“Do as I like? That’s exactly what I can’t do. I’ll be hanged if every citizen of the great Republic that blows in on me in Naples doesn’t seem to imagine I’m a sort of man-of-all-work for him. And I’m expected to be polite, and to fetch and carry for all concerned. Truth to tell, Steele, I’m tired of it; I’ve a notion to chuck the whole outfit and go back. Now, to-night, I was kept at my office long after business hours by a persistent man who would not take ‘No’ for an answer—actually thought I was lying to him, and had the cheek to intimate as much.”
“And were you?”
“Certainly I was; but it was not etiquette for him to throw out any hints about my lack of veracity. It was all on your account, and I’d indulge in any amount of fiction to oblige a friend. He wanted your address, and wanted it badly; but I didn’t know that you were anxious to see him, so I prevaricated and told him that if he came in to-morrow morning I’d see if I could get it for him.”
“That’s singular. No one has been looking for me for years past. I thought and hoped I had been forgotten over in the States. What was his name?”
“Here is his card. Colonel Beck, of New York.”
“Colonel Beck! Thunder!”
“Know him? Don’t wish to see him, I take it.”
“No, I don’t, and I’m much obliged to you, Stokes, for holding him off. How long is he going to stay in Naples?”
“Said he was going to stay till he found you.”
“In that case I’ll strike for Calabria or Sicily or somewhere; get among the real brigands and avoid this pirate. He used to be a legal adviser to the Rockervelts and probably is yet. Supposed to be rich through fleecing innocent lambs like myself. The shorn lamb, however, avoids the wolf, so I’m off to-morrow morning.”