ashed it as if it had been made of egg-shells. The door flew open and
he ran down the steps to undo the chain. Seeing that her shadow kept the
light from the stairs and the vestibule, Ortensia drew back on one side
of the entrance, expecting that Trombin would come up at once with
Gambardella. Instead, the two stood talking in low tones on the
threshold of the front door.

In a few moments it was clear to Ortensia that some disagreement had
arisen between the friends. Their voices grew a little louder, so that
Ortensia could hear about half of what they said. It was clear that
Gambardella was refusing to do something which Trombin insisted with
rising temper, while the other grew colder and more obstinate every
moment.

'Altieri's thousand crowns,' she heard Gambardella say distinctly; and
then, in broken words, '... more than enough ... morning ... the
Neapolitan frontier ... leave her here ...'

'Judas!' cried Trombin very audibly, and clearly in a rage.

'At your service,' answered Gambardella, 'and instead of thirty pieces
of silver, I fling a thousand in your face! You shall not have her!'

Ortensia heard a sort of chinking thud, as if a heavy purse had fallen
on the stones. This was instantly followed by a scuffle, and she knew
that the two men had closed and were wrestling. The whole truth had
flashed upon her through the few words they had exchanged, or enough of
it to prove that young Altieri had not calumniated the men she had
thought her friends when he had called them Bravi.

Her heart stood still for an instant, while she looked round for some
means of escape. No sound of voices now came up from below, but only
the shuffling of feet and the hard-drawn breath of men wrestling in the
dark. She ran to the window and looked out, thinking that the ladder was
still there, and then, seeing that it was gone, she peered into the
gloom. Perhaps she could let herself down by her hands and then drop to
the ground. At any moment one of the Bravi might come up again and seize
her.

She listened for a moment before trying it. The sound of the struggle
had ceased, and all was still again; very cautiously she crept to the
door and listened again, but there was not a breath. She ventured to
look down the stairs, keeping her body on one side, and she saw that the
vestibule was empty, and now her quick hearing caught the sound of
shuffling footsteps in the road outside; the noise was decreasing
already, as if the two m