Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad
"
They crowded around him eagerly then, raining questions from every side;
but the boy shrank away and said, warningly:
"If we are overheard, signorini mia, it will be very bad. No one must
suspect that I am here."
"Is my uncle well?" asked Patsy, imploringly.
"Quite well, mees."
"And have you also news of Count Ferralti?" anxiously enquired Louise.
"Oh, Ferralti? He is better. Some teeth are knocked out, but he eats
very well without them," replied the child, with an amused laugh.
"Where are our friends, my lad?" Kenneth asked.
"I cannot describe the place, signore; but here are letters to explain
all." The child produced a bulky package, and after a glance at each, in
turn, placed it in Patsy's hands. "Read very secretly, signorini, and
decide your course of action. To-morrow I will come for your answer. In
the meantime, confide in no one but yourselves. If you are indiscreet,
you alone will become the murderers of Signor Merrick and the sad young
Ferralti."
"Who are you?" asked Beth, examining the child closely.
"I am called Tato, signorina mia."
"Where do you live?"
"It is all explained in the letters, believe me."
Beth glanced at Patricia, who was examining the package, and now all
crowded around for a glimpse of Uncle John's well-known handwriting. The
wrapper was inscribed:
_"To Miss Doyle, Miss De Graf and Miss Merrick,_
_Hotel Castello-a-Mare, Taormina._
_By the safe hands of Tato."_
Inside were two letters, one addressed to Louise personally. She seized
this and ran a little distance away, while Beth took Uncle John's letter
from Patsy's trembling hands, and having opened it read aloud in a
clear and composed voice the following:
"My dear Nieces: (and also my dear friends, Silas Watson and
Kenneth Forbes, if they are with you) Greeting! You have
perhaps been wondering at my absence, which I will explain
by saying that I am visiting a noble acquaintance in a very
cozy and comfortable retreat which I am sure would look
better from a distance.
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There was once a king who was very powerful. He had great influence over the wild beasts and animals. Now the tortoise was looked upon as the wisest of all beasts and men. This king had a son named Ekpenyon, to whom he gave fifty young girls as wives, but the prince did not like any of them. The king was very angry at this, and made a law that if any man had a daughter who was finer than the prince's wives, and who found favour in his son's eyes, the girl herself and her father and mother should be killed.
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