But why the presence of that menacing symbol here? Securing a lodgment in a large but decayed dwelling now occupied by many separate families, Boppo determined to observe the place and the people. A quiet distrust showed itself in every face. Men and women moved almost stealthily. Yet not the furtive glance of the self-conscious coward, not the searching look of the suspicious criminal who attempts to read an enemy in the eyes, but the averted look of the man who simply avoids others and desires to go his way unmolested, revealed itself to Boppo. Experience detected the difference. Further observation removed doubt; andthe old man knew that he stood amid a community of Catharoi. The presence of the cross of equal arms, quarterly sable and argent, at once explained itself. He noticed and answered the countersign privately and cautiously given, and such as no eyes but those of the initiated could detect. The same signals now prevailed among the almost blended sects that became known universally from this period as Waldenses; but still in many places also as Sabbatati. A secret consultation advised a speedy departure. No overt act had yet occurred, and the proximity of Vienna, where the great body of the population sympathized with Waldensian civil and religious reforms, rendered severity improbable.
A rest of one day enabled the old man to renew his journey with fresh energy.
Resuming his old method of military reasoning, Boppo arranged before ‘his mental vision the com-
