d when he jumped from the window.

And now they stood there in the rain round the wounded man, while
Marcello held the lantern to his face, and Regina thrust a lamp out of
the lower window which she had thrown open.

"Is he dead?" she asked, in the silence that followed when Ercole had
got control of the dog again.

At the sound of her voice Ercole started strangely and looked up to her
face that was not far above his own, and his eyes fixed themselves upon
her so intently that she looked down at him, while she still held out
her lamp. She could not remember that she had ever seen him; but he had
seen her many times since he had made his visit to the inn on the
Frascati road.

"Is he dead?" she repeated, putting the question directly to him as he
was nearest.

Still he looked at her in silence, with his deep-set, unwinking eyes.
Marcello and Kalmon were bending over Corbario, Marcello holding the
lantern, while the Professor listened for the beating of the heart and
felt the pulse. They paid no attention to Regina for the moment.

"Why don't you speak?" she asked, surprised by Ercole's silent stare.

"You don't know me," he said slowly, "but I know you."

The rain was beating upon her lamp, and at that moment the shade cracked
under the cold drops and fell to pieces, and the wind instantly
extinguished the flame of the flaring wick. Regina withdrew into the
room to get another light, and Ercole stared after her into the gloom.

"He is alive," said Kalmon, looking up to see why the light had gone
out. "We must get him inside at once, or he will die here. Come,
Ercole! Make that dog lie down and keep quiet."

Between them they carried Corbario into the house. Nino watched on the
step in the rain, but when the door was shut behind him, he crawled down
to the wet grass and lapped the blood and water in the dark. They
carried Corbario upstairs to an empty room there was, and as they went
Regina tried to tell Marcello what she had done. They opened Settimia's
door, which was still locked, and they found her quite dead, and the
window was wide open; then Regina understood that Corbario had been
hidden within hearing, and had killed the woman because she had
confessed.

The men who had been sent from the central police station at Kalmon's
request arrived a few minutes later. One was at once sent for a surgeon
and for more men; the other remained. Soon the little house was full of
officials, in uniform and in plain