taking the letter from the terrified seaman, who was glad enough to escape without detention.  During the next fortnight several letters were stopped in this way, carried by different sailors, and the whole correspondence went straight to the Cardinal.  It was not often that he troubled himself to play the detective in person, but when he did so, he was not easily baffled.  And now he observed that about a week after the interception of the first letter the small drafts which used to come so frequently to Del Ferice’s address from Florence suddenly ceased, proving beyond a doubt that each letter was paid for according to its value so soon as it was received.

With regard to the contents of these epistles little need be said.  So sure was Del Ferice of his means of transmission that he did not even use a cipher, though he, of course, never signed any of his writings.  The matter was invariably a detailed chronicle of Roman sayings and doings, a record as minute as Del Ferice could make it, of everything that took place, and even the Cardinal himself was astonished at the accuracy of the information thus conveyed.  His own appearances in public—­the names of those with whom he talked—­even fragments of his conversation—­were given with annoying exactness.  The statesman learned with infinite disgust that he had for some time past been subjected to a system of espionage at least as complete as any of his own invention; and, what was still more annoying to his vanity, the spy was the man of all others whom he had most despised, calling him harmless and weak, because he cunningly affected weakness.  Where or how Del Ferice procured so much information the Cardinal cared little enough, for he determined there and then that he should procure no more.  That there were other traitors in the camp was more than likely, and that they had aided Del Ferice with their counsels; but though by prolonging the situation it might be possible to track them down, such delay would be valuable to enemies abroad.  Moreover, if Del Ferice began to find out, as he soon must, that his private correspondence was being overhauled at the Vatican, he was not a man to hesitate about attempting his escape; and he would certainly not be an easy man to catch, if he could once succeed in putting a few miles of Campagna between himself and Rome.  There was no knowing what disguise he might not find in which to slip over the frontier; and indeed, as he afterwards proved, he was well prepared for such an emergency.

The Cardinal did not hesitate.  He had just received the fourth letter, and if he waited any longer Del Ferice would take alarm, and slip through his fingers.  He wrote with his own hand a note to the chief of police, ordering the immediate arrest of Ugo dei Conti del Ferice, with instructions that he should be taken in his own house, without any publicity, and conveyed in a private carriage to the Sant’ Uffizio by men in plain clothes.  It was six o’clock