A fat waiter conducted a well-dressed, lady-like girl up the great
marble staircase of the Hotel Brun, in Bologna, rapped lightly at the
door of a private sitting-room, and ushered her in.
Angelo Borselli, who rose to meet her, bowed politely, with a smile on
his sallow face, and welcomed his visitor.
She was about twenty-three, with very dark hair, fine big eyes, and a
well-formed figure, rather stout, as are most of the Bolognese.
"I had given you up, signorina," he said. "I have waited for you over
an hour."
"I could not get away before," she replied somewhat timidly. "At home
they seemed suspicious, and I had the greatest difficulty in coming
here." And she smiled, a faint flush suffusing her sunburnt cheeks.
"You came in a closed cab?"
"No, I went to the station and drove here in the hotel omnibus, as
though I had arrived by train. I thought it would excite less
suspicion."
"Excellent!" laughed the Under-Secretary, glancing to see that the door
was closed. "You are clever--always clever, Filomena. You will make a
first-class agent of the Ministry some day," he added approvingly.
She laughed as she seated herself in the chair he politely offered, and
laid the little fan she carried upon the table, replying--
"I always do my best. But my mother watches so closely that I have to
be most cautious."
"You have done exceedingly well," declared the schemer. "In this last
affair you have rendered me the greatest assistance. Without you we
should have failed. But I have invited you here to learn all the
details. I was in Paris at the time, and all I have gathered is from
the official reports of the court-martial. They did not call you up to
Turin, I hope?"
"No. They took my evidence in secret at the barracks here."
"And what did you tell them?"
"I described exactly what had happened. How the captain had a year ago
declared his love for me, and how he came to Bologna from Paris."
"And what else?"
"I described how I had received in confidence the mysterious packet from
him, with instructions to hand it to a friend of his, a Frenchman, who
would make an appointment to meet me. What I told the three officers
who took down my statement seemed to create a great impression upon
them."
"Of course it would, because it is your statement that has condemned
Solaro."
"Condemned!" she gasped in blank surprise. "What, has he already been
tried?"
"Yes, and dismissed the army."
"But he is--"
"There are no buts, signorina," he quickly interrupted in a hard voice.
"If you render secret service to the Ministry you must never reason as
to the why or the wherefore. Always rest assured that we are acting
solely for the benefit and safety of Italy."
She thought deeply for a moment.
"When I met the Frenchman by appointment at a seat in the Montagnola
garden, and gave him the packet, he broke it open, and I saw that some
tracings were inside."
"And what did the Frenchman say?" inquired Borselli. "Oh, he was very
polite," she laughed, blushing slightly. "We walked about the garden
for nearly half an hour; for he was a pleasant man, who spoke Italian
exceedingly well--evidently an officer."
"Most of the men in the French secret service are recruited from the
army or the detective police," he remarked. "But I intend that Italy,
like Russia, shall in future rely upon the shrewdness of clever women
like yourself. This Frenchman said nothing regarding Solaro?"
"He merely remarked that he supposed the captain trusted me implicitly,
and I, of course, replied in the affirmative. He wrote to me from the
Hotel National in Lucerne, making the appointment in the Montagnola,
indicating a certain seat, which showed that he was well acquainted with
Bologna."
"Did he mention me?"
"No. He urged me, however, to deny all knowledge of the mysterious
packet if taxed with receiving it. From that I concluded that he was in
ignorance of how the whole affair had been arranged."
"Of course," he answered, with a laugh. "It would never do for France
to learn our motives. We allow them to have the secrets of Tresenta
because we have other ends in view. What they are you will know later."
"And in the meantime Felice Solaro is dismissed the army in disgrace?"
The sallow-faced man nodded. He did not tell her that he had been
sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment, for he knew how soft-hearted
women are towards the innocent.
"Do you know," she said presently, "I have a suspicion which I think I
ought to tell you. It is that the address upon the envelope which
contained the packet of papers was not in Captain Solaro's own
handwriting."