The Baron stooped a little and said: "Had you ever heard the name of David Leone?"
She dropped back in her chair, and again looked straight before her.
"Come, come, my child," said the Baron caressingly, and moving across
the room to look out of the window, he tapped her lightly on the
shoulder: "I told you that Minghelli had returned from London."
"That forger!" she said hoarsely.
"No doubt! One who spends his life ferreting out crime is apt to have
the soul of a criminal. But civilisation needs its scavengers, and it
was a happy thought of yours to think of this one. Indeed, everything
we've done has been done on your initiative, and when our friend is
finally brought to justice, the deed will really be due to you, and you
alone."
The defiant look was disappearing from her eyes, and she rose with an
expression of pain.
"Why do you torture me like this?" she said. "After what has happened,
isn't it quite plain that I am his friend, and not his enemy?"
"Perhaps," said the Baron. His face assumed a death-like rigidity. "Sit
down and listen to me."
She sat down, and he returned to his place by the stove.
"I say you gave us the clues we have worked upon. Those clues were
three. First, that David Rossi knew the life-story of Doctor Roselli in
London. Second, that he knew the story of Doctor Roselli's daughter,
Roma Roselli. Third, that he was for a time a waiter at the Grand Hotel
in Rome. Two minor clues came independently, that David Rossi was once a
stable-boy in New York, that his mother drowned herself in the Tiber,
and he was brought up in a Foundling. By these five clues the
authorities have discovered eight facts. Permit me to recite them."
Leaning his elbow on the stove and opening his hand, the Baron ticked
off the facts one by one on his fingers.
"Fact one. Some thirty odd years ago a woman carrying a child presented
herself at the office in Rome for the registry of births. She gave the
name of Leonora Leone, and wished her child, a boy, to be registered as
David Leone. But the officer in attendance discovered that the woman's
name was Leonora Rossi, and that she had been married according to the
religious rites of the Church, but not according to the civil
regulations of the State. The child was therefore registered as David
Rossi, son of Leonora Rossi and of a father unknown."