“Bah!” ejaculated Astrardente.  “If Antonelli had heard of these affairs he would have stopped them soon enough.”

Valdarno glanced behind him, and, bending a little, whispered in Astrardente’s ear—­

“They were both Liberals, you must know.”

“Liberals?” repeated the old dandy, with a cynical sneer.  “Nonsense, I say!  Liberals?  Yes, in the way you are a Liberal, and Donna Tullia Mayer, and Spicca himself, who has just killed that other Liberal, Casalverde.  Liberals indeed!  Do you flatter yourself for a moment that Antonelli is afraid of such Liberals as you are?  Do you think the life of Del Ferice is of any more importance to politics than the life of that dog there?”

It was Astrardente’s habit to scoff mercilessly at all the petty manifestations of political feeling he saw about him in the world.  He represented a class distinct both from the Valdarno set and from the men represented by the Saracinesca—­a class who despised everything political as unworthy of the attention of gentlemen, who took everything for granted, and believed that all was for the best, provided that society moved upon rollers and so long as no one meddled with old institutions.  To question the wisdom of the municipal regulations was to attack the Government itself; to attack the Government was to cast a slight upon his Holiness the Pope, which was rank heresy, and very vulgar into the bargain.  Astrardente had seen a great deal of the world, but his ideas of politics were almost childishly simple—­whereas many people said that his principles in relation to his fellows were fiendishly cynical.  He was certainly not a very good man; and if he pretended to no reputation for devoutness, it was probable that he recognised the absurdity of his attempting such a pose.  But politically he believed in Cardinal Antonelli’s ability to defy Europe with or without the aid of France, and laughed as loudly at Louis Napoleon’s old idea of putting the sovereign Pontiff at the head of an Italian federation, as he jeered at Cavour’s favourite phrase concerning a free Church in a free State.  He had good blood in him, and the hereditary courage often found with it.  He had a certain skill in matters worldly; but his wit in things political seemed to belong to an earlier generation, and to be incapable of receiving new impressions.

But Valdarno, who was vain and set great value on his opinions, was deeply offended at the way Astrardente spoke of him and his friends.  In his eyes he was risking much for what he considered a good object, and he resented any contemptuous mention of Liberal principles, whenever he dared.  No one cared much for Astrardente, and certainly no one feared him; nevertheless in those times men hesitated to defend anything which came under the general head of Liberalism, when they were likely to be overheard, or when they could not trust the man to whom they were speaking.  If no one feared Astrardente, no one trusted him either.  Valdarno consequently judged it best to smother his annoyance at the old man’s words, and to retaliate by striking him in a weak spot.