Wednesday before
noon
The serving-man they had hired in Venice had been a highway robber for several years , as they were well aware , and in an ordinary situation he might have made away with his masters ' valuables , if entrusted with them ; but he knew who Trombin and Gambardella were , and what they had done , and his admiration for such very superior cut-throats was boundless . Anything of theirs was safe in his hands , and therefore safe from robbers on the road , for he had not long retired from the profession , and had the thieves ' pass-words by heart from Milan to Naples , and farther . As a servant , he had parted his hair in the middle and resumed his modest and unobtrusive baptismal name of Tommaso ; but he had always been known to the gang as Grattacacio , that is , ` Cheese-grater , ' because it was told of him that he had once done good execution with that simple kitchen instrument on the nose of a sbirro who had tried to catch him , but was himself caught instead . The worthy courier arrived at the inn in Ferrara on Wednesday before noon and took the best room in the house for his masters , who , he said , would arrive at their convenience during the afternoon ; as in fact they did , looking very magnificent in fashionable long-skirted riding-coats buttoned tight across the chest and under the broad linen collar , high-crowned felt hats with magnificent feathers , boots of the new fashion , cut off below the knee , and handsome silver chains instead of shoulder-belts for their rapiers . Grattacacio had announced them as two Venetian gentlemen travelling for their pleasure , and when the innkeeper asked their names , the man answered that they had received titles of nobility from the King of France , and were called respectively Count Tromblon de la Trombine and Count Gambardella . When in Venice , he said , they dropped these appellations and took their seats in the Grand Council as nobles of the Republic . For the rest , Grattacacio continued , they were gentlemen of exquisite taste and most fastidious in their eating and drinking .