The sound of movement in the hall aroused him from his unhappy brooding. He hoped that it was caused by the Grand Duke's arrival, and that proved to be the case. A few minutes later a servant came to fetch him, and he was conducted back to the salon.
Donna Livia was again reclining on her day-bed. Not a hair of her head was out of place and the expression on her beautiful face was now so demure that she might have been a picture of "Innocence" painted by Titian himself. The Grand Duke was standing beside her.
After three formal bows Roger permitted himself a good look at the ruler of Tuscany, while waiting to be addressed. Peter Leopold was then forty-two years of age. He was a tallish man with a slim figure. He had the same high forehead and blue eyes as his sister, but unlike her his nose was inclined to turn up at the tip. With a friendly smile at Roger, he said in German:
"Herr Brook, I understand that you are the bearer of a despatch to me from Her Majesty, my sister."
"Altess!’ Roger bowed again, and produced the sheets of tracing paper from his pocket. "I have that honour. Here it is; though you will observe that it is not the original. I considered that too bulky to carry with safety, so I made this transcript which was more easily concealable."
The Grand Duke took and glanced at the letter. "This is in our family's private cypher, but so altered as to be unreadable."
"May it please Your Highness, that was a further measure of my own for its greater security in transit. But the rules I devised for altering the original makes its retransposition simple to anyone who knows the secret. With your permission I will write them out for you."
"Be pleased to do so." The Grand Duke motioned Roger towards Donna Livia's secretaire, on which pens and paper were laid out. Sitting down there Roger quickly wrote out the key, and with a bow handed it to the sovereign, who said:
"I see the despatch is of considerable length, so I will not read it now, but at my leisure. It is possible that I may wish to send a reply. If so I assume you would be willing to take it for me ?"
At this bolt from the blue Roger felt that Nemesis had caught up with him already. But he was determined not to allow his own plans to be upset if he could possibly avoid it. So after only a second's hesitation, he replied:
"Any command Your Highness may give me, I should naturally feel it my duty to execute. But I am not in the service of Her Majesty of France. I acted as Her Majesty's messenger only because any gentleman of her own nation would have been suspect by her enemies; and urgent family matters now call for my return as soon as possible to England."
To his immense relief the Grand Duke did not press the matter, but said amiably: "In that case I would not dream of detaining you. I trust that you have been well looked after during your short visit to my city. Meggot's hotel has a good reputation for making those who stay there comfortable."
Roger was a little taken aback at this evidence that the secret police of Florence had thought it worth while to report his arrival, and done so with such swiftness; but he at once gave an assurance that he had lacked for nothing.
"How long is it since you left Versailles ?" the Grand Duke enquired.
"It is, alas, five weeks, Your Highness," Roger confessed. "And I humbly crave your pardon for not having delivered Her Majesty's letter to you sooner. But I was attacked by her enemies on the road and sustained wounds which, though not of a serious nature, compelled me to do the greater part of my journey in a coach."
"I am sorry to hear of it, and glad to see now that you appear fully recovered. It seems, though, that you can tell me nothing new of the state of affairs in France, as I have received much later intelligence from agents of my own who left long after you. But tell me, Herr Brook, why, on arriving in Florence, did you seek an audience of me through the Donna Livia, instead of waiting upon me at my palace ?"
"I first attempted to do so, Altess, but Her Majesty's enemies had reached Florence ahead of me, and frustrated my attempt by a further attack upon me here last night."
The Grand Duke frowned. "I was informed that you arrived at Meggot's only this afternoon."
"That is correct. But I reached Florence on Monday last, the first of June; and although the precaution against attack proved futile in the outcome, I sought to avoid it by taking lodgings under an assumed identity."
"Tell me of this attack. I have succeeded in making Florence a law-abiding city compared with many others; and the Watch shall be punished for their laxity in not having frustrated it. Give me, please, full particulars."
Roger then described how he had been kidnapped and taken before the hooded men. As he spoke of the tribunal the Grand Duke began to walk uneasily up and down, and muttered angrily to himself:
"These accursed Freemasons! They will be the undoing of us all. The stupidity of the nobility is past all understanding. How can they be so blind as to allow their liberal leanings to make them the allies of anarchists ? They flatter themselves that they can control the movement, but in that they make a hideous error. By using their wealth and influence to foster and conceal its activities the fools are weaving a halter that will one day be put round their own necks."
In deference to this royal monologue, Roger had paused; but the Sovereign added impatiently in a louder tone: "Go on! Go on. I am listening to you."
Roger had as yet made no mention of Isabella and, as briefly as he could, he now concluded his account without any reference to her.
When he had done the Grand Duke stood silent for a moment, then he continued his unhappy musing aloud. "I wonder if Scipione Ricci is concerned in this? He may be. Or it may be only his major-domo who is a traitor. Oh, I wish I knew! How can I find out ? I must find out somehow! And you! What guarantee have I that you are not lying to me about these people for some purpose of your own? Is there no one that I can trust ? No one ?"
For the first time Donna Livia spoke; addressing the Grand Duke in German, that being the language habitually used between them. With a wicked little smile at Roger from behind her royal lover's back, she said:
"At least, dear Prince, you know that I would never deceive you; and Herr Brook's account of this matter seems so circumstantial that it would be hard to doubt his veracity."
The Grand Duke swung round upon her. "I pray that you may be right in the first, gnadige frau for you are certainly wrong in the second."
Again Roger felt Nemesis rushing upon him as the suspicious ruler turned about, his slightly protuberant blue eyes now filled with a baleful light, and exclaimed:
"You have told but half the truth! If that! For now that I know you to be the man called de Breuc, who lodged at del Sarte Inglesi, I can add much to your story. You concealed yourself there instead of going to a larger place not from any fear of attack, but on account of a young woman who wished to hide the fact that she had come with you to Florence. Can you deny it?"
Since it was obvious that the Grand Duke knew about Isabella it would have been senseless to enrage him further by a downright lie. But, drawing a deep breath, Roger joined issue with him as best he could:
"Your Highness. The truth of all that I have had the honour to tell you is in no way invalidated by my omission to mention that I arrived in Florence with a lady. I owe to her my recovery from the wounds I received in the service of Her Majesty, your sister; and sought to repay something of my debt by giving her my escort on a part of her journey through Italy."