“We must hear first what these men have to say.  First take down their names and addresses.”

The men gave them, as the lawyer remarked to himself, with perfect willingness and alacrity.

They then related that having been at work in the forest, cutting up the branches and trunk of a tree, which had fallen from old age and natural decay, they were going to another part of the Pineta, a short distance off, where another fallen tree awaited their axes and saws, when they saw a lady asleep as they thought on a bank.  They were about to pass on without interfering with her in any way, when one of their party remarked that it was odd that all the noise they had made had not wakened her, for they had come along laughing, singing, and talking loudly.  This had led them to approach closely to her; and then,—­as they looked at her, a suspicion of the truth began to come to their minds.  They touched her, and found that she was dead.  She was not quite cold, they said, and were quite sure of that fact.  They looked at her, and looked all around to see if they could perceive any sign of the cause of her death.  But they could see nothing.  There was, as far as they could see, no trace of blood, either on her dress or anywhere around the spot where she lay.  And then they had borrowed a door from the farm near St. Apollinare, and had brought the body here, and that was all they knew about it.

“Had they seen any other person in the forest that morning?”

“Not a soul; and they had been in that part of the Pineta, or at least at no great distance, all the morning from sunrise.”

“Would they be able to find again and to know the spot on which they had found the body?” the lawyer asked.

“Oh, yes,” they said, “easily.  It was not by the side of any of the ordinary tracks through the forest—­but not very far from one of them; as if the lady had turned aside from the path, and sought out a quiet spot to enjoy a siesta without being disturbed.”

“It is pretty clear,” said the lawyer, “that it has been a case of sudden death during sleep—­probably from disease of the heart.  Now, my friend,” he said, turning to the senior of the officials, “you have only simply to state what we have heard in writing and carry it to the police.  Meantime, it will be as well to remove the body at once.  Let a couple of your people accompany the men who brought it here—­they may as well carry it to the mortuary.”

So a sheet was obtained from a neighbouring house, the more perfectly and decently to cover the body, preparatory to its being carried through the streets.  Ludovico stepped hurriedly forward from the doorpost, against which he had been leaning, and looked eagerly once again at the calmly-tranquil and still beautiful face before they covered it with the sheet.  And then the six men took up their burden, and, with two of the gate-officers marching at their head, moved off towards the hospital.