fear
and ran away from you. What a strange story! You say you only know her
slightly."

"Literally, very slightly," answered Lamberti.

He had become fluent, telling his story almost excitedly. He now
relapsed into his former mood, and stared at the pamphlet before him a
moment, before shutting it and putting it away from him.

"It is like all those things--perfectly unaccountable, except on a
theory of coincidence," said Guido, at last. "Will you have any cheese?"

Lamberti roused himself and saw the servant at his elbow.

"No, thank you. I forgot one thing. Just as I awoke from that dream last
night, I heard the door of my room softly closed."

"What has that to do with the matter?" enquired Guido, carelessly.

"Nothing, except that the door was locked. I always lock my door. I
first fell into the habit when I was travelling, for I sleep so soundly
that in a hotel any one might come in and steal my things. I should
never wake. So I turn the key before going to bed."

"You may have forgotten to do it last night," suggested Guido.

"No. I got up at once, and the key was turned. No one could have come
in."

"A mouse, then," said Guido, rather contemptuously.

CHAPTER V

Cecilia Palladio was very much ashamed of having uttered a cry of terror
at the sight of Lamberti, and still more of having run away from him
like a frightened child. To him it seemed as if she had really shrieked
with fear, whereas she fancied that she had scarcely found voice enough
to utter an incoherent exclamation. The truth lay somewhere between the
two impressions, but Cecilia now felt that she could easily have
accounted for being startled into crying out, but that it would always
be impossible to explain her flight. She had run the whole length of the
Court, which must be fifty yards long, before realising what she was
doing, and had not paused for breath till she was out of his sight and
within the second of the three rooms on the left. There were no gates to
the rooms then, as there are now, and she could not have given any
reason for her entering the second instead of the first, which was the
nearest. The choice was instinctive.

She certainly had not gone there to join the elderly woman servant who
had come to the Forum with her. That excellent and obedient person was
waiting where Cecilia had made her sit down, not far from the entrance
to the Forum, and would not move till her mistress