ppy leaving them
alone with her, but what could I do? I am only a servant."

"Why were you not happy leaving them alone with her? Did you think they
might do her harm?"

Apollonia shrugged her shoulders, and tears sparkled in her eyes, yellow
as the eyes of a lioness. "How can I tell, Principe? She said they were
her friends. And the Signore has not a bad face. But it is his wife who
rules. And something in myself tells me she is wicked, and does not
truly love the Signorina. I have been a wondering whether I should go
into that room in spite of those two, and force them to leave her. I
would not have minded frightening them with a big knife I keep in the
kitchen for cutting bread, only that would have alarmed the Signorina.
And perhaps they are not bad after all. Then I should have been wrong. I
have thought so much yesterday and to-day about this thing that I seem
to have wheels spinning in my head. I thank the blessed saints who have
sent the Principe."

"We will go now to the Signorina's door," said Vanno.

"At once, Principe; but we will find it locked."

"How do you know that?"

"I have tried it, softly, more than once, both to-day and last night.
Never once have the two left the Signorina alone. Always one was with
her. Through the night the Signora was there--with the key turned. One
only has come for meals."

"The gate, too, has been locked," said Vanno. "Is that a custom here?"

"No, Principe, it has always been open since I came to serve the Captain
Hannaford. It is the only way of entrance, and there is no gate-bell.
Not that people often come. But since the Signorina and her friends
arrived, it has been locked. It is the Signora who has the key. She
seemed to be afraid of thieves, though we have nothing here which
thieves can take, unless she herself has brought it. I wondered at first
how the Principe had got in, but as soon as he told me he was the
betrothed of the Signorina, I knew he would not be stopped by a locked
gate."

"I climbed over," Vanno admitted, simply. "Those people must have heard
me ring the doorbell, I suppose?"

"It is likely. The Signorina's room is far away, but the bell makes a
great noise."

As they talked in low voices which the echoes could not catch and
repeat, Apollonia was conducting Vanno upstairs, through an upper hall,
and along a corridor. At the end of this passage she paused, without
speaking, and indicated a door. The Prince went close to it, and called
in