"Yes," said Malipieri. "I have known that for some time."
"The next time you know anything so interesting I wish you would inform me," replied Volterra.
His voice and his way of speaking irritated Malipieri. The Baroness had been better educated than her husband from the first; she was more adaptable and she had really learned the ways of the society she loved, but the Baron was never far from the verge of vulgarity, and he often overstepped it.
"When you asked me to help you," Malipieri said, "you knew perfectly well what my political career had been. I believe you voted for the bill which drove me out of the country."
"Did I?" The Baron watched the smoke of his cigar curling upwards.
"I think you did. Not that I bear you the least malice. I only mean that you might very naturally expect that I should be thought a suspicious person, and that detectives would follow me about."
"Nobody cares a straw for your politics," retorted Volterra rudely.
"Then I shall be the more free to think as I please," Malipieri answered with calm.
"Perfectly so. In the meantime it is not the Ministry of the Interior that is watching you. The present Ministry does not waste time and money on such nonsense. You are being watched because you are suspected of trying to get some statues or pictures out of Italy, in defiance of the Pacca law."
"Oh!" Malipieri blew a whiff of smoke out with the ejaculation, for he was surprised.