In the room below, which the chief commissioner had indicated, Cullis found the Italian sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. Certainly trie man was awake — Cullis heard him groan.
"Here, you!"
Cullis took him by the collar and yanked him to his feet, and Gugliemi turned a white scared face to his.
"Signor," he wailed, "it was an accident—"
"What was?" snarled Cullis. "Your double-crossing me?"
"I do not understand—"
Cullis thrust the trembling man roughly into a chair.
"You know quite well what I mean," he said, and the first brutal savagery of his voice had calmed down to something worse — quiet, frozen ferocity. "Do you remember the last time you saw me?"
"Yes, sair."
"You were to find this girl Trelawney and get rid of her. That's what I promised you a hundred pounds and a clear way out of England for. I didn't tell you to turn round and join her gang — you rat!"