Is it possible? Are you sure? What makes you
think so?'

'To the best of my knowledge and belief, what I have told you is the
truth, though I might find it hard to explain my reasons for saying
so. But before you go to the Mother Superior, or speak of the matter
to Sister Giovanna, there is something else to be done. This letter,
by some strange accident of the post, may have been written before
Giovanni Severi died. There is a bare possibility that it may have
been mislaid in the post-office, or that he may have given it to a
comrade to post, who forgot it--many things may happen to a letter.'

'Well? What must I do?'

'If he is alive, the fact is surely known already at headquarters, and
you should make inquiries. To give Sister Giovanna a letter from the
dead man would be wrong, in my opinion, for it would cause her
needless and harmful pain. If he is dead, it should be burned, I
think. But if he is really alive, after all, you have no right to burn
it, and sooner or later she must have it and know the truth, with as
little danger to her health and peace of mind as possible.'

'You are right, Monseigneur,' answered Madame Bernard. 'What you say
is full of wisdom. I have three lessons to give this morning, and as
soon as I am free I will go myself to the house of a superior officer
whose daughter I used to teach, and he will find out the truth by the
telephone in a few minutes.'

'I think that is the best course,' said the churchman.

So they parted, for he was going to Saint Peter's, and she turned in
the direction of the nearest tramway, hastening to her pupils. And
meanwhile the inevitable advanced on its unchanging course.

For Giovanni Severi was alive and well, and was on his way to Rome.

CHAPTER XI

Giovanni Severi's adventures, between his supposed death in the
massacre of the expedition and his unexpected reappearance at Massowah
nearly five years later, would fill an interesting little volume in
themselves; but inasmuch as an account of them would not make this
story clearer and would occupy much space, it is enough to state the
bare facts in a few words. Such tales of danger, suffering, and
endurance have often been told at first hand, by the heroes of them,
far more vividly and correctly than a mere story-teller can narrate
them on hearsay.

The expedition had been attacked and destroyed by a handful of natives
from a wandering tribe that was camping very near. Within a few
minutes t