The detestable initials 'B.

R.,' and the one word 'Sbirri,' revealed who had warned, and what was the danger.

His friend's advice and the commands of his mother failed to move him.

'When I have seen her safe; not before,' he said.
Countess Ammiani addressed Luciano: 'This is a young man's love for a woman.' 'The woman is worth it,' Luciano replied.
'No woman is worth the sacrifice of a mother and of a relative.' 'Dearest countess,' said Luciano, 'look at the pit; it's a cauldron.
We shall get him out presently, have no fear: there will soon be hubbub enough to let Lucifer escape unseen.

If nothing is done to-night, he and I will be off to the Lago di Garda to-morrow morning, and fish and shoot, and talk with Catullus.' The countess gazed on her son with sorrowful sternness.