and were very polite in standing aside to let him pass them on the
pavement. There were now three whom he knew by sight, and he saw one
of them every time he went out of the house. He knew what that meant.
He had not the smallest doubt but that all three reported what they
saw of his movements to Signor Vittorio Bruni, every day, in some
particularly quiet little office in one of the government buildings
connected with the Ministry of the Interior. It troubled him very
little, since he was quite innocent of any political machinations for
the present.

He had determined from the first not to employ any workmen to help him
unless it should be absolutely necessary. He was strong and his
practical experience in Carthage had taught him the use of pick and
crowbar. Masin was equal to two ordinary men for such work, and could
be trusted to hold his tongue.

Malipieri told the porter that he was exploring the foundations before
attempting to strengthen them, and from time to time he gave him a
little money. At first the old man offered to call Toto, who had
always served the house, he said; but Malipieri answered that no help
was needed in a mere preliminary exploration, and that another man
would only be in the way. He made no secret of the fact that he was
working with his own hands, however. Every morning, he and his servant
went down into the north-west cellars by a winding staircase that was
entered from a passage between the disused stables and the empty
coach-house. Like every large Roman palace, the Palazzo Conti had two
arched entrances, one of which had never been opened except on
important occasions, when the carriages that drove in on the one side
drove out at the other after their owner had alighted. This second
gate was at the west end of the court, not far from the coach-house.