"Then you are a man of heart?" Maria Consuelo seemed amused.
"I make no pretence to being a man of head, Madame."
"You are not easily caught."
"Nor Del Ferice either."
"Why do you talk of him?"
"The opportunity is good, Madame. As he is just gone, we know that he is not coming."
"You can be very sarcastic, when you like," said Maria Consuelo. "But I do not believe that you are as bitter as you make yourself out to be. I do not even believe that you found Del Ferice so very disagreeable as you pretend. You were certainly interested in what he said."
"Interest is not always agreeable. The guillotine, for instance, possesses the most lively interest for the condemned man at an execution."
"Your illustrations are startling. I once saw an execution, quite by accident, and I would rather not think of it. But you can hardly compare Del Ferice to the guillotine."
"He is as noiseless, as keen and as sure," said Orsino smartly.