The opening of the room door aroused me from my meditations. I turned--to find Vincenzo standing near me, hat in hand--he had just entered.
"Ebbene!" I said, with a cheerful air--"what news?"
"Eccellenza, you have been obeyed. The young Signor Ferrari is now at his studio."
"You left him there?"
"Yes, eccellenza"--and Vincenzo proceeded to give me a graphic account of his adventures. On leaving the banqueting-room, Ferrari had taken a carriage and driven straight to the Villa Romani--Vincenzo, unperceived, had swung himself on to the back of the vehicle and had gone also.
"Arriving there," continued my valet, "he dismissed the fiacre--and rang the gate-bell furiously six or seven times. No one answered. I hid myself among the trees and watched. There were no lights in the villa windows--all was darkness. He rang it again--he even shook the gate as though he would break it open. At last the poor Giacomo came, half undressed and holding a lantern in his hand--he seemed terrified, and trembled so much that the lantern jogged up and down like a corpse-candle on a tomb.
"'I must see the contessa,' said the young signor, Giacomo blinked like an owl, and coughed as though the devil scratched in his throat.
"'The contessa!' he said. 'She is gone!'
"The signor then threw himself upon Giacomo and shook him to and fro as though he were a bag of loose wheat.
"'Gone!' and he screamed like a madman! 'WHERE? Tell me WHERE, dolt! idiot! driveler! before I twist your neck for you!'
"Truly, eccellenza, I would have gone to the rescue of the poor Giacomo, but respect for your commands kept me silent. 'A thousand pardons, signor!' he whispered, out of breath with his shaking.' I will tell you instantly--most instantly. She is at the Convento dell' Annunziata--ten miles from here--the saints know I speak the truth--she left two days since.'
"The Signor Ferrari then flung away the unfortunate Giacomo with so much force that he fell in a heap on the pavement and broke his lantern to pieces. The old man set up a most pitiful groaning, but the signor cared nothing for that. He was mad, I think. 'Get to bed!' he cried, 'and sleep--sleep till you die! Tell your mistress when you see her that I came to kill her! My curse upon this house and all who dwell in it!' And with that he ran so quickly through the garden into the high-road that I had some trouble to follow him. There after walking unsteadily for a few paces, he suddenly fell down, senseless."