"You know that he was arrested on a serious charge?"
"I do."
"You also know that, when condemned to death by a military tribunal for conspiring against the person of the late sovereign, his sentence was commuted by the King, but that one of his associates, condemned at the same time, and for the same crime, escaped all punishment because he was not then at the disposition of the law?"
"Yes."
"That was the young man who lived with him as his adopted son?"
"It was."
There was a moment's pause during which nothing could be heard but the quick breathing of the Capuchin and the scratching of the secretary's pen.
"During the past few months you have made the acquaintance in Rome of the Deputy David Rossi?"
"I have."
The Capuchin moved in his seat. "Acquaintance! The lady is married to the Deputy."