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Odo hastened on till he could assure himself of being unobserved; then he unfolded the paper and read these words in Gamba's hand: "Have no fear for any one's safety but your own." With a sense of relief he hid the message and entered the Duke's antechamber.
As to those suspected of affiliations with the forbidden sect, fines and penances were imposed on a few of the least conspicuous, while the chief offenders, either from motives of policy or thanks to their superior adroitness, were suffered to escape without a reprimand. After this, Gamba's letters reported, the duchy had lapsed into its former state of quiescence.
If he had, every man would make some excuse, desert his duty in the hot months, and go to the Neilgherry hills. Read the first volume of Gamba's 'Travels in South Russia. He was Consul of France, but writes like a Russian. He talks of restoring the commercial communication with Asia by the Phasis, Caspian, and Oxus. All this is absurd.
This, at the moment, put Odo on his guard; but Trescorre having one day begged him to give Gamba warning of some petty danger that threatened him from the clerical side, it became difficult not to believe in an interest so attested; the more so as Trescorre let it be seen that Gamba's political views were not such as to distract from his sympathy.
Here his passport had taken him safely past the customs-officer, and following the indications of the boatman, he had found, outside the miserable village clustered about the customs, a travelling-chaise which brought him before the next night-fall to Monte Alloro. Of the real danger from which this timely retreat had removed him, Gamba's subsequent letters had brought ample proof.
And now," he added, turning gently to Momola, "it is time to put the boy to bed." When the door had closed on her Odo turned to Gamba. "I could learn nothing at Pontesordo," he said. "They seemed unwilling to speak of her. What is her story and where did you first know her?" Gamba's face darkened.
He dined at half an hour after sunset, and then drove to Count Gamba's, where he passed several hours with the Countess Guiccioli, who at that time still resided with her father.
One of these women directed Odo to the staircase which ascended between damp stone walls to Gamba's door. This was opened by the hunchback himself, who, with an astonished exclamation, admitted his visitor to a scantily furnished room littered with books and papers.
"Let them have a taste of their own methods! They know the kind of pressure that makes men yield when they feel it they will know what to do." He looked at her with astonishment. "This is Gamba's tone," he said. "I have never heard you speak in this way before." She coloured again; and now with a profound emotion. "Yes," she said, "it is Gamba's tone.
This man was clothed by his Lordship's orders, and sent over to Patras; and soon after Count Gamba's release, hearing that four other Turks were prisoners in Missolonghi, he requested that they might be placed in his hands, which was immediately granted.
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