You can come to the jail with me and see that they don’t hurt him any more.”
“We aren’t permitted to do anything like that.
The Consulate handles these things.
The Consulate will be open at nine.”
His face, constrained to impassivity by the binding strap, infuriated Baby.
“I can’t wait until nine.
My brother-in-law says they’ve put his eye out—he’s seriously hurt!
I have to get to him.
I have to find a doctor.”
She let herself go and began to cry angrily as she talked, for she knew that he would respond to her agitation rather than her words. “You’ve got to do something about this.
It’s your business to protect American citizens in trouble.”
But he was of the Eastern seaboard and too hard for her.
Shaking his head patiently at her failure to understand his position he drew the Persian robe closer about him and came down a few steps.
“Write down the address of the Consulate for this lady,” he said to the porter, “and look up Doctor Colazzo’s address and telephone number and write that down too.”
He turned to Baby, with the expression of an exasperated Christ.
“My dear lady, the diplomatic corps represents the Government of the United States to the Government of Italy.
It has nothing to do with the protection of citizens, except under specific instructions from the State Department.
Your brother-in-law has broken the laws of this country and been put in jail, just as an Italian might be put in jail in New York.
The only people who can let him go are the Italian courts and if your brother-in-law has a case you can get aid and advice from the Consulate, which protects the rights of American citizens.
The consulate does not open until nine o’clock.
Even if it were my brother I couldn’t do anything—”
“Can you phone the Consulate?” she broke in.
“We can’t interfere with the Consulate.
When the Consul gets there at nine—”
“Can you give me his home address?”
After a fractional pause the man shook his head.
He took the memorandum from the porter and gave it to her.
“Now I’ll ask you to excuse me.”
He had manoeuvred her to the door: for an instant the violet dawn fell shrilly upon his pink mask and upon the linen sack that supported his mustache; then Baby was standing on the front steps alone.
She had been in the embassy ten minutes.
The piazza whereon it faced was empty save for an old man gathering cigarette butts with a spiked stick.
Baby caught a taxi presently and went to the Consulate but there was no one there save a trio of wretched women scrubbing the stairs.
She could not make them understand that she wanted the Consul’s home address—in a sudden resurgence of anxiety she rushed out and told the chauffeur to take her to the jail.
He did not know where it was, but by the use of the words semper dritte, dextra and sinestra she manoeuvred him to its approximate locality, where she dismounted and explored a labyrinth of familiar alleys.
But the buildings and the alleys all looked alike.
Emerging from one trail into the Piazzo d’Espagna she saw the American Express Company and her heart lifted at the word “American” on the sign.
There was a light in the window and hurrying across the square she tried the door, but it was locked, and inside the clock stood at seven.
Then she thought of Collis Clay.
She remembered the name of his hotel, a stuffy villa sealed in red plush across from the Excelsior.
The woman on duty at the office was not disposed to help her—she had no authority to disturb Mr. Clay, and refused to let Miss Warren go up to his room alone; convinced finally that this was not an affair of passion she accompanied her.
Collis lay naked upon his bed.
He had come in tight and, awakening, it took him some moments to realize his nudity.
He atoned for it by an excess of modesty. Taking his clothes into the bathroom he dressed in haste, muttering to himself
“Gosh. She certainly musta got a good look at me.”
After some telephoning, he and Baby found the jail and went to it.
The cell door was open and Dick was slumped on a chair in the guard-room.
The carabinieri had washed some of the blood from his face, brushed him and set his hat concealingly upon his head.
Baby stood in the doorway trembling.
“Mr. Clay will stay with you,” she said. “I want to get the Consul and a doctor.”
“All right.”