release of the captain. I even went so far as to threaten, and I said
that if I were in the place of the officer I would demand a public
reparation. The priest laughed at my threats; it was just what I wanted,
and after asking me whether I had taken leave of my senses, the
chancellor told me to apply to the captain of the 'sbirri'.

"I shall go to somebody else," I said, "reverend sir, besides the captain
of the 'sbirri'."

Delighted at having made matters worse, I left him and proceeded straight
to the house of General Spada, but being told that he could not be seen
before eight o'clock, I returned to the inn.

The state of excitement in which I was, the ardour with which I had made
the affair mine, might have led anyone to suppose that my indignation had
been roused only by disgust at seeing an odious persecution perpetrated
upon a stranger by an unrestrained, immoral, and vexatious police; but
why should I deceive the kind reader, to whom I have promised to tell the
truth; I must therefore say that my indignation was real, but my ardour
was excited by another feeling of a more personal nature. I fancied that
the woman concealed under the bed-clothes was a beauty. I longed to see
her face, which shame, most likely, had prevented her from shewing. She
had heard me speak, and the good opinion that I had of myself did not
leave the shadow of a doubt in my mind that she would prefer me to her
captain.

The door of the room being still open, I went in and related to the
captain all I had done, assuring him that in the course of the day he
would be at liberty to continue his journey at the bishop's expense, for
the general would not fail to obtain complete satisfaction for him. He