"Thank you," Kalmon answered, "but I must go home. The house is in
charge of the police, and there is nothing more to be done here. They
have already taken the woman's body to San Spirito, and they will move
Corbario in a few hours. He is badly mauled, but no big arteries are
torn. I must go home and write a letter. The Contessa must not hear what
has happened through the newspapers."

"No. Certainly not. As for me, I am going to take Regina away at once. I
shall bring my own carriage down from the villa."

"By the bye," Kalmon said, "I had thought of that. The house in which I
live is divided into many small apartments. There is a very good one to
let, decently furnished. I thought of taking it myself, and I looked at
it yesterday. You might put the young lady there until you can find what
you may prefer. She can move in at once."

"Nothing could be better. If you are going home, will you say that I
take the place and will be there in an hour? No. 16, Via Sicilia, is it
not?"

"Yes. I'll see to it. Shall I take the lease in your name?"

"No. Any name will do better. The reporters would find her at once under
mine."

"I'll use my own," said the Professor. "I'll say that she is a lady who
has arrived to consult me--I daresay she will--and that I'm responsible
for her."

"Thank you," answered Marcello gratefully. "And thank you for all that
you have done to help me."

"My dear Marcello," Kalmon said, smiling cheerfully, "in the first
place, I have done nothing to help you, and secondly, through excess of
zeal, I have got you into a very unpleasant situation, by indirectly
causing a woman to be murdered in your house, and the murderer almost
mauled to death by that very singular wild beast which your man calls a
dog, and which I had often noticed in old times at the cottage. So there
is nothing at all to thank me for, though I am most heartily at your
service."

The Professor was positively in high spirits just then, and Marcello
envied him as they parted and took opposite directions.

Though the Via Sicilia was a long way from the Janiculum, Marcello had
been only too glad to accept Kalmon's suggestion at such a moment.
Regina would feel that she was protected by Marcello's friend, and
though she might rarely see him, it would be better for her than to be
lodged in a house where she knew no one. Kalmon was a bachelor and a
man of assured position, and it had cost him nothing to undertake to
give Regina his