“Not a sparrow falls to the ground in Louisiana that your Excellency does not hear of it,” she answered.
“And Gignoux?” he said, speaking to me again.
“As I told you, Monsieur le Baron,” I answered, “I have come to New Orleans at a personal sacrifice to induce my cousin to abandon this matter, and I went out last evening to try to get word of him.” This was not strictly true. “I saw Monsieur Gignoux in conference with some of your officers who came out of this hotel.”
“You have sharp eyes, Monsieur,” he remarked.
“I suspected the man when I met him in Kentucky,” I continued, not heeding this. “Monsieur Vigo himself distrusted him. To say that Gignoux were deep in the councils of the expedition, that he held a commission from Citizen Genêt, I realize will have no weight with your Excellency,—provided the man is in the secret service of his Majesty the King of Spain.”
“Mr. Ritchie,” said the Baron, “you are a young man and I an old one. If I tell you that I have a great respect for your astuteness and ability, do not put it down to flattery. I wish that your countrymen, who are coming down the river like driftwood, more resembled you. As for Citizen Gignoux,” he went on, smiling, and wiping his face, “let not your heart be troubled. His Majesty's minister at Philadelphia has written me letters on the subject. I am contemplating for Monsieur Gignoux a sea voyage to Havana, and he is at present partaking of my hospitality in the calabozo.”
“In the calabozo!” I cried, overwhelmed at this example of Spanish justice and omniscience.
“Precisely,” said the Baron, drumming with his fingers on his fat knee. “And now,” he added, “perhaps Madame la Vicomtesse is ready to tell me of the whereabouts of Mr. Temple and her estimable cousin, Auguste. It may interest her to know why I have allowed them their liberty so long.”
“A point on which I have been consumed with curiosity—since I have begun to tremble at the amazing thoroughness of your Excellency's system,” said the Vicomtesse.
His Excellency scarcely looked the tyrant as he sat before us, with his calves crossed and his hands folded on his waistcoat and his little black eyes twinkling.