Family -- Fiction; Italy -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Religion -- Fiction
The first thing that was discovered was that they frequently contained
money, generally in the shape of small drafts on London signed by a
Florentine banker, and that the envelopes which contained money never
contained anything else. They were all posted in Florence. With regard
to his letters, they appeared to be very innocent communications from all
sorts of people, rarely referring to politics, and then only in the most
general terms. If Del Ferice had expected to have his correspondence
examined, he could not have arranged matters better for his own safety.
To trace the drafts to the person who sent them was not an easy business;
it was impossible to introduce a spy into the banking-house in Florence,
and among the many drafts daily bought and sold, it was almost impossible
to identify, without the aid of the banker's books, the person who
chanced to buy any particular one. The addresses were, it is true,
uniformly written by the same hand; but the writing was in no way
peculiar, and was certainly not that of any prominent person whose
autograph the Cardinal possessed.
The next step was to get possession of some letter written by Del Ferice
himself, and, if possible, to intercept everything he wrote. But although
the letters containing the drafts were regularly opened, and, after
having been examined and sealed again, were regularly transmitted
through the post-office to Ugo's address, the expert persons set to catch
the letters he himself wrote were obliged to own, after three weeks'
careful watching, that he never seemed to write any letters at all, and
that he certainly never posted any. They acknowledged their failure to
the Cardinal with timid anxiety, expecting to be reprimanded for their
carelessness. But the Cardinal merely told them not to relax their
attention, and dismissed them with a bland smile. He knew, now, that he
was on the track of mischief; for a man who never writes any letters at
all, while he receives many, might reasonably be suspected of having a
secret post-office of his own. For some days Del Ferice's movements were
narrowly watched, but with no result whatever. Then the Cardinal sent for
the police register of the district where Del Ferice lived, and in which
the name, nationality, and residence of every individual in the "Rione"
or quarter were carefully inscribed, as they still are.
Running his eye down the list, the Cardinal came upon the name of
"Temistocle Fattorusso, of Naples, servant to Ugo dei Conti del Ferice:"
an idea struck him.
"His servant is a Neapolitan," he reflected. "He probably sends his
letters by way of Naples."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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