itch stood upright,
his cigar balanced between his first and second fingers, dominating, or
seeking to dominate, the whole party.

"I especially desire," he said, in his strong German accent, and ticking
off on his left forefinger every important syllable, with such emphasis
that he scattered the ashes of his cigar into his own wineglass--"I
especially desire that Signor Roncivalli should understand with extreme
definiteness that there is no escape from the position which he has
elected to assume."

"No fear of me, my friend," Roncivalli answered. The liquid Italian
played against the German guttural like the warble of a flute answering
the snarl of a violoncello. "I am doing what I know. Until our friend
Rossano came to England I had a place from which he was good enough
to depose me. You may say what you like, Herr Sacovitch, but the
independence of my country is secure. Italy wins; and I desire Italy to
win. I will help you to your Count Rossano if you want him, and if you
will pay me for it, because I hate him, and because he is in my way. But
Italy wins, all the same."

There was a candor about this which I could appreciate, but Sacovitch
turned upon his purchased traitor with something very like a snarl.

"Understand," he said, in his thick German-English, "that I buy you or I
do not buy you. Whether I buy you or not, you are sold already. Our last
talk was overheard by a fellow-committeeman of yours, who is in my pay,
and who will go back to his old patriotism, or come to me, exactly as I
tell him."

"I am here for a service," responded Roncivalli "I will do one thing for
you, as I have told you all along, and I will do no more. I will give
you the Count Rossano, who is in my way, and I will not give you any
real chance over Italy for anything you may offer me. I will take your
money because I want it, and I will serve your turn because it suits me.
How I reconcile these matters with my own conscience is my own affair."

"Your conscience is your own," Sacovitch answered; "the question of
your conduct is our consideration. I want you only to understand that
a single false move on either side--" He took a deep pull at his cigar
there, and made a purposed pause for effect. "I think, ladies and
gentlemen, you will agree with me that I do not exaggerate. Swerve an
inch to right or left," he added, "and you lose your life."

Roncivalli's flute-like voice followed the troubled grumble of the
German's threat.