“And I left the light on in the hall—I had both my hands full. It must have been either Boris or Giulia. Uncle, go and see if Boris is up. I will go to Giulia,” she said, motioning Austin to stay where he was.
He watched her go softly along the right-hand passage, open a door at the end, and switch on a light. From within the room, even at that distance, he could hear a sonorous snore.
Maddelena put out the light, closed Giulia’s door, and beckoned to Austin to join her.
“She is fast asleep; it could not have been she. I—I am frightened. Let us look in the other rooms.”
They did so; dining-room, kitchen, her own room—a charming one, next to Giulia’s. No one lurking there.
They went back and found Cacciola doing the same in the other wing, which once was a separate flat. He too looked very disturbed.
“Boris sleeps soundly, as he should do; he is under the doctor and had a sleeping draught to-night, and there is none other here but ourselves. Who can have been here?”
“I guess whoever it was has just walked out,” said Austin, striding back to the front door. “Why didn’t I think of that first?”
“Wait, the lights will be out there. Take my torch,” counselled Cacciola, fumbling for it in his overcoat pocket.