carriage were those of the sallow-faced foreignerwho had met the pair on Calais platform and the man who had awaited thearrival of the express at Milan.
Logan did not appear. He evidently remained in the house.
Of the identity of the victim there surely could be no doubt. It wasshe who had aided Marie Lejeune in the commission of some offence--thatwoman whose word could clear the character of my love Lolita.
What could I do? I stood in hesitation, utterly dumbfounded. I hadfortunately discovered the truth how these men had ingeniously entrappedthe woman towards whom Logan had shown a marked but false friendship,but alone and undefended I feared to rush forward and denounce them.
I recollected what the _delegato_ of police had told me in Biffi's andstood watching, confident that ere long I should be able to give thepolice such information as would lead to the arrest of the whole gang.
Little ceremony was used in handling the covered body of the lifelesswoman. It was simply bundled into the cab, the two men got in with it,the door closed, and the vehicle was driven off rapidly in the directionof the town.
The instant it passed me I ran after it as fast as my legs could carryme, determined to follow it to its destination. My own idea, from thefact that the horse was a weak one, was that it was not going far--infact only just sufficiently far to place the body in some place ofconcealment.
The wheels rattled over the stones, awakening the echoes of the silentstreets as the cab turned towards the main thoroughfare in the directionof the city.
I was panting some distance behind, and had halted for a second to catchmy breath, when all of a sudden, before I was aware of what hadhappened, I felt a crushing blow upon my skull, and fell to earth like afelled ox.
I only recollect having seen a thousand stars at that moment when theirresistible blow fell upon me--nothing else. My soft grey felt hat didnot break the blow, the full force of which came down upon the top of myhead, striking me in an instant dumb and unconscious.
Of what happened to me after that I have no knowledge whatever. I had,of course, acted unwisely in my quick eagerness to ascertain the truth,for by rushing after the vehicle I had exposed myself to the detectionof those of the conspirators who were evidently outside the housekeeping watch. My curiosity had misled me into a distinct error ofjudgment, and I had no doubt been felled by those whose motive it was tokeep secret the tragic affair.
My next recollection was of a terrible throbbing in my brain. My headseemed aflame! My skull seemed to be boiling with molten lead. Ah!never in all my life shall I forget the torments I suffered for about anhour, yet unable to speak, unable to complain of them. Before myblinded eyes was a dull red haze, in which stars seemed to shoot withevery throb of the blood through my poor unbalanced brain.
I believe at last I spoke, but of what I said I have no idea. Merelythe ravings of delirium I have since been told. I felt somethingstrange upon my brow, like burning coal or corrosive acid, yet when Iknew the truth I found to my surprise that it was ice.
My first impression was that I was demented. I could not think ofanything. Strange weird visions, mostly grotesque or gruesome, floatedthrough my mind, but without motive or coherence. I tried to recollectthe past, but I found I had none. My brain had been thrown out of itsusual balance, and my sufferings were excruciating.
Ah! I now know some of those tortures which are the wages of sin, and Itell you I would not endure them again--no, not for a million in hardcash. My poor brain seemed to bubble and boil, as though my skull hadbeen emptied and re-filled with molten metal, while the sound in my earsseemed as deafening as the noise of a thousand steam-hammers.
At last I knew that I was still breathing, my sore heavy eyes seemedless clouded, and the haze grew clearer. I heard other sounds abovethat maddening, crashing, hammering rending that deafened me--sounds ofhuman voices.
My hot lips were touched by something cold, and I felt a few drops ofsome liquid dribble into my mouth. This I swallowed, for I believedthat aid was at hand.
I tried to speak, but over the articulation of my words I had absolutelyno control. What I said was not what I really intended to say in theleast. Never have I experienced such a strange loss of control over mytongue before. I was sane, and yet insane at the same moment.
Slowly and with very great difficulty I regained my senses, when, to mysurprise, I found a face in a wide head-dress of white linen, the faceof a sister of one of the religious orders.
My eyes wandered to other beds around, all of them occupied, and on thewall was a gigantic crucifix. Then I knew that I was in a hospital. Myhead was bandaged, and two doctors seemed to be re-adjusting the foldsof linen.
I inquired in English where I was, but suddenly recollected that I wasin Milan, and in the same language the elder of the two doctorsreplied--
"Don't trouble where you are, my dear sir. For the present remainquiet, and get better. You've taken a turn now, and will recover. Bethankful for that."
"How long have I been here?" I asked, gazing around at the unfamiliarsurroundings.
"Three days," replied the sister, a calm-faced elderly woman, who wore ahuge rosary and crucifix suspended from her girdle. "We thought youwould not recover--until yesterday. But you will soon be better now."
Then I recollected the terrible fate of the young Countess ofStanchester.
And after pondering and wondering I lapsed again into a lethargic state,remaining so for many hours.
It was not before the following day that my senses really fullyreturned, and when they did there came to my bedside a short ratherstout fussy little man in a soft hat and snuff-coloured suit, by whosebearing I knew him at once to be a _delegato_ of the Milan police.
"I regret to disturb you, signore," he commenced, as he seated himselfat my side, "but in the circumstances it is necessary. Are you aware ofthe conditions under which you were discovered?"
"No," I answered. "Tell me."
"Well," he said, "the affair is a mystery upon which you no doubt canthrow some light, but before questioning you I have to inform you thatwhatever you will say will be taken down in writing, and may be used inevidence, because you are under arrest."
"What?" I said, starting up and glaring at him. "Under arrest--forwhat?"
"For murder."
"That's interesting, at any rate," I exclaimed, half inclined to treatthe matter as a joke. "And whom have I murdered, pray?"
"A woman."
"Well," I said, "if you will tell me where and how I was found I mayperhaps be able to throw some light on the affair. If not, perhaps youwill send for the British Consul, and I'll make a statement to him."
At first the detective seemed disinclined to tell me anything, butfinding the unconcerned manner in which I took the serious charge, he atlast told me certain facts that held me utterly dumb with astonishment.
"You were found insensible by some workmen who went to do some repairsin an apartment in a house beyond the Monforte gate--you and the woman.The knife with which you struck her was lying beside you, and we alsohave the hatchet with which she struck you on the head in self-defence."
"What!" I gasped, amazed. "Do you allege that I killed the woman?"
"You are guilty until you prove yourself innocent," was the man's coldreply, regarding me with a keen quick glance in his dark eyes.
"Well, just tell me a little more about it," I urged. "You say thatsome workmen found me in the same room as the woman, and between us wasa knife and a hatchet. Whose house was it?"
"Ah! you are unaware of whose place it was? You broke into it duringthe absence of the proprietor and took up your quarters there, ofcourse," was the man's reply. "You are a foreigner--English?"
"I am. And I think before we go any further you'd better send for theConsul and let me put a different complexion upon your story. Yourtheory is, of course, the natural and only one, if, as you say, a knifeand a hatchet have been found. But you have not told me to whom theapartments belonged," I sa
id.
"They were rented by a man named Rondani, manager of the silk factory inthe Via della Stella. He, however, locked up the place about a monthago, having been sent by his firm on a commission to Berlin. The otherday a builder received the key by post, with orders to enter and effectcertain repairs, and when the men went there they discovered you both inthe dining-room and at once informed us. At first you were believed tobe dead, but as the doctor declared that you were still alive you werebrought here and placed under arrest."
"But I'm innocent!" I declared dismayed. "I was attacked from behindin the open street." And then I told him of my midnight vigil, and ofthe weird scene of which I had been witness. It seemed plain thathaving been recognised and struck down by the assassins they suddenlychanged their plans, taking back the body of the young