It was easy to guess that the engineer had slept badly, tormented perhaps by whatever it was that he wished to impart to Moreno.
The government employee sat down and prepared to listen. Canterac remained standing, so as to be free to walk up and down when his restlessness overcame him.
“This Pirovani fellow, for all his vulgarity, is always getting ahead of me ... just because he is rich!”
Canterac pointed to the packages.
“There are the perfumes we ordered from Buenos Aires. Perfectly useless purchase! The Italian got his before I did.”
Moreno made haste to exonerate himself. He had done everything he could to get the order sent down in time. But the other order had in some mysterious way come sooner. Perhaps the Italian had sent a messenger to the capital for it....
Canterac, in spite of his disappointment, didn’t want to appear ill-natured. He accepted Moreno’s excuses, and slapped him on the back in friendly fashion.
“I couldn’t sleep a wink last night, my dear fellow. I have a scheme I want to consult you about. Something must be done to put this intriguing Italian, who has the cheek to get in my way, back in his proper place.... All these people around here seem to think themselves our equals as though all distinctions between them and us had been suppressed. Why I shouldn’t be surprised if that fellow, in spite of the fact that he takes his orders from me, thought himself my superior ... just because he has money!”
Canterac smiled with a cruel gleam in his eyes and went on,
“But I’ll help him get rid of some of it! Up to the present I’ve been willing to approve officially of his contract work. But I’m not going to any more and he’ll lose by it. He’ll have to break his agreement and get out of here....”