"You need not fear insult from me, for I, like yourself, am a gentleman born. My father was of good family, he was an officer in the royal army, and died in the service of the king."
"Then how can you—" Horace stopped short, being afraid of saying something that might offend.
"How can I consort with such ruffians? You would ask. No matter; that is no business of yours. Men may be bound by other kind of chain than that which you drag so wearily along."
There was extreme bitterness in the young man's tone, and though Horace could not see the face of the speaker in the gloom, he imagined how the thin lip was twitching and the restless eye wandering around.
Horace was anxious to ascertain to a certainty whether Raphael were the brother to whom reference had been made, and who had been spoken of as "the Rossignol," but he was afraid of drawing the e improvisatore into difficulty or danger by letting it be known that he had ever seen him. As a leading question, Horace asked Enrico whether he knew English, remembering that Raphael had uttered his second warning in that language.
"No; is it likely that I should?" answered the robber.
Foiled in his first attempt to gain information, Horace made another. "Why did that fellow call your brother a lunatic?" said he.
"Because he is one!" replied Enrico impatiently. "None but a madman would be always putting his head into the lion's mouth, certain that it must be bitten off at last!"
"Does he belong to the band?" asked Horace.
"Yes—no—what is it to you?" cried Enrico.