—of certain other unfortunates who may be, to speak vulgarly, wanted—by the police.
PIKE
[coolly]
You're anxious about that, are you?[pg 116]
HAWCASTLE
So deeply that I ascertained the penalty for it. You may confirm my information by appealing to the nearest carabiniere—strange to say, many of them are very near. The minimum penalty for one whose kind heart has thus betrayed him—
[he turns up sharply toward the lighted windows of hotel, then sharply again to PIKE, his voice lifting]
—is two years' imprisonment, and Italian prisons, I am credibly informed, are quite ferociously unpleasant.
PIKE
[gently]