"Somewhat unnerved by what he felt were Germanic currents in a man whom he had taken to be just an Italian intellectual who ate flowers, Strassnitzky cautiously argued that "the records are secret, part of the War Office. How do you expect to match the number with the man?" "I haven't the slightest idea," Alessandro said, almost arrogantly, "but God is directly in charge of all things relating to life and death. That I've learned in the war." "You think God is going to get you the operations records of the Austrian army?" "I don't know, but if He were, wouldn't you imagine that the first thing He'd do would be to have me conveyed to Vienna?"