cupboard had been opened. The ticking had now ceased,therefore the door had closed automatically upon the intruders. By someclever contrivance Nardini had connected his secret hiding-place withthe door that had been strengthened and lined with steel, enamelledwhite to match the wood-work of the salon. By a clockwork arrangementthe door would evidently close upon the inquisitive person who openedthe cupboard at a certain time afterwards.
When the little clock standing upon the pearl-inlaid cabinet hadsuddenly broken the silence by ticking it had attracted my attention,but I quickly forgot it in watching the trio so narrowly. The studywindow was evidently strongly barred, as were all the windows of theground floor of the villa, the bars being built into the wall outsidethe house in such a manner that they could only be filed through, anoperation which would take considerable time even with proper tools.
They hammered upon the door and threw their weight upon it, but it didnot budge. Evidently by the same mechanical contrivance several strongsteel bolts had been shot into their sockets.
The trio at the very moment of their sudden acquisition of Nardini'sdishonestly obtained wealth had been entrapped.
"We're discovered!" I heard Miller cry in English.
"Whoever has found us has locked us in!"
It never occurred to them that the cupboard and the door were connected,or that Nardini had invented such an ingenious contrivance in order toentrap any thief who might discover his secret.
"We must get out of this as quickly as possible!" Gavazzi exclaimedbreathlessly. "Let's make the division of the money afterwards."
"The window!" suggested the younger man, but a rapid examination provedit to be too strongly barred.
I heard them within the room consulting with each other as to what couldbe done, and was amused at their chagrin, having discovered the deadman's hoard only to be so unexpectedly imprisoned with the wealth uponthem.
The two Italians showered fierce imprecations upon whoever had boltedthem in, and vowed that the police should never take them alive. Theyknew, too well, the serious charge they would have to face, for theyknew that the body of the detective left in charge would be discoveredbehind the side door.
A heavy piece of furniture was brought to play upon the study door, butthe sound made as they battered with it revealed to them that they wereendeavouring to break down iron.
"Hush!" cried Miller suddenly. "We mustn't make a noise like that.There are probably _contadini_ living in the vicinity, and it willawaken them."
"Bah!" responded the doctor. "They'll only believe that it's a ghost.Here the _contadini_ are most superstitious."
"But the _carabinieri_ are not," remarked the young accompliceapprehensively. "My own idea is that we've been followed. I noticed aman in a dark suit looking very hard at us when we left the train."
"What kind of man?" the doctor inquired quickly.
"Looked like an Inglese signore, rather tall, about thirty, and wore adark suit."
"Why in the name of Fate didn't you mention it to us at the time?" criedMiller. "An Inglese! Who could he possibly be? Have you ever seen himbefore?"
"Never."
"Then he may have followed us here and alarmed the _carabinieri_!"gasped the doctor. "We must escape--before they arrest us!"
I saw that the young thief had noticed me when I had followed them outinto the darkness from the station at Tivoli. He would thereforerecognise me if we met again.
They would, no doubt, make a desperate attempt at escape. Yet should Iraise the alarm and call the police? Was it policy on my part to do so?If Lucie's father were arrested, Lucie herself must surely beimplicated, and perhaps through Gordon-Wright my own dear love mightalso find herself in the criminal's dock.
The mystery had grown so complicated and so inexplicable that I fearedto take any step towards the denunciation of the thieves.
My only policy was to wait and to watch.
I recollected Ella's appeal to me to remain silent concerning thescoundrel under whose banal thrall she had so mysteriously fallen, and Ifeared that if I made my statement it might lead to the fellow's arrest.
What, I wondered, was the true explication of the mystery of the unknowngirl being found in that room wherein the three thieves were entrapped?Who was she? What did Lucie know concerning her?
A great fear possessed me that the police, in searching, would discoverLucie in Leghorn, though in Italy the detectives always find moredifficulty in tracing foreigners than the Italians themselves. EveryItalian, when he moves his habitation even from one street to the other,is compelled to give notice to the police. But not so the large foreignfloating population who are for ever moving over the face of what isessentially a tourists' country.
Another great crash upon the door awakened me to a sense of my peril,should these men succeed in escaping. With as little compunction asthey had struck down the guard, they would, I knew, strike me down, andeven though I had a revolver they were three to one. Besides, a pistolis no use against a knife in the hands of such an expert as the youngthief in the grey hat whom they had so swiftly taken into theirconfidence.
With regret that they had seized that large amount in money, and yet inthe hope that they might regain their liberty and remain for some timelonger--at least until I had learned the truth concerning mywell-beloved--I crept softly back along the great salon, feeling my waybefore me with my hands. So thick was the carpet that my feet fellnoiselessly, and my escape was rendered all the more easy by the noisethe men were making by trying to batter down the door.
Swiftly I retraced my steps along the corridors, through thepicture-gallery and the older wing of the great house, until I came tothe long dim stone corridor. I shuddered as I passed into it, for therelay still undiscovered, and in the same position in which the assassinshad left it, the body of the unfortunate police agent who had been leftin charge of the fugitive's property which had been seized by theGovernment. On tiptoe I approached it, and bending, replaced therevolver.
Then with a final glance at the evidence of a horrible deed--a deedcommitted for the lust of gold--I crept out into the early morning airwhich blew fresh and cool from over the mountains, causing the leaves ofthe vines to rustle while a loose sun-shutter creaked mournfully as itswung to and fro overhead.
Retracing my steps through the vineyard I gained the high-road, when thefancy took me to ascend to the back of the villa and listen if I couldhear the imprisoned intruders.
Hardly had I reached the top of the hill when the truth was revealed tome, as I expected. Their voices could be distinctly heard, for one ofthose strongly barred windows that looked out upon the roadway was thatof the room wherein the absconding ex-Minister had concealed the moneyhe had filched from the public purse.
I halted in the darkness beneath the window, trying to catch the driftof the conversation, and even while I stood there one of them pulledaside the heavy curtains and allowed a stream of light to fall acrossthe roadway. It was surely an injudicious action, yet they could notexamine the bars without so doing.
Standing back in the shadow I saw them open the window and feel thestrength of that thick prison-like grating, the defence in thoseturbulent days when the place had been a miniature fortress.
"Without a file, it's impossible to break them," declared Gavazzi, in atone of deep disappointment. "But we must get out somehow. Everymoment's delay places us in graver peril. What shall we do?"
I saw that their position was utterly hopeless. They had been caughtlike rats in a trap. Therefore I crept along under the old stone wallof the villa and made my way down the hill in the direction of where theelectric street lamps of the town of Tivoli were shining.
It was, I saw by my watch, already half-past two.
After walking near half a mile, at a bend in the road two carabineers inuniform, with their guns slung upon their shoulders, emerged suddenlyupon me and called me to halt.
Imagine my confusion. I held my breath, and perhaps it was fortunatefor me that
the darkness hid the pallor of my face.
"Who are you?" demanded one of the rural guards in Italian, with astrong northern accent. He was Piedmontese, I think.
"I am an Englishman," I answered, quite frankly, but making a strenuouseffort to remain calm.
"So I hear by your speech," the man replied gruffly. "And what are youdoing here? The English don't usually walk about here at this hour?"
"I've walked from Palestrina, and lost myself in the darkness. Is thatTivoli down yonder?"
"Yes it is. But what's your name?" he inquired, as though my quickreply had aroused his suspicions. I regretted my words next instant. Iintended to mislead the man, but he evidently did not believe me. I sawthat if I was not now perfectly frank I might be arrested on suspicionand detained in the carabineer barracks