"I am delighted to be assured," said Signor Pignana, proudly, "that without these grave reasons the Count would not be unwilling to see me."
"But," said Taddeo, "what is the danger of which you spoke just now?"
"Ah! Signor Taddeo Rovero!" said the shrewd Pignana, who had recognized the voice of the young man.
"I am delighted to meet Signor Taddeo Rovero," said Pignana, "especially as what I have to say relates also to him."
"Come to the point, then," said the Count.
"Thus it is, Monsignore," said Pignana: "I was, in obedience to orders, hanging about your excellency's house, and until to-day never saw any thing suspicious. This evening I saw two dark figures planted opposite to your hotel, at the corner of Verneuil-street. The motionless position of these men seemed strange, and the manner that they examined others who came in and out of the hotel was more so, until at last I became satisfied that they watched you. I was confirmed in this when approaching them in the dark I heard one of the men say to his companion: '_He has gone out on foot, his carriage has not left!_'"
"Go on," said the Count, "this becomes interesting."
"This is not all," said Pignana; "the same man said in a brusque tone to his companion: '_Go to Saint Dominique-street, the other lives there!_'"
"That is myself," said Taddeo, "and the Marquis, my sister, and I do live in that street, in the Hotel of the Prince de Maulear."
"So I thought," said Pignana, bowing to Taddeo, "and I hurried hither where I knew Count Monte-Leone was to be found. Your excellency will now see that it was a matter of importance."
"Do not go home to-night!" said d'Harcourt.
"Why should I not go home? Because it pleases some robber to wait near my hotel, to rob me? or because some bravo wishes, _a la Venitienne_, to make a dagger-sheath of my heart? The man must act, too, _on his own account_, for I know of no enemies in this city. Every where I am sought for and _fêted_, and our secret associates, with whom the world is full, and who know my old adventures, secure every day a triumphal reception for me in the saloons of Paris. But if the mysterious watchers of whom Signor Pignana speaks, be by chance of the birds of night--owls who have escaped from the police, I make myself more liable to suspicion by staying away, than by returning to my hotel. Then, by ----, as my old friend Pietro used to say--I did not furnish a house to sleep out of it. To remain here as Von Apsberg suggests, would be a greater mistake yet; for in this house are all our documents and the lists of our associates. This is the treasury, the holy ark of the society, and here, under the name of Matheus, is the very soul. Let us then beware how we give the huntsman any clue to this precious deposit, or all will be lost. Pignana proposes that I should leave Paris, but I will not do so. Here are all our hopes of probable success. The light which will illumine Paris, must radiate hence. Besides, gentlemen," continued Monte-Leone, "I find that you all become easily excited at a very natural thing. In case even of a judicial investigation, you forget--_The brethren know each other, but can furnish no evidence of the participation of each other in any enterprise_. Our records or our deeds alone can betray us; our papers are here beneath three locks, and our actions are yet to be. Do not, therefore, be uneasy about my fate, and let Taddeo and myself discover the explanation of this riddle."