Mezzoni the Brigand — page 132: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

124 MEZZONI THE BRIGAND. stolen goods, and upon wooden tables here and there were assorted valuables, such as watches, jewelry of various kinds, and precious stones. By private marks, with which he had been made familiar, the detective identified a large amount of the valuables which had been stolen from the store of Woolf & Co., the jewelers, in the Strada St. Carlo. To this fact he especially called the attention of the local police officers, who were with him, and who, now that the game had been successfully run to earth, became suddenly very officious in their conduct and talk. A careful inventory was at once taken of these various goods, at least, so far as was practicable to do so at a first discovery, and on a brief visit. The amount of accumulations was surprising, the goods from Woolf & Co.’s store forming but a small por- tion of the whole. Undoubtedly here would be found the key to unlock the mystery of other local burg- laries, half-forgotten now. The police could hardly believe that this depository for stolen property could have so long existed under their very eyes, as it were, and still remain a secret. The English de- tective was willing to let them take any amount of credit for the present discovery. He was not a vain man, but he had his own objects in view. This vault was in itself a subject of much interest to the detective. It was not a modern structure, but had doubtless been formed at the time of the erec- tion of the palace itself, more than a century ago. At that period such families as the Correllos often had secret dungeons constructed within their walls, not for the purpose of securing valuable treasures, but rather for the confinement of human beings, po- litical prisoners and the like.