She opened the gla.s.s door, and he came in. His clothes were smeared and torn, and there was blood upon his hand.
"Something has happened," he said. "I don"t know what it is, but the garden is surrounded, and there is someone watching at the door I came in at. I have tried all the other ways. I have tried to climb the wall, but there was gla.s.s at the top. I can"t get out. And they are searching the gardens with lanterns."
Even as he spoke they saw lights moving among the ilexes.
"They can"t know," she said faintly.
"It does not seem possible. They are probably looking for someone else, but I can"t be found here at this hour without raising suspicion. Is there any way out through the house from here?"
"Only down the grand staircase."
"I must risk it. Show me the way."
They went together down the almost dark corridor. Fay"s heart sickened at the thought that a belated servant might see them. But all was quiet.
At the head of the staircase they both peered over the bal.u.s.trade. At its foot in a narrow circle of light stood the duke and Lord John, and a man with a tri-coloured sash. Even as they looked, the three turned and began slowly to mount the staircase.
Fay and Michael were back in her boudoir in a moment.
"There is a way out here," he said, indicating the door into her bedroom.
"It leads into my bedroom, and then through to Andrea"s rooms. There is no pa.s.sage, and he has a dog in his room. It would bark."
"I must go back to the garden again," he said, and instantly moved to the window. Both saw two _carabinieri_ standing with a lantern at the foot of the balcony steps.
"If you go down now," said Fay hoa.r.s.ely, "my reputation goes with you."
He looked at her.
It was as if his whole life were focussed on one burning point; how to save her from suspicion. If he could have shrivelled into ashes at her feet he would have done it. She saw her frightful predicament, and almost hated him.
The animal panic of being trapped caught them both simultaneously. He overcame it instantly, while she shook helplessly as in a palsy.
He went swiftly back to the door leading to the staircase, and glanced through it.
"They are coming along the corridor," he said. "They will certainly come in here."
"Stand behind the screen," she gasped. "I will say no one has been here, and they will pa.s.s through into the other room. As soon as they have left the room go quickly out by the staircase."
He looked round him once, and then walked behind a tall screen of Italian leather which stood at the head of a divan.
Fay took up her book from the floor, but her numb fingers refused to hold it. She put it on the edge of the table near her, under the lamp, hid her shaking hands in the folds of her long white chiffon gown, and fixed her eyes upon the page.
The words of the dead saint swam before her eyes:
"_Yea, He loveth us now as well while we are here, as He shall do while we are there afore His blessed face. But for failing of love on our part, therefore is all our travail._"
There were subdued footsteps outside, a tap, the duke"s voice.
"May I come in?"
"Come in," she said, but she heard no words.
She made a superhuman effort.
"Come in," she said again, and this time to her relief she heard the words distinctly.
The duke entered and held the door half closed.
"I feared to disturb you, my child," he said, "but it is unavoidable that I disturb you. It is a relief to find that you are not yet in bed and asleep. A very grave, a very sad event has happened which necessitates the presence of the police commissioner. Calm yourself, my Francesca, and my good friend the _delegato_ will explain."
The official in the sash came in. Lord John stood in the doorway.
"d.u.c.h.ess," said the official, "I grieve to say that one of your guests of this evening, the Marchese di Maltagliala, has been a.s.sa.s.sinated in the garden, or possibly in the road, and his dead body was dragged into the garden afterwards. He was found just inside the east garden door, which by some mischance had been left unlocked."
A deathlike silence followed the _delegato"s_ words.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "A DEATHLIKE SILENCE FOLLOWED THE DELEGATO"S WORDS"]
Fay turned her bloodless face towards him, and her eyes never left him. She felt Michael listening behind the screen.
"There was hardly an instant," continued the official, with a touch of professional pride, "before the alarm was given. By a fortunate chance I myself happened to be near. The garden was instantly surrounded. It is being searched now. It seems hardly possible that the a.s.sa.s.sin can have escaped. I entreat your pardon for intruding this painful subject on the sensitive mind of a lady, and breaking in on your privacy."
"I should think he has escaped by now," said Fay hoa.r.s.ely.
"It is possible, but improbable," said the official. Then he turned to the duke. "This is, I understand from you, the only way into the house from the garden?"
"The only way that might possibly still be open," said the duke. "The doors on the ground floor are both locked, as we have seen."
"We greatly feared," continued the duke, turning to his wife, "that the murderer if he were still in the garden, finding it was being searched, might terrify you by rushing in here."
"No one has been in here," said Fay automatically.
"Have you been in this room ever since you left the saloon?" said her husband.
"Yes. I have been reading here ever since."
"Then it is impossible that anyone should have escaped into the house through this room," said the duke. "The d.u.c.h.ess must have seen him. It is no longer necessary to search the house."
The _delegato_ hesitated. He opened the gla.s.s door and spoke to the men with the lantern.
"They are convinced that it is not possible he is concealed in the garden," he said. "Perhaps if the d.u.c.h.ess were deeply engaged in study he might have serpentinely glided through into the next room without her perceiving him. It is, I understand, the d.u.c.h.ess"s private apartment. It might be as well--where does the d.u.c.h.ess"s apartment lead into?"
"Into my rooms," said the duke, "and my dog is there. He would have given the alarm long ago if any stranger had pa.s.sed through my room. If he is silent no one has been near him."
There was a pause.
Fay learned what suspense means.
The _delegato_ twirled his moustaches.