very, very far away. But while
he was hesitating, his cab drove up, and without more ado he jumped into
it and drove to his hotel. As soon as he reached his room, he began a
letter to Nina; but all the things he had vowed to himself not to say,
swarmed to the very tip of his pen. He threw it down, therefore, and
tore up the paper that showed, under "Dear Nina," an erased "Darl--"
After pacing the floor a while, he again picked up the pen, but this
time he wrote to Mr. Randolph. At the end of a letter of details
relating to the mines, he added:

"There are rumors now agitating people over here
and likely to become public property, that the
Sansevero Madonna has been smuggled out of the
country. I have reason to believe that the Raphael
you showed me in New York is not the duplicate you
were led to suppose, but the Sansevero picture.
How it was sold, I have not yet discovered, though
I do not believe the prince guilty of violating
the laws. But I know the Government has its secret
agents at work upon the case because of the
seeming luxury of the princess, whose new furs and
automobile are known to be far beyond her present
income. I more than suspect that these luxuries
are the result of Nina's generosity, but if the
Sansevero picture _is_ the one you have, the
affair will end badly for the prince. At all
events, I consider it best to carry the matter
direct to you."

While Derby was writing to Mr. Randolph, an animated conversation was
taking place in a little room on the ground floor of the gigantic palace
of the Scorpas. The doors were bolted, and the two inmates of the
apartment talked in whispers.

"You understand your instructions?"

"Yes, Excellency."

"Repeat them."

"I take the boat to-morrow--go to Vencata. Keep watch upon the
Americano--the one whose name I have here."

"John Derby, yes. But he is very big--a giant. Make no mistake, find the
one who is the _padrone_! And----? Continue!"

"I am to watch if it is true that he begins working the 'Little Devil,'
and if so--I know the rest. It is nothing! A pig's skin is thick--a
man's thin!" As he said this he glanced at the duke, and there was a
sinister gleam in the man's deep-set eyes, and beneath the sharp nose
the mouth was hard and straight, like a seam across the face