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Three deafening reports shook the air in rapid succession, and all that was left of Arnoldo Meschini lay in a shapeless heap upon the floor. While a man might have counted a score there was silence in the room. Then San Giacinto came forward and bent over the body, while the notaries and their clerks cowered in a corner.
They had not even troubled themselves to claim the title, for they possessed more than fifty of their own, and there was no chance of recovering the San Giacinto estate, already mortgaged, and more than half squandered at the time of the confiscation.
Their title was Marchese di San Giacinto; and if Giovanni liked to claim it, he has a right to the title still." "But those Saracinesca were extinct fifty years ago," objected the Prince, who knew his family history very well. "Giovanni says they were not. They were believed to be. The last Marchese di San Giacinto fought under Napoleon.
Business had been in a very bad state since it had been known that Montevarchi was ruined. So far, he had not stopped payment and although the bank refused discount he had managed to find money with which to meet his engagements. Probably, as San Giacinto had foretold, he would pay everything and remain a very poor man indeed. But, although many persons knew this, confidence was not restored.
San Giacinto's grave manner assured Montevarchi of the truth of the story. He hesitated a moment longer, and then made up his mind. "I agree to your proposal, my dear Marchese," he said, with unusual blandness of manner. "I will settle one hundred and fifty thousand scudi in the way I stated," said San Giacinto, simply. The prince started from his chair.
In the dead silence that followed, San Giacinto approached the table upon which the deed lay, still waiting to be witnessed. He took it in his hand and turned to Saracinesca. There was no need for him to exculpate himself from any charge of complicity in the abominable fraud which Montevarchi had prepared before he died. Not one of the men present even thought of suspecting him.
He did not know whether to be delighted at the prospect of marrying his daughter so well or angry at the idea of having committed himself to part with so much money. "That is much more than I gave my other daughters," he said at last, in a tone of hesitation. "Did you give the money to them or to their husbands?" inquired San Giacinto. "To their husbands, of course."
"I cannot do it," he said, suddenly looking up at San. Giacinto. "I am master here, and I am responsible. The secret is professional, of course. If I knew you, even by sight, I should not hesitate. As it is, I must ask your name." San Giacinto did not hesitate long, as the surgeon was evidently master of the situation. He took a card from his case and silently handed it to the doctor.
Then the gigantic hands seized him again and set him on his feet, and held him with his face to the eight men who had all risen and were standing together in wondering silence. "Speak!" shouted San Giacinto in Meschini's ear. "You are not dead yet you have much to live through, I hope." Again that trembling passed over the unfortunate man's limbs, and he grew quiet and submissive.
"Yes," assented the prince. "That accounts for it. Will you smoke?" Giovanni Saracinesca, Marchese di San Giacinto, looked curiously at his cousin as he took the proffered cigar. There was something abrupt in the answer which attracted his attention and roused his quick suspicions.
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