It was not a sweet face
like Mademoiselle's. That lady would laugh while a beggar starved. I
always know at the first look. I have trained myself to judge. It is my
metier."
He spoke with pride, but no one was listening.
"A dark woman," Vanno repeated. "What has become of the Dauntreys? Do
you know, Mrs. Winter?"
"I heard yesterday that they'd disappeared, owing every one money."
"Miss Maxwell, will you let me go now at once to Italy in your car?"
Vanno asked.
"Yes," Peter said. "It's not my car, but it belongs to my best friend.
He and I will both be glad, but you must take me with you."
Rose looked wistful, but she did not ask to go. The others were not
thinking of her.
"Do you know the Chateau Lontana?" she inquired of Schuyler's chauffeur.
"And have you got your papers for Italy?"
The man, who was English, touched his cap. "Yes, Madam, I know where the
place is. And everything is in order."
As a last thought, Vanno went to the beggar and put two gold pieces into
his knotted hand. The little man's red-rimmed eyes glittered with joyful
astonishment. He bit first one coin, then the other.
* * * * * * *
Peter had expected Jim in the afternoon, but Rose promised to telephone.
Neither the girl nor Vanno thought of lunching. They went on without a
pause except for the formalities at the Italian frontier, and it was
early in the afternoon when the car slowed down before the closed gates
of the Chateau Lontana.
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