“Where am I?”
The reply came from another mouth than Rinaldo's.
“You are in the poor lodging of the shoemaker, whose shoes, if you had thought fit to wear them, would have conducted you anywhere but to this place.”
“Who are you?” Wilfrid moaned.
“You ask who I am. I am the Eye of Italy. I am the Cat who sees in the dark.” Barto Rizzo raised the lamp and stood at his feet. “Look straight. You know me, I think.”
Wilfrid sighed, “Yes, I know you; do your worst.”
His head throbbed with the hearing of a heavy laugh, as if a hammer had knocked it. What ensued he knew not; he was left to his rest. He lay there many days and nights, that were marked by no change of light; the lamp burned unwearyingly. Rinaldo and a woman tended him. The sign of his reviving strength was shown by a complaint he launched at the earthy smell of the place.
“It is like death,” said Rinaldo, coming to his side. “I am used to it, and familiar with death too,” he added in a musical undertone.
“Are you also a prisoner here?” Wilfrid questioned him.
“I am.”