Tombstone epitaph., 1915-06-27

glance at its contents made me turn pale. There. reposing in a place of honor in the center of the other gems, was the onyx engraved with the pro- file of vespasian!
 Tt was now for the first time that a light began to break upon my mind To you, who hear only the circum- stances which l have been obliged to mention in making my story clear. it has. no doubt. been easy to guess the solution all along can only say that till I saw the seal there in its place. as if nothing had happened. not the faintest suspicion of the truth had entered my mind.
 The person who had restored that seal to its place must, of course, be in possession of the secret of vescaros S fate. And that person could be equally only one man-Cardinal Salvatierra
 At last l began to perceive the manner in which 1 had been duped The last l had seen of Vescaro was when he was walking towards the end of the gallery with the seal in his hand. followed by Salvatierra and the Dominican. had only the cardin- al's assurance-his suggestion rather that the count had ever returned!
 Stunned by this blow, I turned a glance towards the end wall, which have already described as being GOV cred with a mirror, which gave a de- ceptive appearance to the length of the gallery. 1 started. and gave vent to a stified cry This wall was close to. almost touching the case which contained the seals.
 T rubbed my eyes and stared How, If this were so. could have seen Yes caro and the two others walk of in that direction? I gazed round dis tractedly searching for something to enlighten me. observed the Egyptian statue still in its place. though it. also, now appeared to be standing close up against the end wall. I looked further for the Buddhist idol on it's bracket. It was nowhere to be seen! l became positive-yes. the bracket supporting the idol was farther along the wall which I now beheld was a false one, which could be withdrawn at will, leaving space beyond!
 The trap once closed, no doubt there had been men waiting to rush out and secure the prisoner, while Salvatierra and the Dominican perhaps familiar of the holy office had made their way back by some secret passage.
 T made a brief examination of the walls of the gallery, and found what I expected. Immediately behind the Egyptian statue was panel, which sounded hollow to my knock It was no doubt opened by a secret spring, and the statue had been placed there to conceal the opening.
 There was no more for me to do Tn the gallery, and l came away. But had not yet ascertained Vescaro's ultimate fate.
 The evidence was supplied to me almost by accident On quitting the museum l turned into the grounds of the Vatican, where l had special priv ileges as an ambassador to the court, and which l had never properly eX- plored. The vast extent of these grounds is well known, and I wan dered on idly till I came to what ap- peared to be a disused cemetery, hid den in a remote corner. Guided, per haps, by an intuition, passed into this little burial ground, in which I had not walked far before I perceived in front of me what had the aspect of a rewly-made grave. stepped hast lily forward, and on a small stone which had been placed at the head I read the inscription in Latin: