Malipieri had the Palazzo Conti to himself. The main entrance was
always shut now, and only a small postern, cut in one side of the great
door, was left ajar. The porter loafed about in the great court with
his broom and his pipe; in the morning his wife went upstairs and
opened a few windows, merely as a formality, and late in the afternoon
she shut them again. Malipieri's man generally went out twice every
day, carrying a military dinner-pail, made in three sections, which he
brought back half an hour later. Malipieri sometimes was not seen for
several days, but frequently he went out in the morning and did not
come back till dark. Now and then, things were delivered for him at the
door,--a tin of oil for his lamps, a large box of candles, packages of
odd shapes, sometimes very heavy, and which the porter was told to
handle with care.
The old man tried to make acquaintance with Malipieri's man, but found
it less easy than he had expected. In the first place, Masin came from
some outlandish part of Italy where an abominable dialect was spoken,
and though he could speak school Italian when he pleased, he chose to
talk to the porter in his native jargon, when he talked at all. He
might just as well have spoken Greek. Secondly, he refused the porter's
repeated offers of a litre at the wine shop, always saying something
which sounded like a reference to his delicate health. As he was
evidently as strong as an ox, and as healthy as a savage or a street
dog, the excuse carried no conviction. He was a big, quiet fellow, with
china-blue eyes and a reddish moustache. The porter was not used to
such people, nor to servants who wore moustaches, and was inclined to
distrust the man. On the other hand, though Masin would not drink, he
often gave the porter a cigar, with a friendly smile.
One day, in the morning, Baron Volterra came to see Malipieri, and
stayed over an hour, a part of which time the two men spent in the
courtyard, walking up and down in the north-west corner, and then
taking some measurements with a long tape which Malipieri produced from
his pocket. When the Baron went away he stopped and spoke with the
porter. First he gave him five francs; then he informed him that his
wages would be raised in future by that amount; and finally he told him
that Signor Malipieri was an architect and would superintend the
repairs necessary to the foundations at the north-west corner, that
while the work was going on even the little postern door was to be kept
shut all day, and no one was to be admitted on any condition without
Signor Malipieri's express permission. The fat Baron fixed his eyes on
the porter's with an oddly hard look, and said that he himself might
come at any moment to see how the work was going on, and that if he
found anybody inside the gate without Signor Malipieri's authority, it
would be bad for the porter. During this conversation, Malipieri stood
listening, and when it ended he nodded, as if he were satisfied, and
after shaking hands with the Baron he went up the grand staircase
without a word.
It was all very mysterious, and the porter shook his head as he turned
into his lodge after fastening the postern; but he said nothing to his
wife about what had passed.
From what he had been told, he now naturally expected that a number of
masons would come in a day or two in order to begin the work of
strengthening the foundations; but no one came, and everything went on
as usual, except that the postern was kept shut. He supposed that
Malipieri was not ready, but he wisely abstained from asking questions.
Then Malipieri asked him for the address of Pompeo Sassi, and wrote it
down in his pocket-book, and went out. That was on the morning after he
had dined at the Baron's house, for it was not his habit to waste time
when he wanted information.
Sassi received Malipieri in a little sitting-room furnished with a
heterogeneous collection of utterly useless objects, all of which the
old agent treasured with jealous affection, and daily recommended to
the care of the elderly woman who was his only servant. The sofa and
chairs had been new forty years ago, and though the hideous
red-and-green stuffs with which they were covered were still tolerably
vivid in colours the legs did not look safe, and Malipieri kept his
feet well under him and sat down cautiously. Two rickety but
well-dusted tables were loaded with ancient nicknacks, dating from the
early part of the second French Empire, with impossibly ugly little
figures carved out of cheap alabaster, small decayed photograph albums,
and ingeniously bad wax flowers under glass shades. On the walls hung
bad lithographs of Pius Ninth, Napoleon Third and Metternich, with a
large faded photograph of old Prince Conti as a young man. Malipieri
looked at it curiously, for he guessed that it represented Sabina's
father. The face was clean-shaven, thin and sad, with deep eyes and
fair hair that looked almost white now, as if the photograph had grown
old with the man, while he had lived.
Sassi sat down opposite his visitor. He wore a black cloth cap with a
green tassel, and rubbed his hands slowly while he waited for Malipieri
to speak. The latter hesitated a moment and then went to the point at
once.
