added with evident annoyance. "Did the Contessa tell you
why I quarrelled with Folco to-day?"

"No. She merely said that there had been angry words and that you had
asked him to leave the house. She herself was surprised, she said, and
wondered what could have brought matters to a crisis at last."

Marcello's face cleared instantly. Aurora had not told any one that he
had quarrelled with his stepfather about her; that was quite evident,
for there were not two more truthful people in the world than the
Contessa and Kalmon, whose bright brown eyes were at that moment quietly
studying his face.

"Not that the fact matters in the least," said the Professor, resting
his feet on the fender and exposing the broad soles of his wet
walking-boots to the flame. "The important fact is that the man has
escaped, and we must catch him."

"But how are you so sure that it was he that attacked me? You cannot
arrest a man on suspicion, without going through a great many
formalities. You cannot possibly have got an eye-witness to the fact,
and so it must be a matter of suspicion after all, founded on a certain
amount of rather weak circumstantial evidence. Now, if it was he that
tried to kill me, he failed, for I am alive, and perfectly well. Why not
let him alone, since I have got rid of him?"

"For a very good reason, which I think I had better not tell you."

"Why not?"

"I am not sure what you would do if you were told it suddenly. Are your
nerves pretty good? You used to be a delicate boy, though I confess that
you look much stronger now."

"You need not fear for my nerves," Marcello answered with a short laugh.
"If they are sound after what I have been through in the last two years
they will stand anything!"

"Yes. Perhaps you had better know, though I warn you that what I am
going to say will be a shock to you, of which you do not dream."

"You must be exaggerating!" Marcello smiled incredulously. "You had
better tell me at once, or I shall imagine it is much worse than it is."

"It could not be," Kalmon answered. "It is hard even to tell, and not
only because what happened was in a distant way my fault."

"Your fault? For heaven's sake tell me what the matter is, and let us be
done with it!"

"Corbario wanted to get possession of your whole fortune. That is why he
tried to kill you."

"Yes. Is that all? You have made me understand that already."

"He had conceived the plan before your mother's death," said Kalmon.