The splendour of the moonlight lent to this passage of flocks through the midst of the slumbering city the mystery of things seen in a dream.
Andrea recalled one serene February night when, on coming away from a ball at the English Embassy, he and Elena had met a flock of sheep in the Via Venti Settembre which obliged their carriage to stop.

Elena, her face pressed to the window, watched the sheep crowding against the carriage wheels, and pointed to the little lambs with childish delight; and he with his face close to hers, his eyes half closed, listened to the pattering hoofs, the bleating, the tinkling bells.
Why should these recollections of Elena come back to him just now ?--He resumed his way slowly up the steps, his feet heavy with fatigue, his knees giving way beneath him.

Suddenly the thought of death flashed across his mind.

'What if I were killed, or received such a wound as to maim me for life ?' But his thirst for life and pleasure caused his whole being to revolt against such a sinister possibility.

'I _must_ come off victorious!' he said to himself.