It seemed to them that they heard footsteps in the next room.
“Who's there?” demanded the lad, recovering his breath with an effort.
No one replied.
“Who is it?” asked Ferruccio again, chilled with terror.
But hardly had he pronounced these words when both uttered a shriek of terror. Two men sprang into the room. One of them grasped the boy and placed one hand over his mouth; the other clutched the old woman by the throat.
The first said: “Silence, unless you want to die!”
The second said: “Be quiet!” and raised aloft a knife.
Both had dark cloths over their faces, with holes for the eyes.
For a moment nothing was heard but the gasping breath of all four and the patter of the rain. The old woman rattled in her throat, and her eyes were starting from her head.
The man who held the boy said in his ear, “Where does your father keep his money?”
The lad replied faintly, between chattering teeth, “Yonder—in the cupboard.”
“Come with me,” said the man.
And he dragged him into the closet room, holding him securely by the throat. There was a dark lantern standing on the floor.
“Where is the cupboard?” he demanded.
The gasping boy pointed it out.