"You were the agent of the Conti estate for many years," he said. "I
know the Senator Volterra and have met Donna Sabina. I understand that
her mother has left her under the charge of the Senator's wife, and
seems to have forgotten her existence. The young lady is apparently
without resources of her own, and it is not clear what would become of
her if the Volterra couple should not find it convenient to keep her
with them. Is that the state of affairs?"
Sassi nodded gravely. Then he looked keenly at the young man, and asked
him a question.
"May I enquire why you take an interest in Donna Sabina Conti?"
Malipieri returned the other's gaze quietly.
"I am an architect, called in by the Senator to superintend some work
on the palace. The Senator, as you know, took over the building when he
foreclosed the mortgage, and he has not yet sold it, though he has
refused several good offers. I have an idea that he believes it to be
very valuable property. If this should turn out to be true, and if he
should have made a very profitable transaction, he ought in honour, if
not in law, to make over a part of the profits to Donna Sabina, who has
practically been cheated of her share in her father's estate. Her
mother, and her brother and sister, spent everything they could lay
hands on, whereas she never had anything. Is that true?"
"Quite true, quite true," repeated Sassi sadly.
"And if Donna Sabina were to call them to account, I fancy the law
would take a rather unpleasant view of what they did. I have heard that
sort of thing called stealing when the persons who did it were not
princes and princesses, but plain people like you and me. Do you happen
to think of any better word?"
Sassi was silent. He had eaten the bread of the Conti all his life. He
glanced at the faded photograph of the Prince, as if to explain, and
Malipieri understood.
"You are an honorable man," he said. "I can no more tell you why I wish
to help Donna Sabina to her rights, if she has any, than I can explain
a great many things I have done in my life. When I see a dog kicked, I
always kick the man, if I can, and I do not remember to have regretted
any momentary unpleasantness that has followed in such cases. I have
only seen Donna Sabina once, but I mean to help her if possible. Now
tell me this. Has she any legal claim in the value of the palace or
not?"
"I am afraid not," Sassi answered.
"Do you know whether she was ever induced to sign any release of her
guardians?"
"She never did."
"That might be bad for them. That is all I wished to know. Thank you."
Malipieri rose to take his leave.
"If anything of importance happens, can you communicate with Donna
Sabina?" he asked.
"I can write to her," Sassi answered. "I suppose she would receive me
if I went to the house."
"That would be better."
"Excuse me," said the old man, before opening the door to let his
visitor out, "am I right in supposing that the work the Baron wishes
done is connected with the foundations?"
"Yes."
"At the north-west corner within the courtyard?"
"Yes," answered Malipieri, looking at him attentively. "Do you happen
to know anything about the condition of that part of the palace?"
"Most people," Sassi replied, "have now forgotten that a good deal of
work was done there long ago, under Pope Gregory Sixteenth."
"Indeed? I did not know that. What was the result?"
"The workmen came across the 'lost water.' It rose suddenly one day and
one of them was drowned. I believe his body was never recovered.
Everything was filled in again after that. For my own part I do not
think the building is in any danger."
"Perhaps not," said Malipieri, suddenly looking bored. "I only carry
out the Senator's wishes," he added, as if with an afterthought. "It is
my business to find out whether there is danger or not."
He took his leave and went away, convinced that the old agent knew
about other things besides Sabina's friendless condition, but unwilling
to question him just then. The information Sassi had volunteered was
interesting but not useful. Malipieri thought he himself knew well
enough where the "lost water" was, under the Palazzo Conti.
It was not far from Sassi's house to the palace, but he walked very
slowly through the narrow streets, and stopped more than once,
deliberately looking back, as if he were trying to keep the exact
direction of some point in his mind, and he seemed interested in the
gutters, and in the walls, at their base, just above the pavement. At
the corner of the Vicolo dei Soldati he saw a little marble tablet let
into the masonry and yellow with age. He stopped a moment and read the
inscription. Then he turned away with a look of annoyance, for it set
forth that "by order of the most Eminent Vicar all persons were warned
not to empty garbage there, on pain of a fine." It was a forgotten
document of the old papal administration, as he could have told without
reading it if he had known Rome better. From the corner he counted his
paces and then stopped again and examined the wall and the pavement
minutely.
There was nothing to be seen at all different from the pavement and the
wall for many yards further on and further back, and Malipieri
apparently abandoned the search, for he now walked on quickly till he
reached the entrance of the palace, on the other side, and went in.
From the low door of the wine shop, Toto, the mason, had seen him, and
stood watching him till he was out of sight.
