Sir William lifted the dealer's head, while Peter loosened his collar.
"Now will Excellencies look for Giorgio," muttered Ercole, without changing his position.
"He says now will you look for Giorgio," translated Lady Kay. "That he tells his crimes shows that he really is mad!" she added, in a whisper.
"No; I think he has come to for the moment, and that's why he tells," said Peter, hastily rubbing Z. Pelham's chest. "Ask him where we shall look, Barly; ask while he's lucid."
"Where must we look for Giorgio, Ercole?" quavered Miss Senter, her Italian coming out with the oddest pronunciation.
"Back stairs," answered the gondolier.
"Back stairs, he says," translated Lady Kay.
"There are no back stairs," replied Peter.
"I'll put this coverlid under his back. That will make him breathe better," said the Englishman, his sympathies roused by the forlorn plight of the little dealer, whose carefully strapped arctic shoes gave ironical emphasis to his helplessness.
Meanwhile Miss Senter, saying "Yes, there are stairs," had run across the pavement with her lamp, found the door at the back of the hall, and opened it. Z. Pelham began to breathe more regularly, although he had not yet opened his eyes. Sir William drew him farther away from the gondolier, and then he and Peter hastened across and looked up the spiral. "It goes to the attics," explained Miss Senter.