"Yes, he did; so much so, that as I lay on my bed and listened to
the Angelus bell a-going, I thought to myself that the old man had
hardly the strength to pull the rope," said the lay-brother.
"Hardly strength to pull the rope," repeated the Commissary, as he
completed the note he was scribbling in his note-book. "Well, I hope
he will soon get over his attack of fever. I think we need not
trouble you any further at present, frate--what is your name, my
friend?"
"Simone, by the mercy of God, lay-brother of the terz' ordine--"
"That will do, frate Simone," interrupted the Commissary, adding a
word to the entry in his note-book. "Now, Signor Giovacchino, if you
are ready, I think we may get your carriage out of the barn and go
back to Ravenna."
"We have not got much for our pains, I am afraid," said the lawyer
to the Commissary of police as they began to leave the Basilica
behind them on their way back to the city.
"Humph!" said the Commissary, who was apparently too much absorbed
in his own meditations to be in a mood for conversation.
"Signor Giovacchino," he said, suddenly, after they had traversed
nearly half their short journey in silence, "my belief is that your
young friend the Marchese has no hand in this matter."
"I am convinced he had not," said the lawyer, who was, however, very
far from having reached any conviction of the kind; "but what we
want is some such probable theory on the subject as shall compete
successfully with the theory of his guilt in the matter.
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