from the famous financier?

The excitement he had betrayed interested me. I noticed that he had
once clenched his fist and brought it down heavily before her as they
sat together.

For a whole month we remained at Salerno, and a delightful month it
proved, for I had long chats and walks with Lola, and we became even
greater and more intimate friends. Madame Duperre noticed it but said
nothing.

I went each day to slouch and idle in Naples, to sit before cafes and
eat my frugal meal at one or other of the osterie which abound in the
city, or to take my _aperatif_ at the _liquoristi_, Canevera's,
Attila's, or the others'.

I confess that I was mystified why I should have been sent to watch
that woman.

So clever, so well-thought-out and so insidious were all Rayne's
methods to obtain information of the intentions and movements of
certain people of wealth, that I knew from experience that there was
some cleverly concealed scheme afoot which could only be carried out
after certain accurate details had been obtained.

I was torn between two intentions, either to reappear suddenly as a
passing traveler and call at the Palazzo Romanelli, or still to lie
low.

Many times I discussed it with Lola and Madame.

"Zuccari is always with the Marchesa," I said one morning as we sat
together at _dejeuner_ at Salerno. "I can't quite make things out. I
have been watching intently, yet I can discover nothing. He sent a
message to her by Flavia the other day--an urgent and defiant message,
I believe. I hear also that the Admiral goes to Rome to-night," I
added. "He has been suddenly called to the Ministry of Marine."

"Then you will follow, of course? We will remain here to keep an eye
upon the Marchesa," said Madame.

"You do not suspect the Admiral?" I asked.

"Not at all," she said. "It is the woman we have to watch."

"And also the pretty daughter?" I suggested.

With that she agreed. We were, however, faced by a strangely complex
problem. Here was a woman--one of the most popular in all
Italy--denounced by the humble monk of San Domenico as a dangerous
adventuress. And yet she was the strongest supporter of the popular
Pietro Zuccari--the wealthy man by whose efforts the finances of Italy
had been reestablished after the war.

After a long conference it was arranged that Madame and Lola should go
to Rome and there watch the Admiral's movements, while I remained in
Naples ever on the alert.

Sometimes I became obse