'That man,' I said, 'was Arthur Clyde.' 'Ah!' The sound escaped him without his knowing it. A minute later he asked, 'What was the ground of quarrel?' I told him then the story of Clyde's meeting with Grammont, and of Arthur's passion afterwards, and of our next encounter with Grammont at the end of the Chiaja on the day of the murder. 'And you are sacrificing yourself that Clyde may escape, trusting to chances to clear yourself?' I answered nothing. 'What is your motive in all this?' he asked me. What right had I to withhold it, then? what right to be ashamed of the truth? Yet I paused. 'It is not friendship for Clyde. What _is_ the motive?' 'I was silent because I waited here for events to decide what I could not decide for myself.' 'And what was that?' 'How to give Cecilia least pain.' 'Are you in love with Cecilia?' he asked me. 'No,' I answered honestly, 'I am not in love with Cecilia, but she is dearer to me than anybody in the world. I could not love my sister or my mother more tenderly.' 'H'm!' he said in his old way, when thinking. 'And what have events led you to?' 'They lead me nowhere,' I cried; 'I am helpless.' 'And so Clyde has never been here, of course. Has he escaped?' 'I cannot say.' 'It is a terrible business, Calvotti, but it is better so. You have done right. You have done well. You have done nobly. There is no evidence against you which is not so flimsy that a fly could break through it. Clyde will disappear. If he should come back again, I will warn him off--trust me. Time will console Cecilia, and you will have averted a tragedy. Here is somebody at the door.' Chain and lock creaked and jangled. The door swung inwards, and Ratuzzi appeared with the advocate. 'Signor l'Avvocato,' I said, 'this gentleman will tell you everything it concerns you to know. Or--stay. Do you speak English?' 'I speak no language but my own,' said the young advocate. 'My dear Calvotti,' said my old patron, in Italian smoother and more choicely worded than his English, one language is pretty much the same to me as another, so long as it _is_ a language, and is spoken in Europe. I have been a mercantile adventurer in Europe for more than thirty years, and have found a knowledge of languages a necessity.' 'Then, sir,' I said in English, 'deal with this gentleman according to your discretion. If you think it wise, let him know all.' 'Trust to me,' he answered, and bade me a cheery adieu. In another hour the advocate was back, again. 'Signor Calvotti,' he exclaimed, holding out his hand for mine, 'I did not know that I had a hero to defend. But I know it now. You are in no danger. It is weary waiting, but two weeks do not make up eternity; and we shall march out of the court with the drums beating.'