Bernard to Aosta, near which place he had once lived;
that the work he had heard of there was already given to another; and
that, walking back to rejoin his family near Martigny, he had found
the bag on the Pass. He had brought it home, and had only just learned
the address of the owner, as set forth in the handbills.
"Why didn't he bring the bag to you, and claim the reward?" I asked.
"It is at the house of the priest, and the priest has been away all
day, visiting a relative in the country somewhere, who is ill, so this
man, Andriolo Stefani, couldn't get the bag. But he came to tell me
that it was found, and where it was."
"And he pretends to be guiding you to the house of the priest now?"
"No. I'm going to his house--or rather, the room where he and his wife
and children live."
"For goodness' sake, why?"
"Because he's refused to accept the reward for finding the bag."
"By Jove, he must have some deep game. What reason did he give, and
what excuse did he make, for dragging you off to his lair? It sounds
as if he meant to try and kidnap you for a ransom--(these things do
happen, you know)--and there are probably others in it besides
himself. I don't believe in the priest, nor the wife and children, nor
even in his having found the bag."
"He didn't ask me to go to his house. When I spoke of the reward, he
said that he couldn't take it, and though I questioned him, would not
tell me why, but was evidently distressed and unhappy.
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