whose ducats is the only instance of luck that ever awaited me at that accursed rouge-et-noir table."
"I doubt you owe something of your present plight to him; he is nephew to the Grand Inquisitor."
"And my husband is then the victim of his vile revenge!" cries the Countess, in a tone of delight.
Stefano made no answer: the next moment they were close to the ship, and he, fastening the boat to its side by a rope, sprung on board, to be spokesman for the party. Lolah trembled as the fragile bark rocked to and fro beneath the dark stern of the vessel, from which hung a lantern, whose dim light showed what she deemed their perilous position. Leoni might have felt the beating of the heart pillowed on his own; but he had himself been so long the sole object of his thoughts, that his wife's fear, not being shared by himself, never entered his mind.
"How provoking it is that I should have lost my last rouleau! I have not a ducat; and you hurried me so, that I had no time to bring away any thing!" exclaimed he, peevishly. "What the devil terms shall we come to with these rascals, without money?"
"I have here three rouleaux," said the Countess; "I should have brought away more gold, but for its weight—I therefore preferred my diamonds, as to their sale we must look for our future support."
A smile passed over Montefiore's face; dearly
