ombin bowed his acquiescence from his chair and smiled again. The
succulent dinner and rich Burgundy seemed to have made him sleeker and
pinker than ever, and he watched the Legate's face with a pleasantly
benevolent expression.

But Monsignor Pelagatti's jaw dropped as he read the missive, and his
shrivelled lids seemed to shrink back from all round his little red eyes
till they looked as if they were starting from his head, while Trombin
watched him with quiet satisfaction.

The letter purported to be from the acting Chief of the Council of Ten
in Venice, and was really a miracle of official style in its way.

The writer took the liberty of introducing a gentleman to whom he
entrusted a delicate business, the noble Signor Trombin del Todescan.
His high regard for the Legate, and his desire to avert all unpleasant
consequences from so friendly and distinguished an official, had led him
to treat directly and privately of a matter which would otherwise have
to go through the hands of the Venetian Ambassador in Rome. The Legate
had accidentally imprisoned a distinguished musician who had lately been
the guest of the Republic, a matter which, in itself, might not be
thought to have great importance. But the Maestro Stradella was on his
wedding journey, and his young bride was no less a person than the noble
lady Ortensia Grimani, the writer's niece. As for Bartolo, the
counterfeiter, he had just been caught at Treviso, and, at the time of
writing, was safely lodged in the Pozzi, either to be tried in Venice or
sent to Rome, as might hereafter be agreed between the respective
governments. Under the circumstances the Legate would see the propriety
of setting the Maestro at liberty without delay, and of extending every
courtesy to him and his young wife, who must be in despair at his
arrest. The letter concluded by saying that if the Legate 'did not feel
justified' in complying with these requests, the noble Signor Trombin
del Todescan had instructions to proceed to Rome with the utmost haste
and to place the matter in the hands of the Venetian Ambassador there,
on behalf of the noble lady Ortensia Grimani, unjustly deprived of her
husband, a Spanish subject, within the States of the Church.

The letter left nothing to be desired in the way of clearness, and the
Legate's consternation was considerable. He had actually made a mistake
which could not be glossed over by the simple process of condemning an
innocent person to f