“No.  It does not matter.  You say you have found something—­that is the important point.”

“Yes; and the next thing is to keep the secret for the present, because so many people would like to know it.  The third point of importance is that you should see the treasure before it is moved, before I can move it myself, or even see all of it.”

“What is this treasure?” asked Sabina, with a little impatience, for she was really interested.

“All I have seen of it is the hand of what must be a colossal statue, of gilt bronze.  On one of the fingers there is a ring with a stone which I believe to be a ruby.  If it is, it is worth a great deal, perhaps as much as the statue itself.”

Sabina’s eyes had opened very wide in her surprise, for she had never really believed the tale, and even when he had told her that he had found something she had not thought it could be anything very valuable.

“Are you quite sure you have seen it?” she asked with childlike wonder.

“Yes.  I lowered a light into the place, but I did not go down.  There may be other things.  They belong to you.”

“To me?  Why?” asked Sabina in surprise.

“For a good many reasons which may or may not be good in law but which are good enough for me.  You were robbed of your dowry—­forgive the expression.  I cannot think of another word.  The Senator got possession of the palace for much less than its market value, let alone what I have found.  He sent for me because I have been fortunate in finding things, and he believed it just possible that there might be something hidden in the foundations.  Your family spent long ago what he lent them on the mortgage, and Sassi assures me that you never had a penny of it.  I mean you to have your share now.  That is all.”

Sabina listened quietly enough to the end.

“Thank you, very much,” she said gravely, when he had finished.

Then there was another pause.  To her imagination the possibilities of wealth seemed fabulous, and even Malipieri thought them large; but Sabina was not thinking of a fortune for its own sake.  Of late none of her family had cared for money except to spend it without counting.  What struck her first was that she would be free to leave the Volterras’ house, that she would be independent, and that there would be an end of the almost unbearable situation in which she had lived since the crash.

“If the Senator can keep it all for himself, he will,” Malipieri observed, “and his wife will help him.”

“Do you think this had anything to do with their anxiety to have me stay with them?” asked Sabina, and as the thought occurred to her the expression of her eyes changed.

“The Baroness knows nothing at all about the matter,” answered Malipieri.  “I fancy she only wanted the social glory of taking charge of you when your people came to grief.  But her husband will take advantage of the obligation you are under.  I suspect that he will ask you to sign a paper of some sort, very vaguely drawn up, but legally binding, by which you will make over to him all claim whatever on your father’s estate.”