"Why not?"
"I am not sure what you would do if you were told it suddenly. Are your nerves pretty good? You used to be a delicate boy, though I confess that you look much stronger now."
"You need not fear for my nerves," Marcello answered with a short laugh. "If they are sound after what I have been through in the last two years they will stand anything!"
"Yes. Perhaps you had better know, though I warn you that what I am going to say will be a shock to you, of which you do not dream."
"You must be exaggerating!" Marcello smiled incredulously. "You had better tell me at once, or I shall imagine it is much worse than it is."
"It could not be," Kalmon answered. "It is hard even to tell, and not only because what happened was in a distant way my fault."
"Your fault? For heaven's sake tell me what the matter is, and let us be done with it!"
"Corbario wanted to get possession of your whole fortune. That is why he tried to kill you."
"Yes. Is that all? You have made me understand that already."
"He had conceived the plan before your mother's death," said Kalmon.