Italian. When I had to go this morning without seeing you, I left you word where I had gone and why, and also my commands that you should not stir outside the garden. Were you not told this, madam?”

“No!” she cried.

I looked at Diccon. “I told madam that you were called away on business,” he said sullenly. “I told her that you were sorry you could not go with her to the woods.”

“You told her nothing more?”

“No.”

“May I ask why?”

He threw back his head. “I did not believe the Paspaheghs would trouble her,” he answered, with hardihood, “and you had n’t seen fit, sir, to tell me of the other danger. Madam wanted to go, and I thought it a pity that she should lose her pleasure for nothing.”