Do you know," he continued with a snort of indignation, "that in his _Hyperbolimaeus_, not content with the statement that Joseph Justus left his laundress's bill at Louvain unpaid, he alleges that I--I, Caesar Basterga of Padua--was broken on the wheel at Munster a year ago for the murder of a gentleman!" Grio turned a shade paler.

"If this business miscarry," he said, "the statement may prove within a year of the mark.

Or nearer, at any rate, than may please us." Basterga smiled disdainfully.

"Think it not!" he answered, extending his arms and yawning with unaffected sincerity.

"There was never scholar yet died on the wheel." "No ?" "No, friend, no.