au went on saying: "Page 218.

218 OLYMPIA

and gave a shriek of despair when
he had vainly sought any trace of a
secret spring. It was impossible to
ignore the horrible truth. The door,
cleverly constructed to serve the
vengeful purposes of the Duchess,
could not be opened from within.
Rinaldo laid his cheek against the
wall in various spots; nowhere
could he feel the warmer air from
the passage. He had hoped he
might find a crack that would show
him where there was an opening in
the wall, but nothing, nothing! The
whole seemed to be of one block of
marble.

Then he gave a hollow roar like
that of a hyaena----

"Well, we fancied that the cry of the hyaena was a recent invention
of our own!" said Lousteau, "and here it was already known to the
literature of the Empire. It is even introduced with a certain skill in
natural history, as we see in the word _hollow_."

"Make no more comments, monsieur," said Madame de la Baudraye.

"There, you see!" cried Bianchon. "Interest, the romantic demon, has you
by the collar, as he had me a while ago."

"Read on," cried de Clagny, "I understand."

"What a coxcomb!" said the Presiding Judge in a whisper to his neighbor
the Sous-prefet.

"He wants to please Madame de la Baudraye," replied the new Sous-prefet.

"Well, then I will read straight on," said Lousteau solemnly.

Everybody listened in dead silence.

OR ROMAN REVENGE 219

A deep groan answered Rinaldo's
cry, but in his alarm he took it for
an echo, so weak and hollow was
the sound. It could not proceed
from any human breast.

"Santa Maria!" said the voice.

"If I stir from this spot I shall
never find it again," thought Ri-
naldo, when he had recovered his
usual presence of mind. "If I knock,
I shall be discovered. What am I
to do?"

"Who is here?" asked the voice.

"Hallo!" cried the brigand; "do
the toads here talk?"

"I am the Duke of Bracciano.
Whoever you may be, if you are not
a follower of the Duchess', in the
name of all the saints, come towards
me."

220 OLYMPIA

"I should have to know where to
find you, Monsieur le Duc," said Ri-
naldo, with the insolence of a man
who knows himself to be necessary.

"I can see you, my friend, for my
eyes are accustomed to the darkness.
Listen: walk straight forward--
good; now turn to the left--come
on--this