As this was the first document of the kind Norvin had ever seen, he was greatly interested in it.
"Don't you think it may be the work of this fellow Narcone?" he inquired. "I understand he is the brother-in-law of Galli."
"Narcone would scarcely undertake so bold a piece of blackmail," the Count declared. "I knew him slightly before he gave himself to the campagna. He was a butcher; he was brutal and domineering, but he was a coward."
"It is not from Narcone," Ricardo pronounced, positively—they had called in the overseer for the discussion—"he is grossolano. He can neither read nor write. This letter is well spelled and well written."
"Then you think it is really from Cardi?"
Ricardo shrugged his square shoulders. "Who knows? Some say there is no such person, others declare he went to America years ago."
"What is your belief?"
"I know a man who has seen him."
"Who?"
"Aliandro."