"Not a word had been changed or added. The priest himself, who blandly pretends to be interested in my behalf, and whose every sidelong glance seems to say to me: 'You will have to pay me for my zeal,' insisted on my re-reading the paper carefully." "And you did it?" "I did it." The Piccinino, in view of the princess's self-possession and tranquillity, began to form a more exalted idea of her merit; for hitherto he had seen in her nothing more than a seductive and charming woman. "I am very well satisfied with these explanations," he said; "but, before taking any steps, I must know something more. Are you quite sure, signora, that within the last two hours Abbé Ninfo has not taken Doctor Recuperati by the throat and extorted that paper from him?" "How can I know, captain? You alone can tell me, when you have consented to begin your secret investigation. However, the doctor is a strong and brave man, and his simplicity would not go so far as to allow himself to be robbed by a weak, chicken-hearted creature like Abbé Ninfo." "But what would prevent Ninfo, who is a scoundrel of the first order, and has relations with all the greatest villains in the country, from hiring a _bravo_, who, for an _honorable_ reward, may have lain in wait for the doctor and murdered him--or who is all ready to do it at this moment?" The tone in which the Piccinino presented this suggestion caused the three persons who were listening to him a painful shock. "Poor doctor!" cried the princess, turning pale; "can it be that such a crime has been planned or executed? In heaven's name, explain yourself, signor captain!" "Never fear, signora, that crime has not been committed; but it might have been, for it was determined upon." "In that case, signor," said the princess, seizing both the bandit's hands with a gesture of entreaty, "pray go at once. Save the life of an honorable man, and make sure of the person of a vile knave, capable of any crime." "And suppose the will falls into my hands during the battle?" said the bandit, rising but not releasing the princess's hands, which he had seized in a firm grasp as soon as they touched his. "The will, signor captain?" she replied, energetically. "Of what moment is half of my fortune, when it is a question of saving victims from the assassin's dagger? I care not what happens to the will. Seize the monster who covets it. Ah! if I thought that I could satisfy his resentment by giving it up to him, he might long ago have looked upon himself as its undisturbed possessor!" "But suppose that I become its possessor?" said the adventurer, fastening his lynx eyes on Agatha's; "that would not suit Ninfo, who knows very well that his eminence is in no condition to make or even to dictate another. But would you, signora, who have been imprudent enough to tell me what I did not know, who have informed me to what a ridiculous custodian a document of so great importance has been entrusted--would you be perfectly at ease?"