“I see!  I see!” he tried to say.

The detective understood, and smiled in a subdued way.  Malipieri knit his brows angrily, as he felt himself becoming more and more utterly powerless to stave off the frightful catastrophe that threatened Sabina.  But the detective was anxious to make matters pleasant by diplomatic means.

“I had not been told that Signor Malipieri was a married man,” he said.  “Of course, if the Signora Malipieri is not yet visible, I shall be delighted to give her time to dress.”

Malipieri bit his lip and made a few steps up and down.

“I did not know that your wife was in Rome,” Volterra said, glancing at him, and apparently confirming the detective in his mistake.

“For that matter,” said the detective, “I am a married man myself, and if the lady is in bed, she might allow me merely to stand at the door, and glance in.”

“I think she is still asleep,” Malipieri answered.  “I do not like to disturb her, and the room is quite dark.”

“My time is at your disposal,” said the detective.  “Shall we go back and wait in the study?  You would perhaps be so kind as to see whether the Signora is awake or not, but I am quite ready to wait till she comes out of her room.  I would not put her to any inconvenience for the world, I assure you.”

“Really,” the Baron said to Malipieri, “I think you might wake her.”

The soldiers looked on stolidly, the porter kept his eyes and ears open, and Gigi, full of curiosity, wore the expression of a smiling weasel.  To the porter’s knowledge, so far as it went, no woman but his own wife had entered the palace since Malipieri had been living in it.

Malipieri made no answer to Volterra’s last speech, and walked up and down, seeking a solution.  The least possible one seemed to be that suggested by the Baron himself.  The latter, though now very curious, was more than ever in a hurry to bring the long enquiry to a close.  It occurred to him that it would simplify matters if he and Malipieri and the detective were left alone together, and he said so, urging that as there was unexpectedly a lady in the case, the presence of so many witnesses should be avoided.  Even now he never thought of the possibility that the lady in question might be Sabina.

The detective now yielded the point willingly enough, and the soldiers were sent off with Gigi and the porter to wait in the latter’s lodge.  It was a slight relief to Malipieri to see them go.  He and his two companions went back to the study together.

The Baron resumed his seat in the armchair; he always sat down when he had time, and he had not yet finished his big cigar.  The detective went to the window and looked out through the panes, as if to give Malipieri time to make up his mind what to do; and Malipieri paced the floor with bent head, his hands in his pockets, in utter desperation.  At any moment Sabina might appear, yet he dared not even go to her door, lest the two men should follow him.