"He glared, as though knowing that the question would be an awkward one. I met his gaze and put the question firmly.
"'What I want to know is this: What is the Camorra? Why have I been invited—unceremoniously and with menaces—to subscribe to it? To what purpose would my subscription have been devoted had I paid it instead of felling the agent of the society—the collector of its tribute—with an unexpected blow?'
"But I did not get the plain answer to the plain question which I thought I had a right to. Nor did I get admiration for my courageous feat of arms. My landlord's face expressed only amazement and dismay. He threw up his arms with the gesture of a man abandoning hope.
"'The signor struck the Camorrista?'
"'I have already told you that I struck him with great force, to the astonishment of the spectators. I left him in the gutter of the street of——'
"'Then the life of the signor is in peril, and my life also. The vengeance of the Camorra——'
"'What is this Camorra, then?' I interrupted.
"'The Camorra is——"
"'Well?'
"'The Camorra is the Camorra. It is forbidden to say more.'