Perhaps you were hampered by some heavy burden ?" He leered evilly, and I turned cold.
"I was burdened with nothing heavier than this body of mine and a rather uneasy conscience." "Where, then, have you tarried ?" At this I thought it time to rebel.

Were I too meekly to submit to this examination, my very meekness might afford him fresh grounds for doubts.
"Once have I told you," I answered wearily, "that I lost my way.

And, however much it may flatter me to have your Excellency evincing such an interest in my concerns, I am at a loss to find a reason for it." He leered prodigiously once more, and his eyebrows shot up to the level of his cap.
"I will tell you, brute beast," he answered me.

"I question you because I suspect that you are hiding something from me." "What should I hide from your Excellency ?" He dared not enlighten me on that point, for should his suspicions prove unfounded he would have uselessly betrayed himself.
"If you are honest, why do you lie ?" "I ?" I ejaculated.

"In what have I lied ?" "In that you have told me that you left Pesaro at the first hour of night.