My curiosity was thoroughly aroused. I lifted the tapestry in my turn and felt along the wall behind it.
Suddenly[Suddenly] this wall gave way to the pressure of my hand. I had pushed open a door.
I found myself in a narrow chamber, hardly larger than a coat-closet. I struck a match. But before I could explore the interior, the tapestry was lifted once more, and Luigi[Luigi] appeared, the lighted candle still in his hand.
“What is the signore doing in there?” he demanded with an anxiety that seemed to me rather uncalled for.
“I thought that you had shown all the apartments, Luigi?”
“But his Excellency will be annoyed if he sees you here,” persisted the old servant.
“Not at all,” said a cold voice, and the duke entered, followed by the others.
“My dear Richard,” laughed Jacqueline, “this is deliciously mysterious. So you have actually discovered a hidden chamber?”
“Quite what one might expect in an old Venetian palace,” added Mrs. Gordon. “Now if you have found Mr. St. Hilary’s jewels, it will be perfect.”
“I doubt if my friend Hume has wit enough to have made the discovery that it is nothing but a bare chamber,” cried the dealer, darting at me a look of intense annoyance.