human
When you asked me to help you, Malipieri said,
gpt
Did I?
human
I think you did. Not that I bear you the least malice. I only mean that you might very naturally expect that I should be thought a suspicious person, and that detectives would follow me about.
gpt
Nobody cares a straw for your politics,
human
Then I shall be the more free to think as I please,
gpt
Perfectly so. In the meantime it is not the Ministry of the Interior that is watching you. The present Ministry does not waste time and money on such nonsense. You are being watched because you are suspected of trying to get some statues or pictures out of Italy, in defiance of the Pacca law.
human
Oh!
gpt
I have it from one of the cabinet, Volterra continued.
human
He told me the facts confidentially after dinner. You see, as you are living in my house, the suspicion is reflected on me.
gpt
In your house?
human
The Palazzo Conti is my house, answered the Baron, taking his cigar from his mouth for the first time since he had lighted it, and holding it out at arm's length with a possessive sweep while he leaned back and looked at the ceiling again.
gpt
It all belongs to me, he said.
human
I took it for the mortgage, with everything in it.
gpt
By the bye, said Malipieri,
human
Was there a Velasquez?
gpt
Yes. It was famous all over Europe. It was a family portrait.
human
I remember! It turned out to be a copy after all.
gpt
A copy!
human
Yes, the original is in Madrid,
gpt
And all those other pictures turned out to be copies, too, I daresay,
human
Every one of them. It was a worthless collection.
gpt
In that case it was hardly worth while to take so much trouble in getting them out of the country secretly.
human
That was the dealer's affair, answered Volterra without the least hesitation.
gpt
Dealers are such fools! They always make a mystery of everything.