Presently the stranger stopped before the large door of an old palazzo,--every house is a palazzo that has an entrance for carriages, and let himself in with a key.

There was a lantern on the stone pavement inside, and seeing a light, Nino followed him boldly.

The old gentleman took the lantern and led the way up the stairs, apologising for the distance and the darkness.

At last they stopped, and, entering another door, found themselves in the stranger's apartment.
"A cardinal lives downstairs," said he, as he turned up the light of a couple of large lamps that burned dimly in the room they had reached.
"The secretary of a very holy order has his office on the other side of my landing, and altogether this is a very religious atmosphere.
Pray take off your cloak; the room is warm." Nino looked about him.

He had expected to be ushered into some princely dwelling, for he had judged his interlocutor to be some rich and eccentric noble, unless he were an erratic scamp.