times worn by ecclesiastics. The face of this stranger was remarkable. So sunburnt and swarthy were his hues, that he must, apparently, have derived his origin amongst the races of the farthest East. His forehead was lofty, and his eyes so penetrating yet so calm in their gaze, that the Prince shrank from them as we shrink from a questioner who is drawing forth the guiltiest secret of our hearts.
"What would you with me?" asked the Prince, motioning his visitor to a seat.
"Prince of ———," said the stranger, in a voice deep and sweet, but foreign in its accent; "son of the most energetic and masculine race that ever applied godlike genius to the service of Human Will, with its winding wickedness and its stubborn grandeur; descendant of the great Visconti, in whose chronicles lies the History of Italy in her palmy day, and in whose rise was the development of the mightiest intellect, ripened by the most restless ambition, I come to gaze upon the last star in a darkening firmament. By this hour to-morrow space shall know it not. Man! unless thy whole nature change, thy days are numbered!"
"What means this jargon?" said the Prince, in visible astonishment and secret awe. "Comest thou to menace me in my own halls, or wouldst thou warn me of a danger? Art thou some itinerant mountebank, or some unguessed-of friend? Speak out, and plainly. What danger threatens me"
"Zanoni and thy ancestor's sword," replied the stranger.
