It was no wonder that she smiled in her sleep as she lay resting in the warm afternoon, in her own room.  Her mother had made her lie down, partly because she was still tired, and partly because it would be convenient that she should be out of the way if Malipieri came.

He came, as the Princess had expected, and between two and three o’clock, an hour at which he was almost sure to find her at home.  From what Sabina had said to the Baroness in his presence, and from his judgment of the girl’s character, he felt certain that she would tell her mother the whole story at once.  As they had acknowledged to each other in the vaults, they were neither of them good at inventing falsehoods, and Sabina would surely tell the truth.  In the extremely improbable case that she had not been obliged to say anything about the events of the night, his visit would not seem at all out of place.  He had seen a good deal of Sabina during her mother’s absence, and it was proper that he should present himself in order to make the Princess’s acquaintance.

He studied her face quickly as he came forward, and made up his mind that she expected him, though she looked up with an air of languid surprise as he entered.  She leaned forward a little in her comfortable seat, and held out her plump hand.

“I think I knew your mother, and my daughter has told me about you,” she said.  “I am glad to see you.”

“You are very kind,” Malipieri answered, raising her hand to his lips, which encountered a large, cool sapphire.  “I have had the pleasure of meeting Donna Sabina several times.”

“Yes, I know.”  The Princess laughed.  “Sit down here beside me, and tell me all about your strange adventure.  You are really the man I mean, are you not?” she asked, still smiling.  “Your mother was a Gradenigo?”

“Yes.  My father is alive.  You may have met him, though he rarely leaves Venice.”

“I think I have, years ago, but I am not sure.  Does he never come to Rome?”

“He is an invalid now,” Malipieri explained gravely.  He cannot leave the house.”

“Indeed?  I am very sorry.  It must be dreadful to be an invalid.  I was never ill in my life.  But now that we have made acquaintance, do tell me all about last night I Were you really in danger, as Sabina thinks, or is she exaggerating?”

“There was certainly no exaggeration in saying that we were in great danger, as matters have turned out,” Malipieri answered.  “Of the two men who knew that we were in the vault, one is lying insensible, with a fractured skull, in the hospital of the Consolazione, and the other has been arrested by a mistake and is in prison.  Besides, both of them would have had every reason to suppose that we had got out.”

“Sabina did not tell me that.  How awful!  I must know all the details, please!”