erally used by the lower orders in Lombardy. The white muslin shawl with which her head was covered was no protection against such weather as this; and as her high-heeled shoes covered her toes only, leaving the heels bare, her clean white stockings would soon be plastered with mud.

The sides of the Piazza where the market was held were skirted with arcades formed by the projection of the upper stories over the basement. In consequence of their vicinity to the market, the space beneath the arcades was occupied as open shops, a narrow passage being left for the convenience of the passengers. Bettina had a friend, Monna Lisetta, who kept a draper's shop in this locality; with her the housekeeper took shelter from the rain, and awaited the chance of the rain ceasing, or of some acquaintance going her way with an umbrella, which was sure to be large enough to cover her as well as the owner.

Monna Lisetta gave her visitor a seat, and found room for her heavy basket in the shop. The two women were soon engaged in conversation. There was no lack of subjects: when they had discussed the weather and the affairs of their neighbors, there were still the shop goods to talk about. Monna Lisetta had many pretty gown-pieces which she tried to induce her visitor to purchase; but, although Bettina liked to look at pretty things, she was in no humor to buy. She shook her head and pleaded poverty.

"You need not be poor long if you will do as Gian Sarpi has done. If you have only half his good luck, you will be a rich woman."

"I am thinking of buying a ticket myself," added Lisetta. "Look, there is Maso Ferrari now coming out of the office. I wonder whether he has purchased one. Let us ask." She beckoned to a man who, covered with a large green umbrella, was then crossing the road.

"What have you been doing over yonder?" asked Lisetta, as he shook his umbrella preparatory to closing it, and stepped into the shop.

Buying a lottery ticket," said he. "Ah! I thought you could not resist, after you had heard of Gian Sarpi's good fortune. I am thinking of trying my luck, and I want Monna Bettina to do the same."

"If I thought I was sure of getting a prize," said Bettina, doubtingly. "One is all but sure," answered Lisetta.

"There are two prizes of one hundred thousand zwanzigers each to be drawn soon, and if I should be lucky enough to get one of them," said Maso, clasping his hands, while his eyes sparkled with anticipated happiness, "why, my fortune will be made, and I may ride in my coach, instead of carrying this green umbrella over my head in the rain, and tramping through the mud."

"Why, he has bought a ticket in the Lottery, and drawn a prize of twenty thousand zwanzigers!"

"Indeed! He's a lucky fellow," said Bettina.

"Why don't you try your luck? and if you get a prize, you can buy this dress, and any others you please."

As Lisetta spoke, she pointed to a wide placard on the walls of the Palazzo della Ragione, announcing, in very large letters, that certain numbers had turned up prizes in the Imperial and Royal Lottery, and that many tickets were yet undisposed of.

afford it."

"Ah! you'll tell a different tale when you have drawn a prize in the lottery." "Stuff and nonsense! I don't mean to buy a ticket."

Bettina advanced to the entrance of the arch, and looked this way and that to see whether the rain had abated; and, not trusting to her eyes alone, she held out her hand to feel.

"The rain is abating," said she; "] must hasten home. If you are going my way, Maso, will you give me shelter under your umbrella?"

"With pleasure," replied Maso. Bettina took up her basket, and after bidding

Lisetta good-by, and gathering her dress above her ankles to keep it clean, she walked in company with Maso as far as the gate of Balducci's house; where, thanking him for his civility, she let herself in and secured the door.

The hour was so late that Bettina had scarcely time to prepare for dinner; but when her work was done, and she sat down to her evening occupation of knitting a cotton stocking, she had leisure to think about the lottery ticket. The hope of suddenly acquiring riches, and of stepping at one jump from poverty to wealth, is always a great temptation, and it requires a strong mind to resist the impulse. The more Bettina thought about the lottery ticket, the brighter and more alluring appeared the prizes, while the blanks seemed entirely to be forgotten. Why should not she get a prize as well as Gian Sarpi? She thought she would try. But what if her ticket should not turn up a prize? Well, then, she should lose a few florins, and, thanks to the Madonna and "the Santo,' ,"* that would not ruin her. She could afford to lose a few. She would try. As she plied her knitting needle, her thoughts busied themselves in castlebuilding, and she formed many plans for the disposal of the prize which she now made sure of obtaining.

The next day, without saying a word to her master, or even to Lisetta, she went to the lottery office and purchased a ticket.

