He thanked her again and bade her good-night.

Two or three minutes later he heard the motor puffing and wheezing, and Pica came back after shutting the door.

Ugo now sent him over to the guard-room with a message to the lieutenant on duty, requesting him to write a brief official account of the occurrence and to send it by hand to headquarters the next morning.

It was necessary that another officer should take Ugo's place in command of the fort while he was in hospital.
Pica came back again in a few moments.

Then Ugo insisted on having writing-materials, and sat up, propped with cushions, while he wrote a short note to the Minister of War, explaining what had happened, and that he would not leave his home on the morrow till his brother had arrived, but that some further arrangement must be made if Giovanni was to lodge in the house, which would probably be wanted for the officer who was to take his own place.