human
So you think that you have news that might affect me? /Corpo di Bacco/! I am curious to learn what?
gpt
I may be mistaken--that depends on your answer to one question. Do you know the Count of Peschiera?
human
Enough, said Randal;
gpt
I see that I am right. Believe in my sincerity. I speak but to warn and to serve you. The count seeks to discover the retreat of a countryman and kinsman of his own.
human
And for what end? cried Riccabocca, thrown off his guard, and his breast dilated, his crest rose, and his eye flashed; valour and defiance broke from habitual caution and self-control.
gpt
But--pooh! he added, striving to regain his ordinary and half-ironical calm,
human
Dr. Riccabocca--nothing. But-- here Randal put his lip close to the Italian's ear, and whispered a brief sentence. Then retreating a step, but laying his hand on the exile's shoulder, he added,
gpt
Need I say that your secret is safe with me?
human
And I shall esteem it the highest honour you can bestow on me, to be permitted to assist you in forestalling danger.
gpt
Sir, I thank you; you have my secret, and I feel assured it is safe, for I speak to an English gentleman. There may be family reasons why I should avoid the Count di Peschiera; and, indeed, he is safest from shoals who steers clearest of his relations.
human
I know little of the Count of Peschiera save from the current talk of the world. He is said to hold the estates of a kinsman who took part in a conspiracy against the Austrian power.
gpt
It is true. Let that content him; what more does he desire? You spoke of forestalling danger; what danger? I am on the soil of England, and protected by its laws.
human
Allow me to inquire if, had the kinsman no child, the Count di Peschiera would be legitimate and natural heir to the estates he holds?
gpt
He would--What then?
human
Does that thought suggest no danger to the child of the kinsman?
gpt
The child! You do not mean to imply that this man, infamous though he be, can contemplate the crime of an assassin?