CHAPTER I.
THE CONTESSA'S LETTER TO MR. MOLE--ON PLEASURE BENT--THE
MENDICANT FRIAR--MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS--HOUSE BREAKING.
When Mrs. Harkaway's maid returned to the villa, she got scolded for
being so long upon an errand of some importance with which she had been
entrusted.
Thereupon, she was prepared with twenty excuses, all of which were any
thing but the truth.
The words of warning which the brigand had called after her had not
been without their due effect.
"She had been detained," she said, "by the Contessa Maraviglia for the
letter which she brought back to Mr. Mole."
The letter was an invitation to a grand ball which was to be given by
the contessa at the Palazzo Maraviglia, and to which the Harkaways were