"Get up here," said Malipieri.
Toto obeyed, and in a moment he sat on the edge of the hole, his legs dangling down into it.
"Not so bad," he said, settling himself with a grunt of satisfaction.
"I like you, Master Toto," said Malipieri. "You might have thought that we really meant to kill you, but you did not seem much frightened."
"There is no woman in the affair," answered Toto. "Why should you kill me? And I can help you."
"How am I to know that you will?" asked Malipieri.
"I am a man of honour," Toto replied, turning his stony face to the light of the lanterns.
"I have not a doubt of it, my friend," returned Malipieri, without conviction. "Just now, the only help I need of you, is that you should hold your tongue. How can I be sure that you will do that? Does any one else know the way in through the drain?"
"No. I only found it to-night. If there is a day's rain in the mountains, and the Tiber rises even a little, nobody can pass through it. The lower part is barely above the level of the river now."
"How did you guess that you could get here by that way?"