I came here with a single mind, to redeem my honour by placing again in your Eminence's hands that which you gave me on trust, and here I do place it.' For a moment he remained in the same attitude, staring at me fixedly.
Then his face relaxed somewhat.
'Be good enough to ring that bell,' he said.
It stood on a table near me.

I rang it, and a velvet-footed man in black came in, and gliding up to the Cardinal, placed a paper in his hand.

The Cardinal looked at it; while the man stood with his head obsequiously bent, and my heart beat furiously.
'Very good,' his Eminence said, after a pause which seemed to me to be endless, 'Let the doors be thrown open.' The man bowed low, and retired behind the screen.

I heard a little bell ring somewhere in the silence, and in a moment the Cardinal stood up.
'Follow me!' he said, with a strange flash of his keen eyes.
Astonished, I stood aside while he passed to the screen; then I followed him.

Outside the first door, which stood open, we found eight or nine persons--pages, a monk, the major-domo, and several guards waiting like mutes.