“But even if you should convince me, Signor Marchese, that such were in truth the case, whom else do you think you would be able to convince?  Not one, not a single soul; above all, certainly not one of those who are used to the investigation of crime, or of those who would have to pronounce judgment on it.  If I were perfectly and entirely persuaded of your innocence I should still urge you to fly.  The facts of the case are too strong against you.”

“But is that the advice you would give to an innocent man, Signor Fortini?  Is that the course which an innocent man would take?  Should I not by flying add such an additional damning circumstance to the other grounds of suspicion, as to render all possible hope of clearing myself vain?” remonstrated Ludovico.

“It is true, it would do so; and the argument is, I am bound to say, the argument of an innocent man.  In any other case, in any other case, I should say face inquiry and prove your innocence.  But, Signor Marchese, I dare not recommend you to do so.  The facts, as I said, are too strong for you.  Remember, too, that you do not throw away any chance by flight.  For the only possible circumstance that could exonerate you would be the discovery that the deed was done by some other; and should that ever be proved or provable, you would at once return, plainly stating that you fled, not from guilt, but from a due appreciation of the fatal weight of suspicion that the circumstances and the facts cast on you.  In such a case, in such a very improbable case, I should not hesitate to testify that, being by accident made aware of the circumstances, I had recommended and urged you to fly.  No innocent man is bound to suffer for the misfortune of lying under a false suspicion if he can help it.  You cannot face the suspicion that will rest upon you; instant flight is the only course open to you.”

“Did you not say yourself at the gate just now, Signor Fortini,” said Ludovico, making a strong effort to recover the use of his almost stunned faculties”—­did you not yourself say that it was evidently a case of sudden death, probably from heart disease?”

“Pshaw! to the people there; to those blockheads at the gate, I said so, of course I did; but the medical folks will soon find out all about that.”

“But again, as you remarked very truly, the only possible motive that I could be suspected of having for wishing the death of this unfortunate woman must be supposed to arise from my knowledge of the fact that my uncle had proposed marriage to her.”

“And is not that motive enough, per Dio?” interrupted the lawyer.

“Doubtless it might, at all events, seem so to some people.  But you spoke of my persuading her to go on this unhappy excursion with a view, as your words imply, of committing the crime you suspect me of.  Now I knew nothing of any such intention on the part of my uncle till she communicated it to me when we were in the forest.”