Paolin and Paolon, both of whom were well
informed, but then he had remembered that it was Tuesday, and that
probably he would not find them. No, it would be better to go directly
up to Castello from Casarico, and sniff and hunt about in the house of a
certain Signora Cecca, an admirable woman, all heart, and famous for the
assiduous watch she kept from her window over the entire Valsolda by
means of a powerful spy-glass. She could tell you any day who had gone
to Lugano with the boatman Pin, or with Panighet; noted the
conversations the unhappy Pinella held with a certain Mochet in front of
the church at Albogasio, half a mile distant; she knew how many days it
had taken Engineer Ribera to drink the little cask of wine which his
boat carried back empty from the house at Oria to the cellar at S.
Margherita. If Franco had been to Casa Rigey Signora Cecca must surely
know it.

In the passage that leads from Casarico to the narrow street of
Castello, Pasotti heard hurried steps behind him, and then some one
brushed past him in the darkness and he believed he had recognised a man
nicknamed "legora fugada" or the "hunted hare," because of the furious
pace at which he always walked. This honest man, who was even more
inquisitive than Pasotti, was a most worthy person who loved to know
things just for the sake of knowing them, and for no other reason. He
always went about alone, was everywhere, appearing and disappearing like
a flash, sometimes in one place, sometimes in another, like certain
large, winged insects, which pass with a glance, a whirr, a touch, and
then, hush! they are neither heard nor seen again until there comes
another glance, another whirr, another touch. He had seen the Pasottis
enter the "Palace," and the unusual hour had caused him to suspect
something. Lying flat in a small field he had seen Signora Barborin turn
homewards, and the Controller start towards Casarico. Then, having
followed at a distance, this individual had posted himself behind one of
the pilasters of the portico of Casarico while Pasotti was calling on
Gilardoni, and now he had slipped past him, taking advantage of the dark
passage, and hastening to reach Castello before him, that he might watch
his movements from some point of vantage.

In fact he saw him enter Signora Cecca's house.

The old lady, who had the goitre, was in her little parlour, holding a
small urchin on her left arm, while with her free hand she supported a
very long