"A stroke of chance has given her to the Onda, but," the General slowed his words, emphasizing each one, "but with Giorgio Terni as her fantino, that is not luck. That is destiny."
CHAPTER XXII
Speak! Speak!
Immediately after Giorgio's talk with General Barbarulli, four bodyguards were assigned to him. They were tall, strapping fellows—Carlo, Pinotto, Enzio, and Nello. Their eyes followed him wherever he went. They never let him alone. Even at night he could feel them peering at him, boring right through him in the dark.
"Am I a dog on a leash?" he asked, trying to make a joke of it.
The young men only laughed at the trapped-animal look of him. "We attach ourselves to you," Carlo said kindly, "to prevent rival contradas from coming with secret offers."
"But no one will! Even the Chief-of-the-Guards tells me that. He says I have not yet seen enough Palios."