“What advantage would success bring you?”
“I don’t know if I mentioned that I was his agent.”
“O! I see, I see. I beg your pardon—his matrimonial agent, of course. That reassures me. I confess at first I was sceptical of such altruism. But here’s my Bonito. Well, we are one there, if from different sentiments. And does he know of your intentions towards him?”
“The Fates forbid!”
“I understand you. It is quite plain that he wants nursing, reassuring, coaxing back into a measure of self-confidence. He is a desponding spirit, that’s the truth, and determined to read his scrap of purgatory into utter damnation.”
“Well, I have answered you. Will you tell me where he is?”
“Certainly I will, your sentiments being what they are. I have persuaded him to place himself under the healing care of the virtuous Signorina Brambello.”
“Your—!”
Bonito exclaimed and grinned.
“You are certainly very silly or very deep,” he said. “How do you propose to speed his recovery that way?”