"
"The card is Mrs. Light's, not mine," said the Cavaliere.
"It 's a menace, at any rate?"
"The sword of Damocles! It hangs by a hair. Christina is to be given ten
minutes to recant, under penalty of having it fall. On the blade there
is something written in strange characters. Don't scratch your head; you
will not make it out."
"I think I have guessed it," Rowland said, after a pregnant silence. The
Cavaliere looked at him blankly but intently, and Rowland added, "Though
there are some signs, indeed, I don't understand."
"Puzzle them out at your leisure," said the Cavaliere, shaking his hand.
"I hear Mrs. Light; I must go to my post. I wish you were a Catholic; I
would beg you to step into the first church you come to, and pray for us
the next half-hour."
"For 'us'? For whom?"
"For all of us. At any rate remember this: I worship the Christina!"
Rowland heard the rustle of Mrs. Light's dress; he turned away, and the
Cavaliere went, as he said, to his post. Rowland for the next couple of
days pondered his riddle.
CHAPTER XI. Mrs. Hudson
Of Roderick, meanwhile, Rowland saw nothing; but he immediately went to
Mrs.
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