You shall see for yourself--a very singular construction."
"Was there nothing in it?"
"Several skeletons," answered Malipieri indifferently. "One of the
skulls has a rusty knife driven through it."
"Dear me!" exclaimed the Baron, shaking his fat head. "Those Conti
were terrible people! We must not tell the Baroness these dreadful
stories. They would upset her nerves."
Malipieri had not supposed Volterra's wife to be intensely sensitive.
He moved, as if he meant to take his leave presently.
"By the bye," he said, "whereabouts should you recommend me to look
for a lodging?"
The Baron reflected a moment.
"If I were you," he said, "I would go to a hotel. In fact, I think you
would be wiser to leave Rome for a time, until all these absurd
stories are forgotten. The least I can do is to warn you that you may
be exposed to a good deal of annoyance if you stay here. The minister
with whom I was talking this evening told me as much in a friendly
way."
"Really? That was very kind of him. But what do you mean by the word
'annoyance'? It is rather vague. It is one thing to suspect a man of
trying to evade the Pacca law; it is quite another matter to issue a
warrant of arrest against him."
"Oh, quite," answered Volterra readily. "I did not mean that, of
course, though when one has once been arrested for anything, innocent
or not, our police always like to repeat the operation as soon as
possible, just as a matter of principle.
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