Now the chambers prepared for us, by the Admiral's, were of the plainest description: there was little save a truckle-bed standing on a tiled floor; but never in all his life had any chamber seemed so beautiful to Will. He could only remember that he was to sleep under the roof of his beloved. "Tubby," he said to me as soon as we were clear of the house, "do you mind coming back here with me when we have delivered our message? I would give a year of my life to sleep under this roof." Of course I agreed; and off we went to the city, to My Lady's palace by the Flora, as hard as we could post, not meeting any adventures by the way. Nor indeed were we like to, except by reason of a horse bolting or a coach losing its wheel; for there was a stream of guests returning to Palermo. But when we arrived at My Lady's, she put a very different look upon the matter. Indeed, her lovely face was streaming with tears in the agony of apprehension for the man to whom she had given the whole of her passionate heart. "He will be killed!" she cried--"Nelson will be killed! Oh! why did you leave him?" Then she broke forth into a fresh passionate utterance: "What am I doing here, doing nothing, while he, with his one arm, is fighting his last gasp for life? To the ship, Will--off to the ship with you, and tell them that the Admiral is being murdered out in the lonely house of the Favara. No!" she cried, suddenly rushing to the window and screaming out something at the top of her rich voice: "spring into that coach which I have just stopped, and drive to the Albergo La Fortuna. It is always full of your officers later than this, and there will be coaches there. Get them all into coaches, and stop here for a moment on your way back, and I will have the pistols in the Embassy ready for you, for your officers will only have their swords." Her behaviour carried even Will away. He could not force from his lips the question if she thought there was any foundation for the report: her earnestness was so terrible. We flew to the inn, and there we found a room full of rollicking British officers, smoking and tossing off the generous Sicilian wine, and most of them describing some adventure or other, for the indulgence of which Sicily offered great opportunities. When Will burst in with the news every man leapt to his feet and gripped his sword. As they dashed out of the house one of them sang out to the landlord to put down the reckoning to him--they used the house as a kind of club, and were therefore well known by sight. Coaches were hailed, and within a few minutes we were at the Ambassador's house, and had pistols served to us. There was, moreover, another coach waiting to join us, with the English servants of the Embassy.