents 

 of air, which poured, at all points of the compass, through the crevices 

 of the building. And round about, some seated upon low cork stools ; 

 some lying upon cloaks or sheep-skins, some upon the plain bare ground, 

 lounged from fifteen to twenty robust, ferocious looking persons, smok- 

 ing cigars, throwing dice, or furbishing their rusty swords and carbines ; 

 and swallowing, by time, large draughts of wine, or other intoxicating 



