and Sansevero was at
present injuring the case by making every moment more and more confused
statements about his alleged transaction with Scorpa. First he said he
had loaned it--because Torre Sansevero was cold; then that he had sold
it for one hundred thousand _lire_; then that no money was received;
then that he had let the duke have it as security, and that there was an
agreement whereby he was to get his picture back. When he was asked to
show a receipt in writing, he went into a rage.

The princess, quick enough to see the treachery of Scorpa and the net of
circumstantial evidence that he had thrown about them, felt utterly
helpless. "It is true, even I did not actually see the duke take the
picture," she said, "and I am the only one who knew anything about it.
As Sandro's wife--my word will have no weight at all!"

Valdeste solemnly shook his head. "I fear it is graver than that--for
even Miss Randolph's word that she had made certain unusual expenditures
would not be believed. The picture might too easily have been sold and
paid for through her. Unless it can be produced _here in Italy_, the
end may be bad. Somehow we must find a way to do that."

Nina was getting every moment more and more nervous--she could not
understand Derby's delay. Why did he not come? Since she telephoned, he
could have covered the distance from the Excelsior half a dozen times.
Every second of glancing at the door seemed a minute, and the minutes
hours. After the disillusionments she had suffered she actually was
beginning to think that he, too, would fail her in the crucial moment,
when, at last, the _portieres_ parted, and Derby entered carrying--the
celebrated Sansevero Madonna!

The princess and the marchese were so astonished that only Nina seemed
to notice Derby himself. With a cry of "_Jack!_ How _did_ you do it?"
she sprang up, staring at him in bewilderment.

The sound of Nina's voice drew the princess's attention to Derby, and
she, too, started toward him.

"John! What does it all mean?" she exclaimed, quite unconscious that she
had called him by his first name.

"It means a rotten plot--neither more nor less--to ruin Prince
Sansevero, concocted by a man whom the prince believed to be his friend!
The Duke Scorpa has just died, which ends the affair for him, but I have
the whole chain of evidence that clears the prince. The picture was
taken in exchange for a promissory note of the prince's, for one hundred
thousand _l