"
"Does he generally lock the door at night?" asked the lawyer.
"No; and I knew by that that he meant to have a good sleep, and not
be disturbed this morning. So I never went near him till I heard his
bell, between ten and eleven o'clock; and when I went he was just
getting out of bed, so that he had a matter of six hours' sleep."
"It don't seem to have done him much good any way," rejoined the
lawyer, thinking to himself that the hours during which Nanni
supposed his master to have been sleeping, had more probably been
spent in restless agitation, the result of bringing his mind to the
determination which he had definitely announced to the lawyer, when
he had summoned him about an hour after he had risen from his
sleepless bed. "I shall come and see how he is to-morrow morning,"
the lawyer added; "and I hope I may bring some good news about
Signor Ludovico."
Behind the Palazzo Castelmare there was an extensive range of
stabling and coach-houses, with a large stable-yard opening on to a
back street, which was the nearest way to the house of the Signor
Professore Tomosarchi, on whom Signor Fortini thought he would call,
just to ask whether he had yet seen the body, or at what hour in the
morning he thought of making his post-mortem examination. Crossing
the stable-yard for this purpose, the lawyer was accosted by Niccolo
the groom, who was engaged in doing his office on a handsome bay
mare at the stable-door.
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