"I don't understand you," I exclaimed, resenting this charge against the
man who was my most intimate friend. "Seton has been even a better
friend to poor Blair than myself."
Fra Antonio smiled strangely and mysteriously, as only the subtle
Italian can. He seemed to pity my ignorance, and inclined to humour me
in my belief in Seton's genuineness.
"I know," he laughed. "I know almost as much as you do upon the one
side, while upon the other my knowledge extends somewhat further. All I
can say is that I have watched, and have formed my own conclusions."
"That Seton was not his friend?"
"That Seton was not his friend," he repeated slowly and very distinctly.
"But surely you make no direct charge against him?" I cried. "You
surely don't think he's responsible for this tragedy--if tragedy it
really is."
"I make no direct charge," was his ambiguous reply. "Time will reveal
the truth--no doubt."
I longed to ask him straight out whether he did not sometimes go under
the name of Paolo Melandrini, yet I feared to do so lest I should arouse
his suspicion unduly.
"Time can only reveal that Reginald Seton has been one of the dead man's
best friends," I said reflectively.
"Outwardly, yes," was the Capuchin's dubious remark.
"An enemy as deadly as the Ceco?" I inquired, watching his face the
while.
"The Ceco!" he gasped, instantly taken aback by my bold remark. "Who
told you of him? What do you know regarding him?"
The monk had evidently forgotten what he had written in that letter to
Blair.
"I know that he is in London," I responded, taking my cue from his own
words. "The girl is with him," I added, utterly unaware however of the
identity of the person referred to.
"Well?" he asked.
"And if they are in London it is surely for no good purpose?"
"Ah!" he said. "Blair has told you something--told you of his
suspicions?"
"Of late he has gone about in daily dread of secret assassination," I
replied. "He was evidently afraid of the Ceco."
"And surely he had need to be," exclaimed Fra Antonio, his dark,
brilliant eyes again turned upon mine in the semi-darkness. "The Ceco
is not an individual to be dealt with easily."
"But what took him to London?" I demanded. "Did he go with harmful
intentions?"