Full of hope and expectation, Bettina returned to the house, and as she folded up the clean white muslin shawl, with which, according to the custom of the country, she had covered her head when she left home, bright visions of zwanzigers and florins floated before her, and although she went about her work as usual, the lottery ticket absorbed all her thoughts.

Bettina now resolved to tell her master what she had done, and only waited for a favorable occasion. One day, when Balducci had eaten his dinner and appeared particularly amicable, Bettina informed her master of her purchase. But the poor woman little anticipated the reception her communication would meet with, and she was totally unprepared for the volley of

St. Antonio is always spoken of in and around Padua as "Il Santo," the saint par excellence.

reproaches which Balducci lavished on her folly in thus squandering away her savings.

"A lottery ticket!" he exclaimed: "you must be mad, quite mad! Would any person in his senses have purchased a lottery ticket? Do you know that for every prize there are hundreds of blanks? that the chances are nearly a thousand to one against you? If the blanks were not greatly more numerous than the prizes, do you think the government could afford to carry on the lotteries ?"

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But somebody must win, and why should not I?" observed Bettina.

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Many must lose," replied Balducci, parodying her expression, "and why should you not be one of them?"

Bettina's countenance fell. Her friends had shown her only the bright side of the picture, and, simple-minded as she was, she had given implicit credence to their representations. Balducci had torn the vail rudely from her eyes, and she began to think that she might not only lose her money, but her master's favor, for she had never seen him so much excited. The poor woman did not hazard a reply; she was leaving the kitchen, where her master took his meals, when Balducci called her back.

"What is the number of your ticket?" he inquired.

"4444," replied Bettina.

Balducci quietly took a piece of charcoal from the fire, and marked the number on the chimney-piece.

Let

"That is all; you may go now. me hear no more of this foolish business."

Bettina left the room, and busied herself about her work. How different now were her feelings from what they had been only half an hour before, when, elated with hope and the pleasing anticipation of success, she had made known her purchase to Balducci!

She was startled from her work by an unusual noise. Her ear told her that the sound proceeded from the pantry. Thither she hurried, and Balducci, who had also been attracted by the noise, followed her. On opening the door the cause of the clamor soon became evident. Bettina, whose thoughts were bent on her lottery ticket, had gone into the pantry to put away the remains of the dinner, and not perceiving that the cat-for, miser as he was, Balducci kept a cat; at least if he can be

said to have kept her when she lived upon nothing but mice-had entered with her, and had been shut in. The cat had made most of her time, and as a fowl was a greater treat to her than mice, she had made bold to seize it, and in jumping down with her prey in her mouth, she had knocked down some crockery, among which was Balducci's favorite plate. Bettina and her master entered the pantry in time to rescue the fowl, but the china plate was shivered into twenty pieces. Neither cement nor rivets could put it together again. The author of the mischief slipped out when the door was opened, and did not venture to show herself again for several days. Bettina was dumb with consternation; Balducci furious with passion.

"Vile, gambling, extravagant hussy," he exclaimed, "is this the way you take care of your master's property? Did I bring home a fowl which cost me a zwanziger and a half, to be eaten by a cat? I'll tie her up by the neck to the fig-tree in the court, to serve as a warning to all her thievish race, as soon as I can lay my hands upon her. But my plate, my china plate, which my father brought from India, and which he eat off as long as he lived, and which I have used ever since, it cannot be replaced. It was beyond all price, and to have it broken at last by a cat! It is past endurance; and you, spendthrift and gambler, what shall I say to you, fool that you are! This all comes of your folly in buying the lottery ticket! You shall pay for the plate; you shall pay for the fowl. Get you gone out of my sight." He pushed her before him, and locked the door of the pantry.

Time passed on, and peace was gradually restored in the household of Balducci. As if by mutual agreement, the lottery ticket was not again mentioned by either of them. Balducci, however, had not forgotten it, and he seldom went out without glancing his eye at the government placards to see whether any prizes had been drawn since Bettina's purchase.

