‘What on earth is going on?’ said Haight. ‘What are you doing up here? We’ve been terribly worried about you. Somebody said they’d seen you come up this way. We’ve got people searching everywhere for you…’ He stopped, a worried look on his handsome features. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’

‘There’s a girl, sir,’ said James, not knowing where to start, his brain too tired to think clearly.

‘What girl?’

‘Amy Goodenough, sir. Mark’s sister. She’s alive. She’s here. Locked in a room. Count Ugo has her prisoner.’

‘Amy Goodenough is here?’

‘Yes. We have to help her. It’s not safe here.’

‘You sound delirious, James,’ said Haight kindly, helping James to his feet. ‘Come with me. We’ll go back down.’

Haight led him along the alleyway.

‘Count Ugo, sir,’ said James. ‘He’s not really a count. He’s a bandit, the biggest bandit on the island. He hopes one day to be the biggest bandit in the world. He’s the head of a secret organization called the Millenaria…’

‘Now I know you’re delirious,’ said Haight.

‘You have to believe me,’ said James. ‘I know it sounds crazy.’

‘I don’t know what to think, James. I just want to get you down to the valley and safely into bed.’

‘No,’ James stopped walking. ‘Mister Cooper-ffrench, sir.’

‘Cooper-ffrench?’ said Haight, raising his eyebrows. ‘What about him?’

‘He works for Ugo,’ said James.

Haight laughed. ‘What on earth are you talking about? He’s a humble Latin master.’

‘I saw him in Eton, sir,’ said James. ‘In a building full of Millenaria stuff. And Ugo’s man, Smiler, with a scar on his face, he was there. And that’s why Cooper-ffrench came out to Sardinia, sir, to meet up with Ugo. That’s why we’re all here.’

Haight’s face showed growing concern.

‘This is a very serious claim, James,’ he said.

‘I know,’ said James.

‘But, whether it’s true or not, you really shouldn’t be here. We’ll go down to the town and you can tell me all about it on the way.’

‘Thank you, sir,’ said James.

Haight led James through the palazzo. As they walked, James told him all he could, in a rush of confused sentences. He told him all about that first night with the Danger Society, and Merriot’s letter, the cult of Mithras, Perry’s stolen painting, and he was just starting to tell him about Cooper-ffrench’s behaviour on the expedition when they arrived at a large, wooden door.

James hadn’t really been paying attention to their route as he babbled on to Haight, and now he stopped to see where they were.

‘I don’t think this is right, sir,’ he said. ‘We’ve come the wrong way.’

Haight sighed. ‘You know your way around here better than I do.’

‘I’m lost now, though,’ said James.