hile they summoned the magistrate? And
was he here to make inquiries about--something he had heard?

His voice cut short her thoughts without allaying her fears. "I wish to
speak to you alone," he said. "Are you alone, girl?" His manner was
quiet, but masked excitement. His eyes scrutinised her and searched the
room by turns.

She nodded, unable to speak.

"There is no one in the house with you?"

"Only my mother," she murmured.

"She is bedridden, is she not? She cannot hear us?" he added, frowning.

"No, but I am expecting the others to return."

"Messer Basterga?"

"Yes."

"He will not return before morning," the Syndic replied with decision,
"nor his companion. The two young men are safe also. If you are alone,
therefore, I wish to speak to you."

She bowed her head, trembling and wondering, fearing what the next
moment might disclose.

"The young man who lodges here--of the name of Gentilis--he came to you
some time ago and told you that the State needed certain letters which
the man Basterga kept in a steel box upstairs? That is so, is it not?"

"Yes, Messer Syndic."

"And you looked for them?"

"Yes, I--I was told that you desired them."

"You found a phial? You found a phial?" the Syndic repeated, passing his
tongue over his lips. His face was flushed; his eyes shone with a
peculiar brightness.

"I found a small bottle," she answered slowly. "There was nothing else."

He raised his hand. If she had known how the delay of a second tortured
him! "Describe it to me!" he said. "What was it like?"

Wondering, the girl tried to describe it. "It was small and of a strange
shape, of thin glass, Messer Syndic," she said. "Shot with gold, or
there was gold afloat in the liquid inside. I do not know which."

"It was not empty?"

"No, it was three parts full."

His hand went to his mouth, to hide the working of his lips. "And there
was with it--a paper, I think?"

"No."

"A scrap of parchment then? Some words, some figures?" His voice rose
as he read a negative in her face. "There was something, surely?"

"There was nothing," she said. "Had there been a scrap even of
writing----"

"Yes, yes?" He could not control his impatience.

"I should have sent it to you. I should have thought," she continued
earnestly, "that it was that you needed, Messer Syndic; that it was that
the State needed. But there was nothing."

"Well, be there papers with it or be there not, I must have that phial!"

An