of one of my friends,
who was now a Deputy.

When she heard my name, I noticed that she started slightly, but I
bowed over her hand in pretense of ignorance.

She expressed gratification at meeting me, and soon we were chatting
pleasantly. She was a handsome woman of about forty-five, dark-haired
and beautifully gowned. With her was her daughter Flavia, a pretty,
dark-eyed girl of twenty or so, bright, vivacious, and very _chic_.
The latter spoke English excellently, and told me that she had been at
school for years at Cheltenham.

CHAPTER XII

THE SILVER SPIDER

That night, after a chat with Lola, I sat in my room at the palace and
could not help recollecting how strangely the Marchesa had started
when my name had been uttered.

Did she know of my connection with "The Golden Face"? If she did, then
she might naturally suspect me and hold me at arm's length. Yet if she
feared me, why should she have asked me, as well as Lola and Madame,
to call at the Palazzo Romanelli?

I had thanked her, and accepted.

Therefore on Tuesday night, with Lola and Madame both smartly dressed,
I went to the huge, old fifteenth-century palace, grim and prison-like
because of its heavily barred windows of the days when every palazzo
was a fortress, and within found it the acme of luxury and refinement,
its great salons filled with priceless pictures and ancient statuary,
and magnificent furniture of the Renaissance.

About thirty people were present, most of them the elite of Naples
society, all the ladies being exquisitely dressed. My hostess
expressed delight as I bowed and raised her hand to my lips, in
Italian fashion, and then I introduced my two companions. A few
moments after I found myself chatting with the pretty Flavia, who, to
my annoyance, seemed to be very inquisitive concerning my movements.

As I stood gossiping with her, my eyes fell upon a little Florentine
table of polished black marble inlaid with colored stones forming a
basket of fruit, a marvel of Renaissance art, and upon it there stood
a silver model of a gigantic tarantula, or spider, the body being
about seven inches long by five broad, with eight long curved legs,
most perfectly copied from nature.

Flavia noticed that I had seen it.

"That's our Silver Spider!" she laughed. "It's the ancient mascot of
the Romanelli."

I walked over and examined it, but without, of course, taking it in my
hand. Then I remarked upon its beautiful workmansh