"Goes on famously."
"No suspicion?"
"Not the shadow."
The general breathed like a man from whose chest a crushing weight has been just removed.
"Can I be of any service to you?" he said, absently.
"For the present, I have only come for your sake."
"How so?"
"I was accosted today by a lepero, a villain of the worst sort, who says that he wishes to avenge himself on a certain Frenchman, whom he declares you know, and he desires to place himself under your protection, in the event of the blade of his navaja accidentally slipping into his enemy's body."
"Hum! that is serious," the general said with an imperceptible start. "I do not know how far I dare go in being bail for such a scoundrel."
"He declares that you have known him a long time, and that while doing his own business, he will be doing yours."