“You know nothing of my motive for leaving Italy,” he began, “except that it was for political reasons. If I had been driven to this country by the persecution of my government, I should not have kept those reasons a secret from you or from anyone. I have concealed them because no government authority has pronounced the sentence of my exile. You have heard, Walter, of the political societies that are hidden in every great city on the continent of Europe? To one of those societies I belonged in Italy⁠—and belong still in England. When I came to this country, I came by the direction of my chief. I was overzealous in my younger time⁠—I ran the risk of compromising myself and others. For those reasons I was ordered to emigrate to England and to wait. I emigrated⁠—I have waited⁠—I wait still. Tomorrow I may be called away⁠—ten years hence I may be called away. It is all one to me⁠—I am here, I support myself by teaching, and I wait. I violate no oath (you shall hear why presently) in making my confidence complete by telling you the name of the society to which I belong. All I do is to put my life in your hands. If what I say to you now is ever known by others to have passed my lips, as certainly as we two sit here, I am a dead man.”