“I’m well enough to do what I like again,” he said. “I expect you came here now and then.”
“I did, but they would only let me see you once. I suppose you know you were very ill?”
“Yes; I feel like that. But I dare say you saw Kenwardine. It looks as if this is his house.”
“It is. We brought you here because it’s near the street where you got stabbed.”
Dick said nothing for a minute, and then asked: “What’s Kenwardine doing in Santa Brigida?”
“It’s hard to say. Like other foreigners in the town, he’s probably here for what he can get; looking for concessions or a trading monopoly of some kind.”
“Ah!” said Dick. “I’m not sure. But do you like him?”
“Yes. He strikes me as a bit of an adventurer, but so are the rest of them, and he’s none the worse for that. Trying to get ahead of dago politicians is a risky job.”
“Is he running this place as a gambling house?”
“No,” said Jake warmly; “that’s much too strong. There is some card play evenings, and I’ve lost a few dollars myself, but the stakes are moderate and anything he makes on the bank wouldn’t be worth while. He enjoys a game, that’s all. So do other people; we’re not all like you.”