64. The Rat-Trap. [Jan. 



from its heaviest curse ! — and may every future legate meet no fairer 

 fate than to-night waits upon the Cardinal Sansovino I " 



Scarcely were the words uttered, when a low knocking at the door 

 of the hut, as though conjured by the invocation, announced the ap- 

 proach of a new visitor. 



" It is he whom we look for !" cried Pezzali, in triumph. The beetle- 

 browed host lifted the latch, and " you are welcome, signor I" burst 

 from every voice in the apartment, save from one. A cavalier richly- 

 dressed, entering without ceremony, threw off his mantle to answer the 

 salutation — and the same glance which shewed that cavalier the legate 

 of Ravenna seated by a robber's fire, and doing the office of a scullion, 

 shewed the legate of Ravenna his own high chamberlain in conspiracy 

 against him — the Count di Perugino. 



One moment, as matters stood — it was victory or destruction — de- 

 cided between the parties. And the preparation which Sansovino's mind 

 had been receiving for some new oc^currence, saved him : — Perugino 

 concluded himself discovered — stood paralysed — and was lost. 



The falcon eye of the legate, as he still held the untr'^>ted goblet to 

 his lips, again turned upon the bright blue flame which shone upon the 

 edge of the thicket, and assured him of his safety. Snatching a small 

 packet from the bosom of his cassock, he cast it into the huge fire 

 before which he had been toiling ; an explosion like the roar of a park 

 of cannon followed — the hut shook to its foundation, and the glare of 

 the blaze was as that of noon-day. In the next moment the trampling 

 was heard of many feet — it was but of a pace advance before doors 

 and windows of the hut were alike burst open. Two shots fired hastily 

 by the band — they scarcely knew at what — were answered by a volley 

 from the first file of a party of harquebusiers. In an instant every loop- 

 hole bristled with musquets, each pointed at an outlaw's head — almost 

 before it could begin the struggle was concluded, and the conquerors 

 had disarmed the vanquished and removed the dying: 



Two shots only were fired by the robbers, so sudden and complete 

 was the surprise — one missing its mark, stretched the wretched female, 

 the drudge of the osteria, upon the ground ; the second, from Pezzali, 

 might have proved fatal to the cardinal, but that, at the moment Avhen 

 it was discharged, he had struck the pistol and the arm that held it on 

 one side. Still holding the goblet filled to drink his own destruction, 

 he snatched the red hat, the emblem of his dignity, from an attendant — 

 and, still in his curates garb, among thieves and conspirators, he stood 

 forth the dreaded legate of Ravenna. 



There was no triumph in his look ; or, if the token of such a feeling 

 ever crossed his countenance, it was only when his eye met that of the 

 trembling artd horror-stricken Peragino. " Seize t!:e traitor !" he cried, 

 to the officer who had commanded the ambuscade ; " guard him 

 — bind him — cut him to the bones, but look that he escape not ! — 

 Altieri — Torelle — ISIunalva, are in Ravenna I Pluck open his vest I — 

 so, we have papers I — Gozze — Vanelle — Peralto — Domenechino — this 

 is well — but the time brooks no delaj." Turning to the robbers, and 

 pointing to the goblet — " we pledged each other in a health — ^was it not 

 so ?" said he ; " we drank a delivery to Ravenna from its curse ; success 

 to the enterprize on foot, and a completion to the fortunes of Cardinal 

 Sansovino ! — Have then your wish I" continued the legate fiercely. 



