I let this go without a reply, but he guessed my reason for silence.
“Had you any such information in your possession?” he asked, shooting a quick questioning glance at me.
“I think I would rather not answer that question.”
“That means that you had, of course, and makes the matter all the stranger.”
“Well, I’ll admit I knew something,” I said on second thoughts, reflecting that I should have to explain the previous night’s affair. “These are the facts. You remember warning me not to be in the streets at night. I disregarded the warning and on the second night I got into the middle of a fight between the mob and the police, and had to run for it. By chance I found shelter in that house in the Rua Catania and afterwards learnt the character of the place.”
“You saw some of these villains there, of course?”
“Yes, and had a bit of trouble, but I got out all right.”
“Do you know the men?”
“Yes,” I said, after considering. “But the position is this. I only got away by passing my word of honour not to speak of anything or any person I had seen there.”
“Of course such a pledge given under those circumstances is not to be considered binding. Do you know the names of any of them or——”