“Take Signor Sassi back to the cellar,” said Malipieri to Masin.  “Then you can follow us.”

Sassi and Masin disappeared through the breach.  Malipieri led the way into the dry well, where there was another light.  In her haste to reach the end, Sabina did not even glance at the sacking that covered the skeletons.

“Can you climb a ladder?” asked Malipieri.

“Of course!” Such a question was almost a slight.

Malipieri went up nimbly with his lantern, and knelt on the masonry to hold the top of the ladder.  Sabina mounted almost as quickly as he had done, till she reached the last few steps and could no longer hold by the uprights.  Then she put out her hands; he grasped then both and slid backwards on his knees as she landed safely on the edge.  She had not felt that she could possibly fall, even if her feet slipped, and she now knew that he was strong, and that it was good to lean on him.

“You will have to stoop very low for a few steps,” he said, taking up his lantern, and he kept his hold on one of her hands as he led her on.  “It is not far, now,” he added encouragingly, “and the rest is easy.”

He guided her past the boards and stones that covered the overflow shaft, and down the inclined passage and the steps to the space between the vaults.  A third lamp was burning here, close to the hole beneath which the statue lay.  Malipieri lowered his lantern for her to see it.

She uttered an exclamation of surprise and delight.  The pure gold that covered the bronze was as bright as if it had not lain in the vault for many centuries, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, no one could tell yet.  The light fell into the huge ruby as into a tiny cup of wine.

“Can one get down?” asked Sabina breathlessly, after a moment’s silence.

“Certainly.  I have not gone down myself yet, but it is easy.  I wanted you to be the first to see it all.  You will have to sit on the edge and step upon the wrist of the statue.”

Sabina gathered her skirt neatly round her, and with a little help she seated herself as he directed.

“Are you sure it will not hurt it, to step on it?” she asked, looking up.

“Quite sure.”  Malipieri smiled, as he thought of Toto’s hobnailed shoes.  “When you are standing firmly, I will get down too, if there is room.”

“It is not a very big hole,” observed Sabina, letting herself down till her feet rested on the smooth surface.  She did not quite wish to be as near him as that; at least, not yet.

“I will creep down over the arm,” she said, “and then you can follow me.  I hope there are no beasts,” she added.  “I hate spiders.”

Malipieri lowered his lantern beside her, and she crept along towards the statue’s head.  In a few moments he was beside her, bringing both the lantern and the lamp with him.  They had both forgotten Masin’s existence, as he had not yet appeared.  Sabina looked about for spiders, but there were none in sight.  The vault was perfectly dry, and there was hardly any dust clinging to the rough mortar that covered the stones.  It was clear that the framework must have been carefully removed, and the place thoroughly cleaned, before the statue had been drawn into the vault from one end.