"What is it?" I asked anxiously.
"Well," said the officer, looking meaningly at me, "I would rather speak
with you alone."
"You mean that you want me to go away," exclaimed Lucie quickly. "Have
you discovered anything further regarding my poor father's death?"
"No, miss. Unfortunately not. I want to consult Mr Leaf in private--
only for a few minutes."
"Certainly," she said; and, rising, passed along the ward and out into
the corridor.
"Well?" I inquired. "What is it?"
"Something that closely concerns yourself, Mr Leaf," he said, with a
curious expression upon his face. "Perhaps you will explain it."
"Explain what?"
"The reason the Italian people have sent an agent over here to apply for
your arrest and extradition upon the charge of murdering a police
officer in a villa at Tivoli, near Rome."
"They've done that!" I gasped, recollecting, however, that I had showed
my revolver licence to the carabineer, and therefore they knew my proper
name and description.
"Yes. And there is a second point which requires clearing up," he said,
rather severely. "You told me that you were only slightly acquainted
with this man Miller, whereas it has been established by the Italian
police that he was at that villa with you."
"How established?"
"It appears, as far as we can gather from the police agent sent from
Rome, that a young man of very bad character was seen in the vicinity of
the villa on the night of the affair, and was afterwards arrested in
Rome. He gave the description of one of his accomplices, an Englishman,
and it proves to have been the man Miller, whom the Italian police, like
ourselves, have wanted for a long time. So you see what a serious
charge there is against you."
"I quite see it," I answered, utterly amazed that I should find such an
allegation against me, after I had congratulated myself upon my clever
escape.
"The Italian police ask for the arrest of both yourself and Miller."
"Well, they won't arrest him, at any rate," I said. "And I doubt
whether they will arrest me when I tell the whole story. You say they
have made only one arrest in Rome?" I added.
"Only one."
Then Dr Gavazzi was still at liberty. He had decamped and was in some
place of safety with those packets of bank-notes with which his pockets
had bulged.
It certainly seemed as though I was to be placed under arrest a second
time. Formal application had been made to Scotland Yard, and the fact
that I had admitted acquaintance with Miller, a known thief, did not
allow them any alternative but to obey.
The detective told me that, whereupon I asked to speak with the Italian
Agent.
"I'll bring him to you in an hour's time, or so," was the inspector's
answer, and when he had gone Lucie returned to my side.
"You are upset, Mr Leaf. What has he discovered? Anything startling?"
"No," was my response. "Only a fact that surprises me. Really nothing
which has any important bearing upon the affair. Ah!" I sighed, "how I
long to be strong enough to leave this place and to see Ella. Will you
endeavour to see her? Tell her I am here. I must see her--must, you
understand."
"I'll go straight to Porchester Terrace," she promised. "But if you see
that man Gordon-Wright say nothing. Do not mention me, remember."
"I quite understand." And as the nurse approached, Lucie took my hand,
bending for a moment over my bed, and then left me.
An hour later my friend the detective was again at my bedside,
accompanied by a short, thick-set, black-bearded little man, typically
Italian.
"I hear you have been sent to England to effect my arrest," I exclaimed
in his own language.
"That is so, signore, though I much regret it."
"You need not regret. You are only doing your duty," I said. "But I
merely wish to assure you that I have no intention of trying to escape
you. In fact, I couldn't walk the length of this room at present to
save my life. I'm too weak. But before you place a constable on duty
here, I would ask you one favour."
"What is that?"
"To convey a letter for me to the secretary at the Italian Embassy in
Grosvenor Square. He will give you instructions regarding me."
"Then you are known at the Embassy!" the police agent exclaimed, in
surprise.
"I think you will find that I am."
The nurse brought a pen, ink and a sheet of paper, upon which after
great difficulty I wrote a note recalling my confidential visit
regarding Nardini's death, and explaining that the police were in error
in thinking that I had any hand in the death of the guardian of the
Villa Verde. I had been at the villa, I admitted, but out of curiosity,
as I had watched the action of Miller and his companions. If any one
were sent to me from the Embassy, I said, I would make a confidential
statement.
When I had sealed the letter, the police agent took it, and next morning
I received a call from the official with whom I had had a chat on the
occasion of my visit to the Embassy. To him I explained the whole
circumstances in strictest confidence, and described the secret
hiding-place in the dead man's library where were concealed a number of
official papers that were evidently of great importance.