"_Buon giorno caro mio Pignana_,"[O] said the Count, advancing to meet him. "You are not the last to visit me, and I am deeply touched by your visit. He is my landlord, Signori, an excellent man. Something of an Arab, it is true, in money matters; but as he is an old tradesman, you see it is impossible for him to change his habits. For twenty years he furnished the family liveries, and the result is that now he is richer than me." "Ah, my Lord," said Pignana, "you flatter me." "Not at all, Signor," said Monte-Leone. "Now you can yourself have liveries with the Pignana arms, '_Two winged shears on a field argent_,' a regular tailor's escutcheon." "How then," asked one of the young men, "is Signor Pignana your landlord--is it of this hotel or of your beautiful palace?" "Ah," said the Count, "he is not exactly my landlord yet, but he will be if my friend and creditor, Signor Pignana, continues to lend me money at cent. per cent. At present, however, the excellent man only owns my Etruscan house, a very gem of a thing, which he rents to me, and for which I am much obliged." "It is I who am obliged," muttered Pignana. "Ah!" said the Count, with a smile, "I believe you. That house had nearly become historical. If the executioner of Naples, the father of a family, and passionately fond of flowers," continued the Count to his friends, "with whom I passed a fortnight at the Castle _Del Uovo_, had been forced to arrange matters for me, the house in which Monte-Leone was arrested would have become historical. Pignana could have let it out to tourists, and could have retailed the stores for the London museums. Instead of this piece of good fortune, which I am very glad was not Pignana's, he possesses a good tenant, who will some day pay him punctually, when he has himself been paid all that is due him; for you can fancy how the arrest of one man discourages the business of others. All his debtors, all the friends of his purse, leap with joy; he seems at once outlawed, especially to those who are indebted to him. The most honest merely pray that his imprisonment may be prolonged; the least delicate pray that the executioner may send them a receipt." "But the Count also has some true friends who would be distressed at his death," said Pignana. "Monsignore counts me among them." Pignana probably uttered these words under the influence of great emotion, for a tear hung on the lid of his eye above an aquiline nose of immense size. "My dear Pignana," said the Count, "I know how far I can depend on you, for _I know you_." Monte-Leone accented this word, the significance of which to Pignana was very expressive, for he looked proudly around, as if the Count had given him a certificate of valor and courage. "I am about to give you the list of our men--that is to say of our transactions,"[P] said the old man, eagerly correcting himself.