The dwarf regarded him eagerly as he went.
"That's a rum one," he said to himself. "He means to pocket the contessa's bracelet. What a swindle! I thought there was something more devilish about him than his dress."
* * * * *
Hunston fled precipitately to the gardens.
Close by the spot where he had previously met his companions in crime, there was a man awaiting him with a big bundle.
"Matteo, is it you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good; give me the other dress out. Quick! I must change, and be back before my absence can be noticed."
As he spoke, he had already torn from the hands of the man Matteo a pair of trunks of blue cloth slashed with amber silk, and quick as an eye could wink, he was into them.
And then he fastened on a similarly coloured mantle.