“Yes, Tony, I think it was. Your position does not give you the right to insult my guests.”
Tony stiffened slightly.
“I acknowledge that I insulted him, and I’m sorry. But he insulted me, for the matter of that. I didn’t like the way he looked at me, any more than he liked the way I looked at him.”
“There is a certain deference, Tony, which an officer in the Royal Italian Army has a right to expect from a donkey-driver.”
Tony shrugged.
“It is a difficult position to hold, Miss Wilder. A donkey-driver, I find, plays the same accommodating rôle as the family watch-dog. You pat him when you choose; you kick him when you choose; and he is supposed to swallow both attentions with equal grace.”
“You should have chosen another profession.”
“Naturally, I was not flattered to find that your real reason for staying at home today, was that you were expecting more entertaining callers.”
“Is there any use in discussing it further? I am not going to climb any more mountains, and I shall not, as I told you, need a donkey-man again.”
“Then I’m discharged?”