The Amulet

"I? shall I treacherously kill your enemy? This gentleman has never

injured me. Since how long has it been the custom for valets to avenge the

grievances of their masters? It is your own affair, signor."

"You value the life of a man as little as a farthing, you said," replied

Simon Turchi, with bitter irony; "and now you allege the most puerile

reasons as excuses. You are a coward, Julio."

"I am not; but I do not choose to lie in wait and stab a man in the dark."

"That is a feint, a subterfuge, to conceal your cowardice."

"Since it is so simple and easy, why do you not deal the blow yourself,

signor?"

The scar on Simon Turchi's face became of a livid white; his whole frame

trembled with rage; but by a strong effort he controlled his emotion, and

after a few moments he said, with a contemptuous smile upon his lips: "Four years ago I took you into my service through pity; I have paid you

well, excused all your faults, your intoxication, your passion for

gambling; I have not dismissed you, although you have deserved it a

hundred times; and now, when for the first time you can be useful to me,

you have not the courage. I wished to try you. What I said was only a

jest. To-morrow, Julio, you will leave my service. You are a liar and a

coward."

"Do not condemn me so severely, signor," said the servant, in a

supplicating tone of voice. "I am willing to risk my life a thousand times

for you; but to lie in wait for an unknown man and kill him

deliberately--this is an infamous crime of which I am not capable."

"Hypocrite!" exclaimed Simon Turchi; "you speak as though I were ignorant

of your past history. If a price is set upon your head in the city of

Lucca, if at this moment you are under sentence of death, is it not

because you assassinated or helped to assassinate the Judge Voltaï?"

These words struck Julio with terror. He replied, humbly: "Signor, I have already told you that in this affair I was more

unfortunate than guilty. I was upon the spot where the murder was

committed, and I was arrested with those who gave the fatal blow. Believe

me, I knew nothing of their designs. I do not deny that in a contest or

quarrel I spare no one; but up to this moment my dagger has never shed

blood without provocation."