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166 himself so deeply as to use violence to Giulio Villaflor, whereby Monsignore lies now in danger at his monastery of Taverna. I heard this; such news soon spreads, specially to Court and Church; and I heard also that both soldiers and sbirri are on the track of the fugitivos, who are known to have made their way seaward. Now can you wonder that it needs no great exercise of intelligence to recognise in you the barcarolo who despoiled Church and State of their captive, and to conclude that the vessel you stand in need of is to be employed in the service of Miladi Idalia, for whom, living or dead, both Church and State would give as weighty a reward as the full coffers of the one and the lean treasures of the other could afford to yield? Scant penetration is requisite for such a discovery; every sailor on the coast will make it with me in a few hours' time. It is not a little thing to free a political prisoner, and to leave a mighty prelate half dead among his own monks."

He spoke perfectly quietly, his eyes, with an unusual melancholy, looking straight and calm into the eyes of the man before him—eyes that said without words, "You see, she and you are in my power. One word from me, and both are lost!"