rld said this man was
dead--though others said worse things. Perhaps, who knows?"

He had seen me, he said, many times in Rio Medio, outside the Casa; on
the balcony of the Casa, too. And he was sure that I was a heretic and
an evil person.

It suddenly struck me that this man--I was undoubtedly familiar with his
face--must be the lieutenant of Manuel-del-Popolo, his boon companion.
Without doubt, he had seen me on the balcony of the Casa.

He had gained a lot of assurance from the conciliatory manner of the
_Juez_, and said suddenly, in a tentative way:

"An evil person; a heretic? Who knows? Perhaps it was he who incited
some people there to murder his senoria, the illustrious Don."

I said almost contemptuously, "Surely the charge against me is most
absurd? Everyone knows who I am."

The old judge made a gentle, tired motion with his hand.

"Senor," he said, "there is no charge against you--except that no
one knows who you are. You were in a place where very lamentable
and inexplicable things happened; you are now in Havana: you have no
passport. I beg of you to remain calm. These things are all in order."

I hadn't any doubt that, as far as he knew, he was speaking the truth.
He was a man, very evidently, of a weary and naive simplicity. Perhaps
it was really true--that I should only have to explain; perhaps it was
all over.

O'Brien came into the room with the casual step of an official from an
office entering another's room.

It was as if seeing me were a thing that he very much disliked--that
he came because he wanted to satisfy himself of my existence, of my
identity, and my being alone. The slow stare that he gave me did not
mitigate the leisureliness of his entry. He walked behind the table; the
judge rose with immense deference; with his eternal smile, and no
word spoken, he motioned the judge to resume the examination; he stood
looking at the clerk's notes meditatively, the smile still round lips
that had a nervous tremble, and eyes that had dark marks beneath them.
He seemed as if he were still smiling just after having been violently
shaken.

The judge went on examining the _Lugareno_.

"Do you know whence the senor came?"

"Excellency, Excellency...." The man stuttered, his eyes on O'Brien's
face.

"Nor how long he was in the town of Rio Medio?" the judge went on.

O'Brien suddenly drooped towards his ear. "All those things are known,
senor, my colleague," he said, and began to whisper.