"He does not know where it is," Toto said, sitting down again opposite
Gigi.
"Engineers know everything," retorted the carpenter.
"If this one knew anything, he would not have stood there looking at
the stones. I do not suppose the municipality is going to put up a
monument to my grandfather, whom may the Lord preserve in glory!"
At this Gigi laughed, for he knew that Toto's grandfather had been
drowned in the "lost water" somewhere deep down under that spot, and
had never been found. The two men drank in silence. After a long time
Toto spoke again.
"A woman," he said, with a shrug of the shoulders.
"A woman drowned him?" asked Gigi. "How could a woman do it?"
"A man did it. But it was for jealousy of a woman."
"The man was a mason, I suppose," suggested Gigi.
"Of course. He was working with the others in the morning, and he knew
where they would be after dinner. He did not come back with them, and
half an hour after they had gone down the water came. How many times
have I told you that?"
"It is always a new tale," answered Gigi. "It gives me pleasure to hear
it. Your father was a young man then, was he not?"
"Eighteen." Toto lighted his pipe.
"And the man who did it died soon afterwards?" Gigi said.
"Of course," said Toto. "What else could my father do? He killed him.
It was the least he could have done. My father is also in Paradise."
"Requiescat!" ejaculated the carpenter devoutly.
"Amen," answered Toto. "He killed him with a mattock."
"It was well done," observed Gigi with satisfaction. "I suppose," he
continued after a pause, "that if anybody went down there now, you
could let in the water."
"Why should I? I do not care what they do. If they send for me, I may
serve them. If they think they can do without me, let them try. I do
not care a cabbage!"
"Perhaps not," Gigi answered thoughtfully. "But it must be a fine
satisfaction to know that you can drown them all, like rats in a hole."
"Yes," said Toto, "it is a fine satisfaction."
"And even to know that you can make the water come before they begin,
so that they can never do anything without you."
"That too," assented the mason.
"They would pay you a great deal to help them, if they could not pump
the water out. There is no one else in Rome who knows how to turn it
off."
Gigi made the remark tentatively, but Toto did not answer.
"You will need some one to help you," suggested the carpenter in an
insinuating tone.
"I can do it alone."
"It is somewhere in the cellars of number thirteen, is it not?" asked
Gigi.
He would have given all he had to know what Toto knew, and the bargain
would have been a very profitable one, no doubt. But though the mason
was his closest friend there were secrets of the trade which Toto would
not reveal to him.
"The numbers in the street were all changed ten years ago," Toto
answered.
He rose from his seat by the grimy table, and Gigi followed his example
with a sigh of disappointment. They were moderate men, and hardly ever
drank more than their litre of their wine. Toto smelt of mortar and his
fustian clothes and hairy arms were generally splashed with it. Gigi
smelt of glue and sawdust, and there were plentiful marks of his
calling on his shiny old cloth trousers and his coarse linen shirt.
Toto's face was square, stony and impenetrable; Gigi's was sharp as a
bill and alive with curiosity. Gigi wore a square paper cap; Toto wore
a battered felt hat of no shape at all. On Sundays and holidays they
both shaved and turned out in immaculate white shirts, well brushed
broadcloth and decent hats, recognizable to each other but not to their
employers.
Malipieri was accosted by a stranger at the gate of the palace. The
porter, faithfully obedient to his orders, was standing inside the open
postern, completely blocking it with his bulk, and when Malipieri came
up the visitor was still parleying with him.
"This gentleman is asking for you, sir," said the old man.
The individual bowed politely and stepped back a little. He had a
singularly worthy appearance, Malipieri thought, and he would have
inspired confidence if employed in a bank; his thick grey hair was
parted in the middle, and at first sight Malipieri felt perfectly sure
that it was parted down the back. His brown eyes were very wide open,
and steady, his slightly grizzled moustache was neither twisted
straight up at the ends in the imperial German manner, nor straight out
like a cat's whiskers, nor waxed to fine points in the old French
fashion. It grew naturally and was rather short, but it hid his mouth
almost completely. The man was extremely well dressed in half-mourning,
wore dark grey gloves and carried a plain black stick. He spoke quietly
and Malipieri thought he recognized the Genoese accent.
"Signor Marino Malipieri?"
"Yes," answered the architect, in a tone that asked the visitor's name
in return.
"My name is Vittorio Bruni. May I have a few words with you?"
"Certainly," Malipieri answered, with considerable coolness.
