For a whole month we remained at Salerno, and a delightful month it proved, for I had long chats and walks with Lola, and we became even greater and more intimate friends. Madame Duperre noticed it but said nothing. I went each day to slouch and idle in Naples, to sit before cafes and eat my frugal meal at one or other of the osterie which abound in the city, or to take my _aperatif_ at the _liquoristi_, Canevera's, Attila's, or the others'. I confess that I was mystified why I should have been sent to watch that woman. So clever, so well-thought-out and so insidious were all Rayne's methods to obtain information of the intentions and movements of certain people of wealth, that I knew from experience that there was some cleverly concealed scheme afoot which could only be carried out after certain accurate details had been obtained. I was torn between two intentions, either to reappear suddenly as a passing traveler and call at the Palazzo Romanelli, or still to lie low. Many times I discussed it with Lola and Madame. "Zuccari is always with the Marchesa," I said one morning as we sat together at _dejeuner_ at Salerno. "I can't quite make things out. I have been watching intently, yet I can discover nothing. He sent a message to her by Flavia the other day--an urgent and defiant message, I believe. I hear also that the Admiral goes to Rome to-night," I added. "He has been suddenly called to the Ministry of Marine." "Then you will follow, of course? We will remain here to keep an eye upon the Marchesa," said Madame. "You do not suspect the Admiral?" I asked. "Not at all," she said. "It is the woman we have to watch." "And also the pretty daughter?" I suggested. With that she agreed. We were, however, faced by a strangely complex problem. Here was a woman--one of the most popular in all Italy--denounced by the humble monk of San Domenico as a dangerous adventuress. And yet she was the strongest supporter of the popular Pietro Zuccari--the wealthy man by whose efforts the finances of Italy had been reestablished after the war. After a long conference it was arranged that Madame and Lola should go to Rome and there watch the Admiral's movements, while I remained in Naples ever on the alert. Sometimes I became obsessed by the feeling that I was off the track. Once or twice I had received "_ferma in posta_"--confidential letters from Rudolph Rayne and also from Duperre. To these I replied to an unsuspicious address--a library in Knightsbridge.