One day he observed a crowd of people round the office, and approaching in order to ascertain the cause, he saw it posted up that one of the prizes of one hundred thousand zwanzigers had been drawn, and that the fortunate number was 4444.

she would draw a prize, and such a prize? She was now richer than he was. It was probable, nay, next to certain that she would leave him, for it was not to be expected that a woman who possessed a fortune of one hundred thousand zwanzigers would continue to act as a menial servant. Whom should he get to supply her place? As these reflections passed through his mind, self, his own dear self being at the bottom of all his cogitations, he wended his way homeward. Suddenly a thought struck him: "What if I were to marry Bettina? Then I should secure not only the zwanzigers, but her services. It is true she is my servant, but I shall not be the first man who has married his servant by a great many. I am growing old, and shall want some one to wait upon me, and who will make so good a nurse as a wife and Bettina will make a very good wife. She is economical, too, and not given to gadding about; and then she is very obedient, and always treats me with proper respect. Besides, if I don't marry her, soon some one else will; that's certain. I'll go and propose at once; at least as soon as I have ascertained that her ticket has really won the prize. I wrote down the number on the chimney, and can soon satisfy myself. In the meantime I will keep the matter a secret; it will be such an agreeable surprise to Bettina to acquaint her with her good fortune on our wedding-day, for she is sure to accept my offer."

Lost in these agreeable meditations, Balducci knocked at his own gate, which was opened by Bettina.

"Thank you, my dear," said he, very graciously, but without losing a moment, he walked straight up to the chimney and looked anxiously at the number he had marked on it.

It was 4444 to a certainty. Bettina was a rich woman, and should be his wife. He would secure the prize before another should seize it; indeed, before she should hear of her good fortune from others.

In the course of that evening he offered his hand and his fortune-his heart does not appear to have been included in the bargain—to Bettina.

The astonishment of the housekeeper was boundless. She could scarcely believe her ears. In her humility she could not feel sufficiently grateful that her own master, a gentleman of honorable family,

should really offer to make her his wife. She was quite overwhelmed by his condescension. But she was also quite at a loss how to answer him; at last she bethought herself of asking him to give her until the following morning to consider her answer to this very unexpected proposal.

That night was a sleepless one to Bettina. She turned from side to side in her bed until every blade of maize straw of which her mattress was composed, rustled. It was long before she came to a decision, for although she was much flattered by the offer she had received, still Balducci was not exactly the man she should have chosen. She reflected that she was not a young woman, and as a time might come when she would not be able to work, it would be a pleasant thing to think that she was comfortably provided for for life; and this would make amends for some inconveniences. Besides, she really was attached to her master, with whom and with his mother she had lived from her childhood. She made up her mind, then, to accept Balducci's offer, and when at breakfast time he asked for her answer, she acquainted him with her decision.

The next point was to fix the weddingday. Balducci, who had his own motives for hastening matters, proposed an early day. Bettina saw no reason for postponing the ceremony, especially as her master wished to hasten it. Besides, when the gentleman was sixty years of age, and the lady on the wrong side of fifty, there was certainly no time to lose. An early day was therefore fixed, and the arrangements were specially made for the wedding.

The preparations were very simple. Balducci's house was so close to the church that no carriage was necessary. There were no near relatives on either side, and but few acquaintances. The only guest invited to the wedding dinner was the priest who officiated in Santa Sofia, and who had the care of the consciences of Balducci and Bettina.

by Balducci's orders, had been hired to take Bettina's place in the kitchen. A goodly dinner, such as had not graced the table of the old house since the death of his mother, was prepared. There was cabbage and pumpkin soup, plentifully flavored with grated Parmesan cheese, a dish of boiled meat, a dish of fried meat, a ragout, a roast fowl; there were truffles swimming in oil, a dish of polenta garnished with small birds, a capital cheese from Lodi. These delicacies were followed by a dessert of apples, figs, mostarda dolce, (that is, plums and other fruits preserved with sugar and mustard-seeds,) savoy biscuits, and roasted chestnuts.

Bettina, in her new capacity as mistress, superintended the arrangements for the repast, and as the church clock struck the hour which had been named for the dinner, a gentle tap was heard at the door. It was opened speedily.

"Pax vobiscum," said a cheerful, sonorous voice, and Father Clemente stepped into the room. He was a tall, robustlooking man, who would have been called handsome in any company. He had a ruddy complexion, an aquiline nose, and the prominent, well-cut chin which so strongly marks the Italian type of countenance. A fringe of dark brown hair surrounded his temples, and curled round the edge of his black skull-cap, and his high white forehead. His hazel eye sparkled with good humor, and harmonized with the pleasant expression of his mouth. His long black garment, buttoned only half way down, did not conceal a well-shaped leg and neat ankle, clad in black knee-breeches and stockings.

"Pax vobiscum," he repeated, removing his skull-cap, which he immediately replaced.

"Et cum vobis," answered Balducci and Bettina.

"Not I," answered Father Clemente; and if I had forgotten the hour, the savory steam issuing from your kitchen and perfuming the surrounding air, would have