'A thief tried to get into the house after midnight,' said Pignaver. 'Did you hear any noise?'
'I should think I did!' cried Pina promptly. 'I was going to tell your lordship of it. I was up with the young lady, and when the first squall was over and she was more quiet, I thought I would just come in here to see if any water had run in under the window as it sometimes does. Just then I saw a glare of light beyond the garden wall, and I opened the window at once and heard the Signor of the Night challenging a thief, and directly afterwards there was a splash in the canal, and then silence, and the light went away slowly. I hope the man was drowned, my lord!'
While she was speaking, Pignaver had nodded repeatedly, for her little story bore the stamp of truth.
'I grieve to say that the villain got away,' he answered. 'At daybreak an officer from the Signors of the Night was waiting downstairs to inform me of the attempt. The Signors' boat searched the canal for the body of the man during more than an hour, but found nothing. He must have been on the garden wall when he was seen, and he threw himself into the water to escape, leaving the rope by which he had climbed up.'
'Mercy!' cried Pina. 'We might have all been murdered in our beds!'
'No one shall get upon that wall again,' answered the master of the house. 'I will have the coping stuck full of broken glass from end to end before night.'
'Would it not be well to set a watch in the garden, too, my lord? We should sleep soundly then!'
'We shall see, we shall see,' answered Pignaver, repeating the words slowly, as he went off. 'We shall see,' he said once more, as he went out.
As soon as he was gone, Pina hastened to Ortensia's room.
'He is safe!' she cried as she entered. 'They searched the canal for a whole hour, and could not find him!'