The net result of this ill-considered action was to flood the Italian quarter of Jersey City for several days with sham detectives, to cause a thousand or two dollars to pass into the pockets of the local Tammany, and to compel me to hasten my departure for Europe on my supposed mission, in order to rebut the suspicions of the Anarchists--and, in fact, to escape their vengeance. The night before my departure there was a little supper at the club, at which the four were present. No open reference was made to the object of my journey. But after supper the half-witted Bresci, who had been one of the party, asked leave to walk home with me. ‘I wish I were going with you,’ he said suddenly. ‘I wish I could put you in an asylum, where you would be taken care of,’ was my thought in answer. I said aloud that I had reasons for going alone. ‘I know those reasons,’ the enthusiast declared. ‘Let me come with you. I am not afraid.’ For a moment I hesitated. A king’s life was in the balance, though I did not know it. I made the clever man’s common mistake--I underrated the strength of the fool. ‘Take my advice,’ I said to Bresci, ‘leave this work to men like me. You are not suited for it: you would betray yourself directly.’ His face became overcast, and he relapsed into a sullen silence which lasted till I parted from him at my own door. An hour before stepping on board the steamer that was to convey me to Havre I sent off a final wire: ‘_Am leaving to-day for Europe, pledged to kill King Humbert._’ This bitter shaft of contempt roused even the Italian police into activity. On landing at the French port I was met by a detective sent from Rome. I took him with me to a hotel, where we discussed the situation in a private room. ‘It seems to me that we are all right for the present,’ he urged. ‘As long as they think you are going to carry out the work they are not likely to send any one else.’ ‘Do not be too sure,’ I answered. ‘There is a lame watchmaker over there who does not quite trust me.’ ‘What do you propose to do?’ asked the detective. ‘To shoot King Humbert,’ I replied. The man gasped at me in sheer amazement. ‘I am going to put you to a practical test,’ I explained. ‘I am going to try and discharge a blank cartridge at the King. If you can prevent my doing so, I shall hope that his life is safe.’ ‘But what do you expect us to do? We cannot arrest you.’ ‘No; that is my point. You know that I am going to kill your King, and yet the law does not permit you to interfere till you see me put my finger to the trigger of my revolver.’ ‘We can stop you at the frontier.’ ‘Try,’ I said drily. He tried. A week later I was in Rome. In reality I did not intend to go quite so far as I had threatened. To do so would have been offensive to his Majesty. What I desired was to put the police thoroughly on the alert. I hoped to stimulate them into taking precautions which would be effective against a real assassin.