"Thank you. I have been much interested by your discoveries in
Carthage, and if you would allow me to ask you one or two questions--"
"Pray come in."
"Thanks. After you."
"After you," insisted Malipieri, standing aside.
They went in. Before shutting the postern, the porter looked out into
the street. It was almost deserted. Two men were standing together near
the corner, apparently arguing some question, and stopping in their
walk in order to talk more at their ease, as Romans often do. The
porter shut the little door with a clang, and went back to his lodge.
Malipieri and his visitor were already on the stairs.
Malipieri let himself in with a small latch-key, for he had ordered a
modern patent lock to be put on his door as soon as he moved into the
house. Masin appeared almost at once, however, and stood waiting for
his master at the door of the sitting-room, like a large, placid
mastiff. Malipieri nodded to him, and went in with Signor Bruni.
They sat down by the open window and Signor Bruni began to talk. In a
few minutes it became evident that whether the man knew anything of the
subject or not he had read everything that Malipieri had written, and
remembered most of it by heart. He spoke fluently and asked intelligent
questions. He had never been to Carthage, he said, but he thought of
making the trip to Tunis during the following winter. Yes, he was a man
of leisure, though he had formerly been in business; he had a taste for
archaeology, and did not think it was too late to cultivate it, in a
modest way, for his own pleasure. Of course, he could never hope to
accomplish anything of importance, still less to become famous like
Malipieri. It was merely a taste, and was better than nothing as an
interest in life.
Malipieri protested that he was not famous, but agreed with Signor
Bruni about other matters. It was better to follow a serious pursuit
than to do nothing with one's life.
"Or to dash into politics," suggested Bruni carelessly, as if he had
thought of trying that.
Perhaps he had heard of Malipieri's republican newspaper, but if he had
thought of drawing the young man into conversation about it, he was
disappointed. Malipieri continued to agree with him, listening
attentively to all he said without once looking bored.
"And now," continued Bruni presently, "if it is not indiscreet, may I
ask whether you have any new field of discovery in view?"
The phrases ran along as if they had been all prepared beforehand. The
accent was now decidedly Genoese, and Malipieri, who was a Venetian,
disliked it.
"Not at present," he said. "I have undertaken a little professional
work in Rome, and I am trying to learn more about the Phoenician
language."
"That is beyond me!" Bruni smiled pleasantly.
Malipieri looked at him a moment.
"If you are going to look into Carthaginian antiquities," he said, with
much gravity, "I strongly advise you to study Phoenician."
"Dear me!" exclaimed Bruni with a sigh of regret, "I had hoped it might
not be necessary."
He rose to take his leave, but as if seeing the bookshelves for the
first time, asked permission to look at their contents. Malipieri saw
that his glance ran sharply along the titles of the volumes, and that
he was reading them as quickly as he could.
"I suppose you live here quite alone," he said.
"Yes. I have a servant."
"Of course. They tell me that Baron Volterra has not decided what he
will do with the palace, and will not give a lease of it to any one."
"I do not know what he means to do," answered Malipieri, looking at the
straight part down the back of his worthy visitor's hair, as the latter
bent to look at the books.
"I suppose he lends you this apartment, as a friend," said Bruni.
"No. I pay rent for it."
Signor Bruni was becoming distinctly inquisitive, thought Malipieri,
who answered coldly. Possibly the visitor perceived the hint, for he
now finally took his leave. In spite of his protestations Malipieri
went all the way downstairs with him, and let him out himself, just as
the porter came out of his lodge at the sound of their footsteps.
Signor Bruni bowed a last time, and then walked briskly away. By force
of habit, the porter looked up and down the street before shutting the
door after him, and he was somewhat surprised to see that the two men
whom he had noticed half an hour earlier had only just finished their
argument and turned to go on as Signor Bruni passed them. Then the
porter watched them all three till they disappeared round the corner.
At the same moment, from the opposite direction, Toto reached the door
of the palace, and greeted the porter with a rough good-evening.
"I have forgotten the name of this palace," he added, by way of a joke,
meaning that he had not been called to do any work for a long time.
"Perhaps you can tell me what it is called."
"It used to be a madhouse," returned the porter in the same strain.
"Now that the madmen are gone, a mole lives here. I kept the door open
for the lunatics, and they all got out. I keep it shut for the mole,
when he does not shut it himself."
"I will come in and smoke a pipe with you," said Toto. "We will talk of
old times."
