"I went to Carthage because I was condemned to three years' confinement in prison," replied Malipieri with calm.
"Prison!" exclaimed the Baroness in horror, and she looked at her husband, mutely asking why in the world he had brought a convict to their table.
The Baron smiled benignly, as he disposed of an ample mouthful of green peas, before he spoke.
"Signor Malipieri," he said, when he had swallowed the last one, "founded and edited a republican newspaper in the north of Italy."
"And you were sent to prison for that?" asked Sabina with indignation.
"It is one thing to send a man to prison," said Malipieri. "It is another to make him go there. I escaped to Switzerland, and I came back to Italy quite lately, after the amnesty."
"I am amazed!" The Baroness looked at the servants timidly, as if she expected the butler and the footman to express their disapprobation of the guest.
"I have left politics for the present," Malipieri replied, looking at
Sabina and smiling.
"Of course!" cried the Baroness. "But—" she stopped short.
"My wife," said the financier with a grin, "is afraid you have dynamite about you."