"
"You will now be good enough to listen, my Calabressa."
"I beg your Excellency's pardon a thousand times."
"It appears that both mother and daughter are beset with the suspicion
that this duty has been put upon their English friend by unfair means.
At first I said to myself these suspicions were foolish; they now appear
to me more reasonable. You, at all events, are acquainted with the old
story against Ferdinand Lind; you know how he forfeited his life to the
Society; how it was given back to him. You would think it impossible he
would risk such another adventure. Well, perhaps I wrong him; but there
is a possibility; there are powerful reasons, I can gather, why he
should wish to get rid of this Englishman."
Calabressa said nothing now, but he was greatly excited.
"We had been urging him about money, Calabressa mio--that I will explain
to you. It has been coming in slowest of all from England, the richest
of the countries, and just when we had so much need. Then, again, there
is a vacancy in the Council, and Lind has a wish that way.
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