“Ah! You are acquainted with that anecdote? Indeed you have been well informed. Do you also know that Stevenson, to whom in a fit of madness I had said that he would never see her again, beat me with his cane, and left me almost dead on the spot?”
“The stick presented to him by the Prince of Wales, doubtless. You must have felt highly flattered. It did not prevent you two days later from going to the Empire, and cheering your brutal persecutor.”
“Yes, I loved the wretch; but now, luckily, all that is over.”
Lichtenbach burst into a laugh.
“What have you done with the handsome Cesare Agostini?”
“Ah! He forms a mere pastime for me. I must interest myself in some one or other. That is no passion at all.”
“All the same, he costs you a great deal, I suppose?”
“Enormous sums! These Italians are terrible spendthrifts. This one knows one good way of making money, and ten better ways of spending it. In the first place, he is a gambler, and then, he cannot see a fine ring without buying it. But then, he has a few good qualities. He is no novice at either pistol or sword.”
“He is simply a bravo.”
“At your service, if there is any one you wish to be rid of.”