As they entered Dick's apartments Gonfaloniere was lounging near the window. He had accompanied Dick to Rome. He started at the sight of Luigi. "God in Heaven!" he cried, bounding to his feet. "Ugo!" exclaimed the other. "Luigi!" And the two men, in true Italian fashion, sprang into one another's arms. "And is my best friend, and oldest friend, the brother of your betrothed?" asked Gonfaloniere of Dick. But Dick only nodded. He was quite mystified by all this. An explanation, however, was soon made. The two had been educated together, and had fought side by side in the great movements of '48, under Garibaldi, and in Lombardy. For full an hour these two friends asked one another a torrent of questions. Luigi asked Gonfaloniere about his exile in America; whereupon the other described that exile in glowing terms--how he landed in Boston, how Dick, then little more than a lad, became acquainted with him, and how true a friend he had been in his misery. The animated words of Gonfaloniere produced a striking effect. Luigi swore eternal friendship with Dick, and finally declared that he must come and see Pepita that very day. So, leaving Gonfaloniere with the promise of seeing him again, Luigi walked with Dick out to the place where he lived. The reason why he had not wanted him to see Pepita that day was because he was ashamed of their lodgings. But that had passed, and as he understood Dick better he saw there was no reason for such shame. It was a house within a few rods of the church. Dick's heart throbbed violently as he entered the door after Luigi and ascended the steps inside the court-yard. Luigi pointed to a door and drew back. [Illustration: The Door.] Dick knocked. The door opened. "Pepita!" *** To describe such a meeting is simply out of the question. "I knew you would come," said she, after about one solid hour, in which not a single intelligible word was uttered. "And for you! Oh, Pepita!" "You do not think now that I was cruel?" and a warm flush overspread the lovely face of the young girl. "Cruel!" (and Dick makes her see that he positively does not think so). "I could not do otherwise." "I love you too well to doubt it." "My brother hated you so. It would have been impossible. And I could not wound his feelings." "He's a splendid fellow, and you were right." "Padre Liguori showed him what you were, and I tried to explain a little," added Pepita, shyly. "Heaven bless Padre Liguori! As for you--you--" "Don't." "Well, your brother understands me at last. He knows that I love you so well that I would die for you." Tears came into Pepita's eyes as the sudden recollection arose of Dick's misadventure on the road. *** "Do you remember," asked Dick, softly, after about three hours and twenty minutes--"do you remember how I once wished that I was walking with you on a road that would go on forever?" "Yes." "Well, we're on that track now."