"If my mother says anything about my frock, I shall tell her the whole
story," said Sabina, glancing at her skirt.
"If you do," said the Baroness, "I shall deny it from beginning to
end."
"I think that it would perhaps be wiser to explain that in some other
way," the Baron suggested. "Signor Malipieri, will you be so very kind
as to go down first, and take the porter with a light to the entrance
of the cellars? He knows Donna Sabina, you see. I will come down
presently, for I shall stay behind and ask the detective to look out
of the window in the next room, while my wife and Donna Sabina pass
through. In that way we shall be quite sure that she will not be
recognized. Will you do that, Signor Malipieri? Unless you have a
better plan to suggest, of course."
Malipieri saw that the plan was simple and apparently safe. He looked
once more at Sabina, and she smiled, and just bent her head, but said
nothing. He left the room. The detective was sitting in a corner of
the room beyond, and the two men exchanged a silent nod as Malipieri
passed.
Everything was arranged as the Baron had planned, and ten minutes
later the Baroness and Sabina descended the stairs together in silence
and reached the great entrance. The two soldiers were standing by the
open door of the lodge, and saluted in military fashion.
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