“Ah!” said Hedwig, beginning to break the envelope.

“Yes, excellency.  He desired me to say that it was absolutely and most indubitably necessary that your excellency should be at the little door to-night at twelve o’clock.  Do not fear, Signora Contessina; we can manage it very well.”

“I do not wish to know what you advise me to fear, or not to fear,” answered Hedwig, haughtily; for she could not bear to feel that the man should counsel her or encourage her.

“Pardon, excellency; I thought—­” began Temistocle humbly; but Hedwig interrupted him.

“Temistocle,” she said, “I have no money to give you, as I told you yesterday.  But here is another stone, like the other.  Take it, and arrange this matter as best you can.”

Temistocle took the jewel and bowed to the ground, eying curiously the little case from which she had taken it.

“I have thought and combined everything,” he said.  “Your excellency will see that it is best you should go alone to the staircase; for, as we say, a mouse makes less noise than a rat.  When you have descended, lock the door at the top behind you; and when you reach the foot of the staircase, keep that door open.  I will have brought the old gentleman by that time, and you will let me in.  I shall go out by the great gate.”

“Why not go with me?” inquired Hedwig.

“Because, your excellency, one person is less likely to be seen than two.  Your excellency will let me pass you.  I will mount the staircase, unlock the upper door, and change the key to the other side.  Then I will keep watch, and if anyone comes I will lock the door and slip away till he is gone.”

“I do not like the plan,” said Hedwig.  “I would rather let myself in from the staircase.”

“But suppose anyone were waiting on the inside, and saw you come back?”

“That is true.  Give me the keys, Temistocle, and a taper and some matches.”

“Your excellency is a paragon of courage,” replied the servant, obsequiously.  “Since yesterday I have carried the keys in my pocket.  I will bring you the taper this evening.”

“Bring it now.  I wish to be ready.”

Temistocle departed on the errand.  When he returned Hedwig ordered him to give a message to her father.

“When the count comes home, ask him to see me,” she said.  Temistocle bowed once more, and was gone.

Yes, she would see her father, and tell him plainly what she had suffered from Benoni.  She felt that no father, however cruel, would allow his daughter to be so treated, and she would detail the conversation to him.

She had not been able to read Nino’s letter, for she feared the servant, knowing the writing to be Italian and legible to him.  Now she hastened to drink in its message of love.  You cannot suppose that I know exactly what he said, but he certainly set forth at some length his proposal that she should leave her father, and escape with her lover from the bondage in which she was now held.  He told her modestly of his success, in so far as it was necessary that she should understand his position.  It must have been a very eloquent letter, for it nearly persuaded her to a step of which she had wildly dreamed, indeed, but which in her calmer moments she regarded as impossible.