bbed it on the
basalt, poured a drop of acid on the yellow mark made by the gold, and
then examined the wet spot closely to see how the colour changed; and he
shook his head each time and pushed ducat after ducat towards Monsignor
Pelagatti, but not a single one towards the clerk. The Legate's crooked
fingers played absently with the coins as they came to his side,
arranging them in little piles, and the piles in patterns, almost
without glancing at them. The goldsmith worked quickly, but the ducats
were many, for Stradella had supplied himself plentifully with money
before leaving Venice, and had drawn the whole balance of the letter of
credit he had brought with him from the banking-house of Chigi in Rome.

The sbirri and the two clerks eyed the gold longingly. Stradella stood
motionless between his keepers, wondering what would happen next, and
never doubting but that the whole proceeding had been inspired by
Pignaver.

But what had really happened can be explained in a dozen words, and will
show that the sharp little Legate was acting in perfectly good faith.
The truth was that a notorious Sicilian counterfeiter who was described
as a pale young man with black hair, and who went by the name of
Bartolo, was really travelling in the north of Italy, and had been heard
of at Vicenza, whence it was reported that he had set out in haste for
Padua. The spies who were in pursuit of him learned in the latter city
that a dark young man with a pale complexion had hired an extra post for
Rovigo, in a very great hurry, and was spending money liberally, and
after that it had been easy to trace Stradella to the inn at Ferrara.
One of the spies had ridden in before daybreak and had warned the
innkeeper not to let the musician have horses at any price, and had then
given information at the castle, which the Legate had received before
sunrise, for he was an early riser. For the rest, he always followed the
time-honoured custom of considering every prisoner guilty till he was
proved innocent. In his opinion any criminal could call himself a
singer, and could very likely sing, too, if his life depended upon it.
Moreover, a hundred gold Apostolic florins had been offered for the
capture of Bartolo, and the Legate meant to have a share of the prize
money.

By the time the goldsmith had tested all the coins and found these good,
Monsignor Pelagatti had also counted them over several times.

'Three hundred and ninety-one ducats,' he sa