But he was prepared now, and his face did not change as he replied.
"I cannot answer any questions," he said.
"You and my father hid it together," returned Giovanni. "When you had buried it under the stones in this room, you carried the earth out with a shovel and scattered it about on a flower-bed. You took out three shovelfuls of earth in that way. You see, I know everything. What is the use of trying to hide your secret from me?"
Zorzi was now convinced that Giovanni himself had been lurking in the garden.
"Sir," he said, with ill-concealed contempt for a man capable of such spy's work, "if you have more to say of the same nature, pray say it to your father, when he comes back."
"You misunderstand me," returned Giovanni with sudden mildness. "I had no intention of offending you. I only meant to warn you that you were watched on that night. The person who informed me has no doubt told many others also. It would have been very ill for you, if my father had returned to find that his secret was public property, and if you had been unable to explain that you had not betrayed him. I have given you a weapon of defence. You may call upon me to repeat what I have said, when you speak with him."
"I am obliged to you, sir," said Zorzi coldly. "I shall not need to disturb you."
"You are not wise," returned Giovanni gravely. "If I were curious—fortunately for you I am not!—I would send for a mason and have some of the stones of the pavement turned over before me. A mason would soon find the one you moved by trying them all with his hammer."
"Yes," said Zorzi. "If this were a room in your own glass-house, you could do that. But it is not."
"I am in charge of all that belongs to my father, during his absence," answered Giovanni.