Read "The Breaking of the Storm" by Friedrich Spielhagen online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
It had not been Giraldi's intention to remain away so long. He had expected the visit to be only one of civility, in return for that which he had paid his Excellency the day before; but the clever, loquacious gentleman had still so much to say, so much to add with regard to the business that they had apparently concluded the day before, even when he stood at the door with his hand on the lock, sometimes putting the hat which he held in the other hand before his half-blind eyes, hidden behind large grey spectacles, to protect them from the light that streamed too dazzlingly through the window opposite.
"It seems foolish to warn the most prudent of men," he said, with a sarcastic smile which looked like a tearful grimace on his odd face.