"It is noble of you," said Gilbert, warmly, "to give up wreaking vengeance on your own account." The Italian bowed and smiled pleasantly. He now addressed the Syndic, who had been watching the faces of the two others as they conversed, trying to gather from their expression what they were saying. "I agree to your proposal," he said to Ucelli. "I will make no personal charge against you. You, on your part, will tell us all--absolutely all without equivocation." "Yes, Excellency, absolutely all," replied the Syndic, a little colour of hope coming into his pallid cheeks. "With your permission, I will speak in French, which Mr. Eversleigh understands, as does your Excellency, I doubt not." "Let it be so," assented the Deputy. "Speak on!" "I must go back some years, four or five," said Ucelli; "it was then that Silwood first came to Camajore. He made a stay of several weeks, in the course of which he became intimate with me; he often spent the evenings here, playing chess, a game of which I am fond. His holiday at an end, he went back to England. I did not see him again till last July. I wondered at his coming when cholera was everywhere, but he had an object in view--a scheme, which compelled him to run the risk." Here the Syndic paused, as if to collect his thoughts. "You saw him again?" prompted the Deputy. "Alas, yes! He came to me and tempted me, and I succumbed. For a sum of money I agreed to assist him in his scheme. I knew I was doing a criminal act, but the bribe he offered me quieted all my scruples," Ucelli resumed. "I am a poor man, and I fell!" "How much did he offer you?" demanded Vinci. "It was fifty thousand liras," replied Ucelli. "Imagine, Excellency, the temptation to a poor man like myself!" "Fifty thousand liras!" exclaimed the Deputy. "It is a large sum of money." "Fifty thousand liras," thought Gilbert; "how much is that in English money?" A mental calculation showed him that it was nearly two thousand pounds. Where, he wondered, had Silwood got such a sum? But Ucelli was speaking. "Yes, he offered me fifty thousand liras," repeated the Syndic, "and I swallowed the bait--like a fool. But I did not consent all at once. I knew the proceeding he proposed was dangerous in the extreme; but he allayed my fears by declaring it was impossible that it should ever be found out." The Syndic stopped, overcome with self-pity. "Well," cried Vinci; "what next?" "His proposal was that I should have him in my house here, and soon after he was to pretend to be ill of cholera. After a short interval it was to be given out that he had died, while I was to have an imaginary body buried. There were so many deaths here at the time, and consequently so much confusion, that there was no difficulty in carrying out his plan." "So you were right," said the Deputy to Gilbert.