Part 49 (1/2)
”Yes, the Pinkertons. I was thinking of them. I believe it can be done. At any rate, leave it to me to try, and if I succeed no one shall know about it, not even our own police. When our spies enter the prison, if they do, it will be in a way to inspire confidence among the Mafiosi. Meanwhile, do you think you are entirely safe in that foreign quarter?”
”Quite safe, although the situation is trying. I have felt the strain almost as deeply as my unfortunate sister.”
”And when it is all over you will be ready for your vows?”
Her answer gave no sign of the hesitation he had hoped for and half expected.
”Of course.”
He shook his head doubtfully. ”Somehow, I--I feel that fate will keep you from that life; I cannot think of you as a Sister of Mercy.” In spite of himself his voice was uneven and his eyes were alight with the hope which she so steadfastly refused to recognize.
As she rose to leave she said, musingly, ”How strange it is that this master of crime and intrigue should betray himself through the one good and unselfish emotion of his life!”
”Samson was shorn of his strength by the fingers of a woman,” he said.
”Yes. Many good men have been betrayed by evil women, but it is not often that evil men meet their punishment through good ones. And now-- a riverderci.”
”Good-by, for a few days.” He pressed his lips lightly to her fingers.
XX
THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS
Late one day, a fortnight after her visit to Blake's office, Vittoria returned from a call upon Myra Nell Warren, to find Oliveta in a high state of apprehension. The girl, who had evidently kept watch for her, met her at the door, and inquired, nervously:
”What news? What have you heard?”
”Nothing further, sorella mia.”
”Impossible! G.o.d in Heaven! I am dying! This suspense--I cannot endure it longer.”
Vittoria laid a comforting hand upon her.
”Courage!” she said. ”We can only wait. I too am torn by a thousand demons. Caesar has gone, but no one knows where.”
Oliveta shuddered. ”We are ruined. He suspects.”
”So you have said before, but how could he suspect?”
”I don't know, yet judge for yourself. I worm his secrets from him at the cost of kisses and endearments; I hold him in my arms and with smiles and caresses I lead him to betray himself. Then, suddenly, without warning or farewell, he vanishes. I tell you he knows. He has the cunning of the fiend, and your friend Signore Blake has blundered.” Oliveta's face blanched with terror. She clung to her companion weakly, repeating over and over: ”He will return. G.o.d help us, he will return.”
”Even though he knows the truth, which is far from likely, he would scarcely dare to come here,” Vittoria said, striving with a show of confidence which she did not feel to calm her foster sister.
”You do not know him as I do. You do not know the furies which goad him in his anger.”
In spite of herself Vittoria felt choked again by those fears which during the days since Maruffi's disappearance she had with difficulty controlled. She knew that the net had been spread for him in all caution, yet he had slipped through it. Whether he had been warned or whether mere chance had taken him from the city at the last moment, neither she, nor Blake, nor the Chief of Police had been able to learn. All had been done with such secrecy that, except a bare half-dozen trusted officers, no one knew him to be even suspected of a part in the Mafia's affairs. Norvin had been quick to sense the possible danger to the two women, and had urged them to accept his protection; but they had convinced him that such a course had its own dangers, for in case the Mafioso was really unsuspicious the slightest indiscretion on their part might frighten him. Therefore they had insisted upon living as usual until something more definite was known.