eslie, and gave chase
to Beppo, whom he recognized at a glance. Coming up to him, he said
quietly, 'I have a letter for the Marchesa di Negra. She told me I was
to send it to her by you. I have been searching for you the whole day.'
The man fell into the trap, and the more easily, because--as he since
owned in excuse for a simplicity which, I dare say, weighed on his
conscience more than any of the thousand-and-one crimes he may have
committed in the course of his illustrious life--he had been employed
by the marchesa as a spy upon Leonard, and, with an Italian's acumen in
affairs of the heart, detected her secret."

"What secret?" asked the innocent sage.

"Her love for the handsome young poet. I betray that secret, in order to
give her some slight excuse for becoming Peschiera's tool. She believed
Leonard to be in love with your daughter, and jealousy urged her to
treason. Violante, no doubt, will explain this to you. Well, the man
fell into the trap. 'Give me the letter, Signor, and quick.'

"'It is at a hotel close by; come there, and you will have a guinea for
your trouble.'

"So Leonard walked our gentleman into my hotel; and having taken him
into my dressing-room, turned the key and there left him. On learning
this capture, the prince and myself hastened to see our prisoner. He was
at first sullen and silent; but when the prince disclosed his rank and
name (you know the mysterious terror the meaner Italians feel for an
Austrian magnate), his countenance changed, and his courage fell. What
with threats and what with promises, we soon obtained all that we sought
to know; and an offered bribe, which I calculated at ten times the
amount the rogue could ever expect to receive from his spendthrift
master, finally bound him cheerfully to our service, soul and body. Thus
we learned the dismal place to which your noble daughter had been
so perfidiously ensnared. We learned also that the count had not yet
visited her, hoping much from the effect that prolonged incarceration
might have in weakening her spirit and inducing her submission.
Peschiera was to go to the house at midnight, thence to transport her to
the vessel. Beppo had received orders to bring the carriage to Leicester
Square, where Peschiera would join him. The count (as Leonard surmised)
had taken skulking refuge at the hotel in which Randal Leslie had
disappeared. The prince, Leonard, Frank (who was then in the hotel), and
myself held a short council. Sho