"You"re no great shakes anyhow," said he.
"Signore?" said the Interpreter.
"Doesn"t it strike you that you are talking infernal nonsense?" asked the Senator in a slightly argumentative tone of voice, throwing one leg over another, tilting back his chair, and folding his arms.
"Your language is disrespectful," was the indignant reply.
"Yours strikes me as something of the same kind, too; but more --it is absurd."
"What do you mean?"
"You say I stir up the people."
"Yes. Do you deny it?"
"Pooh! How can a man stir up the people when he can"t speak a word of the language?"
The Chief of Police did not reply for a moment.
"I rather think I"ve got you there," said the Senator, dryly. "Hey?
old Hoss?"
("Old Hoss" was an epithet which he used when he was in a good humor.) He felt that he had the best of it here, and his anger was gone. He therefore tilted his chair back farther, and placed his feet upon the back of a chair that was in front of him.
"There are Italians in Rome who speak English," was at length the rejoinder.
"I wish I could find some then," said the Senator. "It"s worse than looking for a needle in a hay-stack, they"re so precious few."
"You have met one."
"And I can"t say feel over-proud of the acquaintance," said the Senator, in his former dry tone, looking hard at the Interpreter.
"At the Cafe Cenacci, I mean."
"The what? Where"s that?"
"Where you were this morning."
"Oh ho! that"s it--ah? And was my friend there one of your friends too?" asked the Senator, as light burst in upon him.
"He was sufficiently patriotic to give warning."
"Oh--patriotic?--he was, was he?" said the Senator, slowly, while his eyes showed a dangerous light.
"Yes--patriotic. He has watched you for some time."
"Watched me!" and the Senator frowned wrathfully.
"Yes, all over Rome, wherever you went."
"Watched me! dogged me! tracked me! Aha?"
"So you are known."
"Then the man is a spy."
"He is a patriot."
"Why the mean concern sat next me, attracted my attention by reading English, and encouraged me to speak as I did. Why don"t you arrest him?"
"He did it to test you."
"To test me! How would he like me to test him?"
"The Government looks on your offense with lenient eyes."
"Ah!"
"And content themselves this time with giving you warning."
"Very much obliged; but tell your Government not to be alarmed. I won"t hurt them."
Upon this the two visitors took their leave.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Walking Spanish.]
The Senator informed his two friends about the visit, and thought very lightly about it; but the recollection of one thing rankled in his mind.
That spy! The fellow had humbugged him. He had dogged him, tracked him, perhaps for weeks, had drawn him into conversation, asked leading questions, and then given information. If there was any thing on earth that the Senator loathed it was this.
But how could such a man be punished! That was the thought. Punishment could only come from one. The law could do nothing. But there was one who could do something, and that one was himself. Lynch law!
"My fayther was from Bosting, My uncle was Judge Lynch, So, darn your fire and roasting, You can not make me flinch."
The Senator hummed the above elegant words all that evening.
He thought he could find the man yet. He was sure he would know him.
He would devote himself to this on the next day. The next day he went about the city, and at length in the afternoon he came to Pincian Hill. There was a great crowd there as usual. The Senator placed himself in a favorable position, in which he could only be seen from one point, and then watched with the eye of a hawk.
He watched for about an hour. At the end of that time he saw a face. It belonged to a man who had been leaning against a post with his back turned toward the Senator all this time. It was _the face_!
The fellow happened to turn it far enough round to let the Senator see him. He was evidently watching him yet. The Senator walked rapidly toward him. The man saw him and began to move as rapidly away. The Senator increased his pace. So did the man. The Senator walked still faster. So did the man. The Senator took long strides.
The man took short, quick ones. It is said that the fastest pedestrians are those who take short, quick steps. The Senator did not gain on the other.
By this time a vast number of idlers had been attracted by the sight of these two men walking as if for a wager. At last the Senator began to run. So did the man!