The red lamp burnt in front of the tabernacle. But the chapel was empty now.
At dawn the unexpected happened.
The guards, expecting to be relieved, found themselves face to face with a special commission, come to visit the Lateran. It consisted of the Cardinal-Archbishop of Ravenna, the Cardinal of Orvieto, the Prefect of the Camera and Basil the Grand Chamberlain.
After having made the rounds they at last arrived before the chapel of St. Luke. They found the two men-at-arms stationed at the door, alert at their post. The men were exhausted; their faces appeared grey and drawn in the morning light, but they reported that no one had passed into the chapel, nor had they seen anything of Tristan since midnight, when he had questioned them.
The doors of the chapel were locked. Tristan held the keys. Repeated knocks elicited no response.
The Archbishop of Ravenna looked anxiously at the Prefect of the Camera.
"I do not like this, Messer Salviati," he said in a low voice. "I fear there is something wrong here."
"Beat upon the door more loudly," the Prefect turned to one of the halberdiers, and the man struck the solid oak with the staff of his axe, till the whole corridor, filled with the ghostly advance light of dawn, rang and echoed with the noise.
The Prefect of the Camera turned to the Archbishop.
"It would seem the Capitano has fallen asleep. That is not a thing he ought to have done—but as the chapel seems inviolate we need hardly remain longer."