Produced by An Anonymous VolunteerTHE CARDINALS SNUFFBOXBy Henry HarlandIThe Signorino will take coffee old Marietta asked as she set thefruit before himPeter deliberated for a moment then burned his shipsYes he answeredBut in the garden perhaps the little brown old woman suggested witha persuasive flourishNo he corrected her gently smiling and shaking his head notperhapscertainlyHer small sharp old black Italian eyes twinkled responsiveThe Signorino will find a rustic table under the big willowtree atthe waters edge she informed him with a good deal of gesture ShallI serve it thereWhere you will I leave myself entirely in your hands he saidSo he sat by the rustic table on a rustic bench under the willowsipped his coffee smoked his cigarette and gazed in contemplation atthe viewOf its kind it was rather a striking viewIn the immediate foregroundat his feet indeedthere was the riverthe narrow Aco peacockgreen a dark file of poplars on either bankrushing pellmell away from the quiet waters of the lake Then justacross the river at his left stretched the smooth lawns of the park ofVentirose with glimpses of the manypinnacled castle through the treesand beyond undulating country flourishing friendly a perspective ofvineyards cornfields groves and gardens pointed by numberless whitevillas At his right loomed the gaunt mass of the Gnisi with its blackforests its bare crags its foaming ascade and the crenelated range ofthe Cornobastone and finally climax and cynosure at the valleysend Monte Sfiorito its three snowcovered summits almostinsubstantialseeming floating forms of luminous pink vapour in theevening sunshine against the intense blue of the skyA familiar verse had come into Peters mind and kept running thereobstinatelyReally he said to himself feature for feature down to the verycataract leaping in glory the scene might have been got up aprescoup to illustrate it And he began to repeat the beautiful hackneyedwords under his breathBut about midway of the third line he was interruptedIIIts not altogether a bad sort of viewis it some one said inEnglishThe voice was a womans It was clear and smooth it was crispcutdistinguishedPeter glanced about himOn the opposite bank of the Aco in the grounds of Ventirose five orsix yards away a lady was standing looking at him smilingPeters eyes met hers took in her face And suddenly his heart gavea jump Then it stopped dead still tingling for a second Then it flewoff racing perilouslyOh for reasonsfor the best reasons in theworld but thereby hangs my taleShe was a young woman tall slender in a white frock with a whitecloak an indescribable complexity of soft lace and airy ruffles roundher shoulders She wore no hat Her hair brown and warm in shadowsparkled where it caught the light in a kind of crinkly iridescencelike threads of glassPeters heart for the best reasons in the world was racing perilouslyIts impossibleimpossibleimpossiblethe words strummed themselvesto its rhythm Peters wits for had not the impossible come to passwere in a perilous confusion But he managed to rise from his rusticbench and to achieve a bowShe inclined her head graciouslyYou do not think it altogether badI hope she questioned in hercrispcut voice raising her eyebrows slightly with a droll littleassumption of solicitudePeters wits were in confusion but he must answer her An automaticsecondself summoned by the emergency answered for himI think one might safely call it altogether goodOh she exclaimedHer eyebrows went up again but now they expressed a certain whimsicalsurprise She threw back her head and regarded the prospect criticallyIt is not then too spectacular too violent she wondered returningher gaze to Peter with an air of polite readiness to defer to hisopinion Not too much like a decor de theatreOne should judge it his automatic secondself submitted with someleniency It is after all only unaided NatureA spark flickered in her eyes while she appeared to ponder But I amnot sure whether she was pondering the speech or its speakerReally she said in the end Did did Nature build the villas andplant the cornfieldsBut his automatic secondself was on its mettleYes it asserted boldly the kind of men who build villas and plantcornfields must be classified as natural forcesShe gave a light little laughand again appeared to ponder for amomentThen with another gracious inclination of the head and aninterrogative brightening of the eyes Mr Marchdale no doubt shehazardedPeter bowedI am very glad if on the whole you like our little effect she wenton glancing in the direction of Monte Sfiorito Ithere was thebriefest suspensionI am your landladyFor a third time Peter bowed a rather more elaborate bow than hisearlier ones a bow of respectful enlightenment of feudal homageYou arrived this afternoon she conjecturedBy the fivetwentyfive from Bergamo said heA very convenient train she remarked and then in the pleasantestmanner whereby the unusual mode of valediction was carried off GoodeveningGood evening responded Peter and accomplished his fourth bowShe moved away from the river up the smooth lawns between the treestowards Castel Ventirose a flitting whiteness amid the surroundinggreenPeter stood still looking after herBut when she was out of sight he sank back upon his rustic bench likea man exhausted and breathed a prodigious sigh He was absurdly paleAll the same clenching his fists and softly pounding the table withthem he muttered exultantly between his teeth What luck Whatincredible luck Its sheits she as I m a heathen Oh whatsupernatural luckIIIOld Mariettathe bravest of small figures in her neat blackandwhitepeasant dress with her silver ornaments and her red silk coif andaproncame for the coffee thingsBut at sight of Peter she abruptly halted She struck an attitude ofalarm She fixed him with her fiery little black eyesThe Signorino is not well she cried in the tones of one launching adenunciationPeter roused himselfEryesI m pretty well thank you he reassured her II m onlydying he added sweetly after an instants hesitationDying echoed Marietta wild aghastAh but you can save my lifeyou come in the very nick of time hesaid Im dying of curiositydying to know something that you can tellmeHer stare dissolved her attitude relaxed She smiledrelief rebukeShe shook her finger at himAh the