tor's;
for the Signors of the Night were noblemen who served in turn,
superintending the police from sunset to sunrise. Only forty-eight hours
had passed since this same gentleman had sent word to Pignaver of the
attempt made by a supposed thief to get over the garden wall.

'He was not a burglar, my friend,' the Signor now said with conviction.
'If you will allow me to say so, with the most profound respect for your
honour, I am sure that the man was your niece's lover, and that he has
now succeeded in carrying her off, with the help of the serving-woman.'

Pignaver groaned and turned pale. But the Signor, who knew his business,
asked him questions, and elicited enough information about Stradella
and the singing lessons to convince him that the famous singer was at
the bottom of the mischief. He said so plainly.

'A music-master!' cried Pignaver in a black rage, for he saw that the
other was probably right. 'A singer! A catgut-pincher! A villainous low
lute-strummer! No, sir, no! A thousand times no! The niece of Michele
Pignaver is incapable of demeaning herself with a mountebank, sir! I
must assure you----'

'The young lady,' interrupted the Signor, with a faint smile, 'is not
your own niece, Senator, but the daughter of your late wife's brother.'

'No matter!' cried the Senator. 'Do you mean to imply, sir, that my late
honoured wife would have been capable of demeaning herself with----'

'Heaven forbid!' ejaculated the other, interrupting again. 'You might as
well suggest that Eve was herself a murderess because one of her sons
killed the other. I suggest nothing, Senator--certainly nothing in the
least derogatory to the honour of your house.'

'What do you advise me to do?' asked Pignaver, suddenly appeased.

He had changed his tone and spoke almost calmly, for his anger, like
most things he did, was a matter of acting. The Signor understood, and
again he smiled faintly. Before he answered he carefully snuffed and
trimmed the three wicks of the tall brass lamp on the table. It had a
big metal shade in the shape of a butterfly, which he turned so that it
screened the light from his eyes and reflected it into his visitor's
face.

'You will naturally wish to avoid a scandal,' he said, watching the
Senator. 'Yes, I thought so. Very well, if Stradella has carried off
your niece, as I am almost sure he has, they are beyond pursuit by this
time. They have reached the mainland and are riding away as fast as they