"There always is."
"Your nobility let him go—and yet—one word—"
"I must know more, before I strike. I knew he would come. There is more to this than we wot of. Theodora is infatuated with his austerity. He has jilted her and she smarts under the blow. She will move heaven and earth to bring him to her feet. Meanwhile there are weightier matters to be considered. Perchance I shall pay you an early call in your noble abode. Prepare fitly and bid the ghosts troop from their haunted caves. And now be off! Your quarry has the start!"
Il Gobbo bowed grotesquely and receded backward towards the panel which closed soundlessly behind him.
Basil remained alone in the octagon cabinet.
He strode slowly towards one of the windows that faced to southward and gazed long and pensively out upon the undulating expanse of the Roman Campagna.
"Three messengers, yet none has returned," he muttered darkly. "Can it be that I have lost my clutch on destiny?"
[CHAPTER II]
UNDER THE SAFFRON SCARF
