was at the gouvernante's
suggestion that the return had been delayed much later than usual;
lastly, that when the attack took place, the gouvernante did not raise
her voice to cry for assistance, and that she had, at the last moment,
so firmly seized their dresses, that it was only by tearing the girls
from her grasp that he had been enabled to get them into the boat.

"There may be nothing in all this," he said when he had concluded. "But
at least, sir, I thought that it was right you should know it; and you
will believe me, that it is only anxiety as to the safety of your
daughters that has led me to speak to you."

"Of that I am quite sure," Signor Polani said cordially, "and you were
perfectly right in speaking to me. I own, however, that I do not for a
moment think that the circumstances are more than mere coincidences.
Signora Castaldi has been with me for upwards of ten years. She has
instructed and trained my daughters entirely to my satisfaction. I do
not say that she is everything that one could wish, but, then, no one
is perfect, and I have every confidence in her fidelity and
trustworthiness. I own that the chain you have put together is a strong
one, and had she but lately entered my service, and were she a person
of whom I knew but little, I should attach great weight to the facts,
although taken in themselves they do not amount to much. Doubtless she
saw that my daughters were enjoying themselves in the society of my
friends, and in her kindness of heart erred, as she certainly did err,
in allowing them to stay longer than she should have done.

"Then, as to her not crying out when attacked, women behave differently
in cases of danger. Some scream loudly, others are silent, as if
paralysed by fear. This would seem to have been her case. Doubtless she
instinctively grasped the girls for their protection, and in her fright
did not even perceive that a boat had come alongside, or know that you
were a friend trying to save them. That someone informed their
assailants of the whereabouts of my daughters, and the time they were
coming home, is clear; but they might have been seen going to the
house, and a swift gondola have been placed on the watch. Had this boat
started as soon as they took their seat in the gondola on their return,
and hastened, by the narrow canals, to the spot where their accomplices
were waiting, they could have warned them in ample time of the approach
of the gondola with my daughters.