The porter shook his head, and blocked the way.
"Not if you were the blessed soul of my father come back from the
dead," he said. "The Baron's instructions are to let no one in without
the mole's orders."
"But I am an old friend," objected Toto.
"Not if you were my mother, and the Holy Father, and Saint Peter, and
all the souls of Purgatory at once," answered the porter.
"May an apoplexy seize you!" observed Toto pleasantly, and he went off,
his pipe in his mouth.
The porter shrugged his shoulders at the imprecation, shut the door
reluctantly, and went in to supper. Upstairs, Malipieri stood at his
open window, smoking and watching the old fountain in the court. It was
evening, and a deep violet light filled the air and was reflected in
the young man's bronzed face. He was very thoughtful now, and was not
aware that he heard the irregular splash of the water in the dark basin
at the feet of the statue of Hercules, and the eager little scream of
the swallows as they shot past him, upward to the high old eaves, where
their young were, and downwards almost to the gravel of the court, and
in wide circles and madly sudden curves. The violet light faded softly,
and the dusk drank the last drop of it, and the last swallow
disappeared under the eaves; but still Malipieri leaned upon the stone
window-sill, looking down.
For a long time he thought of Signor Bruni. He wondered whether he had
ever seen the man before, or whether the face only seemed familiar
because it was the type of a class of faces all more or less alike, all
intensely respectable and not without refinement, expressing a grave
reticence that did not agree with the fluent speech, and a polite
reserve at odds with the inquisitive nature that revealed itself.
Malipieri was inclined to think he had never met Bruni, but somehow the
latter recalled the hot times in Milan, and his short political career,
and the association was not to the man's advantage. He could not recall
the name at all. It was like any other, and rather especially
unobtrusive. Anybody might be called Vittorio Bruni, and Vittorio Bruni
might be anybody, from a senator to a shoemaker; but if he had been a
senator, or any political personage, Malipieri would have heard of him.
There was something very odd, too, about his knowledge of Carthaginian
antiquities, which was entirely limited to the contents of Malipieri's
own pamphlets. He knew nothing of the Egyptians and very little about
the Greeks, beyond what Malipieri had necessarily written about both.
He had talked much as a man does who has read up an unfamiliar subject
in order to make a speech about it, and though the speech is skilful,
an expert can easily detect the shallowness of attainment behind it.
There could be only one reason why any one should take so much trouble;
the object was evidently to make Malipieri's acquaintance, in the
absence of an ordinary introduction. And yet Signor Bruni had quite
forgotten to give his card with his address, as almost any Italian
would have done under the circumstances, whether he expected the
meeting to be followed by another or not. Malipieri spent most of his
time in his rooms, but he knew very well that he might go about Rome
for weeks and not come across the man again.
He recalled the whole conversation. He had in the first place expected
that Bruni would be inquisitive about the palace, and perhaps ask to be
shown over it, but it was only at the last that he had put one or two
questions which suggested an interest in the building, and then he had
at once taken the hint given him by Malipieri's cold tone, and had not
persisted. On the other hand he had looked carefully at the titles of
the books on the shelves, as if in search of something.
Then Malipieri was conscious again of the association, in his own mind,
between the man's personality and his own political experiences, and he
suddenly laughed aloud.
"What a precious fool I am!" he thought. "The man is nothing but a
detective!"
The echo of his laugh came back to him from across the dusky court in
rather a ghostly way.
The evening air was all at once chilly, and he shut his window and
called for Masin, who instantly appeared with a lamp. Masin was always
ready, and, indeed, possessed many qualities excellent in a faithful
servant, among which gratitude to Malipieri held a high place.
He had something to be grateful for, which is not, however, always a
cause of gratitude in the receiver of favours and mercies. He had been
a convict, and had served a term of several years in penal servitude.
The sentence had been passed upon him for having stabbed a man in the
back, in a drunken brawl, but Masin had steadily denied the charge, and
the evidence against him had been merely circumstantial. It had
happened in Rome, where Masin had worked as a mason during the
construction of the new Courts of Justice. He was from the far north of
Italy, and was, of course, hated by his companions, as only Italians of
different parts of the country can hate one another. To shield one of
themselves, they unanimously gave evidence against Masin; the jury was
chiefly composed of Romans, the judge was a Sicilian, and Masin had no
chance. Fortunately for him, the man lived, though much injured; if he
had died, Masin would have got a life sentence. It was an old story;
false witnesses, a prejudiced jury, and a judge who, though willing to
put his prejudices aside, had little choice but to convict.
