I looked at the recumbent figure for some time, and it only inspired me with pity.
"I think he ought to be sent somewhere," I proposed, "where he would be taken care of and prevented from doing further mischief. Have you a hospital in Valoro?"
The old gentleman looked at me in some surprise.
"I assure you," he answered, "that we have two, as fine as any in
Europe."
"Then," I said, "if I may make the suggestion, I would have Lopes sent off to one."
Don Juan rang the bell immediately, and when a servant answered it, he indicated the man on the couch and gave some order in Spanish to him.
"They will take him away," he explained, "and send him down to the hospital in one of my carriages. There we can have him arrested later if it is worth while."
In a very short time two men appeared and carried Lopes out of the room.
Then we sat down facing one another, and Don Juan produced the casket from his pocket and stood contemplating it upon his knee.
"Whatever could have prompted the old Baroness d'Altenberg to send me this," he cogitated half to himself, "after so many years; and what can it contain?"