As he looked on the young man, Maltravers was surprised to see the sudden animation which glowed upon his pale features. "You asked me a question I would fain put to you," said the Englishman, after a pause. "/You/, methinks, are a poet?" "I have fancied that I might be one. But poetry with us is a bird in the wilderness--it sings from an impulse--the song dies without a listener. Oh that I belonged to a /living/ country,--France, England, Germany, Arnerica,--and not to the corruption of a dead giantess--for such is now the land of the ancient lyre." "Let us meet again, and soon," said Maltravers, holding out his hand. Cesarini hesitated a moment, and then accepted and returned the proffered salutation. Reserved as he was, something in Maltravers attracted him; and, indeed, there was that in Ernest which fascinated most of those unhappy eccentrics who do not move in the common orbit of the world. In a few moments more the Englishman had said farewell to the owner of the villa, and his light boat skimmed rapidly over the tide. "What do you think of the /Inglese/?" said Madame de Montaigne to her husband, as they turned towards the house. (They said not a word about the Milanese.) "He has a noble bearing for one so young," said the Frenchman; "and seems to have seen the world, and both to have profited and to have suffered by it." "He will prove an acquisition to our society here," returned Teresa; "he interests me; and you, Castruccio?" turning to seek for her brother; but Cesarini had already, with his usual noiseless step, disappeared within the house. "Alas, my poor brother!" she said, "I cannot comprehend him. What does he desire?" "Fame!" replied De Montaigne, calmly. "It is a vain shadow; no wonder that he disquiets himself in vain." CHAPTER II. "Alas! what boots it with incessant care To strictly meditate the thankless Muse; Were I not better done as others use, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair?" MILTON'S /Lycidas/.