Masin had been sent to Elba to the penitentiary, had been a
"good-behaviour man" from first to last, and his term had been slightly
abridged in consequence. When he was discharged, he went back to the
north. Malipieri had found him working as a mason when some repairs
were being made in the cathedral of Milan, and had taken a fancy to
him. Masin had told his story simply and frankly, explaining that he
found it hard to get a living at all since he had been a convict, and
that he was trying to save enough money to emigrate to New York.
Malipieri had thought over the matter for a week, speaking to him now
and then, and watching him, and had at last proposed to take him into
his own service. Later, Masin had helped Malipieri to escape, had
followed him into exile, and had been of the greatest use to him during
the excavations in Carthage, where he had acted as body-servant,
foreman, and often as a trusted friend.
He was certainly not an accomplished valet, but Malipieri did not care
for that. He was sober, he was honest, he was trustworthy, he was cool
in danger, and he was very strong. Moreover, he was an excellent and
experienced mason, a fact of little or no use in the scientific
treatment of shoes, trousers, silk hats, hair-brushes and coffee, but
which had more than once been valuable to Malipieri during the last few
years. Finally, his gratitude to the man who had believed in his
innocence was deep and lasting. Masin would really have given his life
to save Malipieri's, and would have been glad to give it.
He set the lamp down on the table, and waited for orders, his blue eyes
quietly fixed on his master.
"I never saw that gentleman before," said Malipieri, setting some
papers in order, under the bright light, but still standing. "Did you
look at his face?"
"Yes, sir," answered Masin, and waited.
"What sort of man should you take him to be?"
"A spy, sir," replied Masin promptly.
"I think you are right," Malipieri answered. "We will begin work
to-morrow morning."
"Yes, sir."
Malipieri ate his supper without noticing what Masin brought him, and
then installed himself with his shaded lamp at his work-table. He took
from the drawer a number of sketches of plans and studied them
attentively, by a rather odd process.
He had drawn only one plan on heavy paper, in strong black lines. An
architect would have seen at once that it represented a part of the
foundations of a very large building; and two or three persons then
living in Rome might have recognized the plan of the cellars under the
north-west corner of the Palazzo Conti--certainly not more than two or
three, one of whom was the snuffy expert who had come from beyond the
Tiber, and another was Baron Volterra. Toto, the mason, could have
threaded the intricate ways in the dark, but could assuredly have made
nothing of the drawings. On the other hand, the persons who were
acquainted with them did not know what Toto knew, and he was not at all
inclined to impart his knowledge to any one, for reasons best known to
himself.
Furthermore, an architect would have understood at a glance that the
plan was incomplete, and that there was some reason why it could not be
completed. A part of it was quite blank, but in one place the probable
continuation of a main wall not explored, or altogether inaccessible,
was indicated by dotted lines.
Besides this main drawing, Malipieri had several others made on tracing
paper to the same scale, which he laid over the first, and moved about,
trying to make the one fit the other, and in each of these the part
which was blank in the one underneath was filled in according to
different imaginary plans. Lastly, he had a large transparent sheet on
which were accurately laid out the walls and doors of the ground floor
of the palace at the north-west corner, and in this there was marked a
square piece of masonry, shaded as if to represent a solid pilaster,
and which came over the unexplored part of the cellars. Sometimes
Malipieri placed this drawing over the first, and then one of the
others on both, trying to make the three agree. It was like an odd
puzzle, and there was not a word written on any of the plans to explain
what they meant. On most of the thin ones there were blue lines,
indicating water, or at least its possible course.
The imaginary architect, if he could have watched the real one, would
have understood before long that the latter was theorizing about the
probable construction of what was hitherto inaccessible, and about the
probable position of certain channels through which water flowed, or
might be expected to flow. He would also have gathered that Malipieri
could reach no definite conclusion unless he could break through one of
two walls in the cellar, or descend through an opening in the floor
above, which would be by far the easiest way. He might even have
wondered why Malipieri did not at once adopt the latter expedient. It
is not a serious matter to make an aperture through a vault, large
enough to allow the passage of a man's body, and it could not be
attended with any danger to the building. It would be much less safe
and far more difficult to cut a hole through one of the main foundation
walls, which might be many feet thick and yet not wholly secure.
Nevertheless the movements made by the point of Malipieri's pencil
showed that he was contemplating that method of gaining an entrance.