Instinctively, he was sure that the Baroness
had come in search of Sabina, and would not leave the house till she
had found her, do what he might.
CHAPTER XVIII
The Baroness had been called to the telephone five minutes after
Volterra had gone out with the porter, leaving word that he was going
to the Palazzo Conti and would be back within two hours. The message
she received was from the Russian Embassy, and informed her that the
dowager Princess Conti had arrived at midnight, was the guest of the
Ambassador, and wished her daughter Sabina to come and see her between
eleven and twelve o'clock. In trembling tones the Baroness had
succeeded in saying that Sabina should obey, and had rung off the
connection at once. Then, for the first time in her life, she had felt
for a moment as if she were going to faint.
The facts, which were unknown to her, were simple enough. The
Ambassador had been informed that a treasure had been discovered, and
had telegraphed the fact in cipher to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
in St. Petersburg, who had telegraphed the news to Prince Rubomirska,
who had telegraphed to the Ambassador, who was his intimate friend,
requesting him to receive the Princess for a few days. As the Prince
and his sister were already in the country, in Poland, not far from
the Austrian frontier, it had not taken her long to reach Rome.
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