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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40570 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 40570-h.htm or 40570-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40570/40570-h/40570-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40570/40570-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      http://archive.org/details/chroniclesofcoun00hope
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CHRONICLES OF COUNT ANTONIO
+
+by
+
+ANTHONY HOPE
+
+Author of The Prisoner of Zenda, etc.
+
+With Photogravure Frontispiece by S. W. Van Schaick
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+D. Appleton and Company
+1895
+
+Copyright, 1895,
+By Anthony Hope.
+
+Copyright, 1895,
+By D. Appleton and Company.
+
+
+
+
+    _TO THE HONOURABLE SIR HENRY HAWKINS._
+
+
+    _MY DEAR SIR HENRY_:
+
+    _It gives me very great pleasure to be allowed to dedicate this book
+    to you. I hope you will accept it as a token of thanks for much
+    kindness, of your former Marshal's pleasant memory of his service,
+    and of sincere respect for a clear-sighted, firm, and compassionate
+    Judge._
+
+    _Your affectionate cousin,_
+
+    _A. H. H._
+
+_London, August, 1895._
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: _Behold! She is free._ (Chapter V.)]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+
+    CHAPTER                                                       PAGE
+
+        I.--HOW COUNT ANTONIO TOOK TO THE HILLS                      1
+
+       II.--COUNT ANTONIO AND THE TRAITOR PRINCE                    39
+
+      III.--COUNT ANTONIO AND THE PRINCE OF MANTIVOGLIA             71
+
+       IV.--COUNT ANTONIO AND THE WIZARD'S DRUG                    116
+
+        V.--COUNT ANTONIO AND THE SACRED BONES                     158
+
+       VI.--COUNT ANTONIO AND THE HERMIT OF THE VAULT              202
+
+      VII.--COUNT ANTONIO AND THE LADY OF RILANO                   245
+
+     VIII.--THE MANNER OF COUNT ANTONIO'S RETURN                   290
+
+
+
+
+THE CHRONICLES OF COUNT ANTONIO.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+HOW COUNT ANTONIO TOOK TO THE HILLS.
+
+
+Countless are the stories told of the sayings that Count Antonio spoke
+and of the deeds that he did when he dwelt an outlaw in the hills. For
+tales and legends gather round his name thick as the berries hang on a
+bush, and with the passage of every succeeding year it grows harder to
+discern where truth lies and where the love of wonder, working together
+with the sway of a great man's memory, has wrought the embroidery of its
+fancy on the plain robe of fact. Yet, amid all that is of uncertain
+knowledge and so must rest, this much at least should be known and
+remembered for the honour of a noble family, how it fell out that Count
+Antonio, a man of high lineage, forsook the service of his Prince,
+disdained the obligation of his rank, set law at naught, and did what
+seemed indeed in his own eyes to be good but was held by many to be
+nothing other than the work of a rebel and a brigand. Yet, although it
+is by these names that men often speak of him, they love his memory; and
+I also, Ambrose the Franciscan, having gathered diligently all that I
+could come by in the archives of the city or from the lips of aged folk,
+have learned to love it in some sort. Thus I am minded to write, before
+the time that I must carry what I know with me to the grave, the full
+and whole truth concerning Antonio's flight from the city and the Court,
+seeking in my heart, as I write, excuse for him, and finding in the
+record, if little else, yet a tale that lovers must read in pride and
+sorrow, and, if this be not too high a hope, that princes may study for
+profit and for warning.
+
+Now it was in the tenth year of the reign of Duke Valentine over the
+city of Firmola, its territories and dependent towns, that Count Antonio
+of Monte Velluto--having with him a youthful cousin of his, whom he
+loved greatly, and whom, by reason of his small stature and of a boyish
+gaiety he had, men called Tommasino--came from his own house on the hill
+that fronts the great gate of the city, to the palace of the Duke, with
+intent to ask His Highness's sanction for his marriage with the Lady
+Lucia. This lady, being then seventeen years of age, loved Antonio, and
+he her, and troth had been privily plighted between them for many
+months; and such was the strength and power of the love they bore the
+one to the other, that even to this day the old mock at young lovers who
+show themselves overfond, crying, "'Tis Lucia and Antonio!"
+
+But since the Lady Lucia was an orphan, Antonio came now to the Duke,
+who enjoyed ward-ship over her, and setting out his passion and how that
+his estate was sufficient and his family such as the Duke knew, prayed
+leave of His Highness to wed her. But the Duke, a crafty and subtle
+prince, knowing Antonio's temper and the favour in which he was held by
+the people, counted not to augment his state and revenues by the gift of
+a bride so richly dowered, but chose rather to give her to a favourite
+of his, a man in whose devotion he could surely trust and whose
+disposition was to serve his master in all things fair and foul, open or
+secret. Such an one the Duke found in the Lord Robert de Beauregard, a
+gentleman of Provence, who had quitted his own country, having been
+drawn into some tumult there, and, having taken service with the Duke,
+had risen to a great place in his esteem and confidence. Therefore, when
+Antonio preferred his request, the Duke, with many a courteous regretful
+phrase, made him aware that the lady stood promised to Robert by the
+irrevocable sanctity of his princely pledge.
+
+"So forget, I pray you, my good cousin Antonio," said he, "forget, as
+young men lightly can, this desire of yours, and it shall be my charge
+to find you a bride full as fair as the Lady Lucia."
+
+But Antonio's face went red from brow to chin, as he answered: "My
+gracious lord, I love the lady, and she me, and neither can wed another.
+As for my Lord Robert, your Highness knows well that she loves him not."
+
+"A girl's love!" smiled the Duke. "A girl's love! It rains and shines,
+and shines and rains, Antonio."
+
+"It has shone on me since she knew a man when she looked on him," said
+Antonio.
+
+And Tommasino, who stood by, recking as little of the Duke as of the
+Duke's deerhound which he was patting the while, broke in, saying
+carelessly, "And this Robert, my lord, is not the man for a pretty girl
+to love. He is a sour fellow."
+
+"I thank you for your counsel, my lord Tommasino," smiled the Duke. "Yet
+I love him." Whereat Tommasino lifted his brows and patted the hound
+again. "It is enough," added the Duke. "I have promised, Antonio. It is
+enough."
+
+"Yes, it is enough," said Antonio; and he and Tommasino, having bowed
+low, withdrew from the presence of the Duke. But when he got clear
+outside of the Duke's cabinet, Antonio laid his hand on Tommasino's
+shoulder, saying, "It is not well that Robert have her."
+
+"It is mighty ill," said Tommasino.
+
+And then they walked in silence to the city gate, and, in silence
+still, climbed the rugged hill where Antonio's house stood.
+
+But the Duke sent for Robert de Beauregard into his cabinet and said to
+him: "If you be wise, friend Robert, little grass shall grow under your
+feet this side your marriage. This Antonio says not much; but I have
+known him outrun his tongue with deeds."
+
+"If the lady were as eager as I, the matter would not halt," said Robert
+with a laugh. "But she weeps and spits fire at me, and cries for
+Antonio."
+
+"She will be cured after the wedding," said the Duke. "But see that she
+be well guarded, Robert; let a company of your men watch her. I have
+known the bride to be missing on a marriage day ere now."
+
+"If he can touch her, he may wed her," cried Robert. "The pikemen are
+close about her house, and she can neither go in nor come forth without
+their knowledge."
+
+"It is well," said the Duke. "Yet delay not. They are stubborn men,
+these Counts of Monte Velluto."
+
+Now had the Lady Lucia been of a spirit as haughty as her lover's, it
+may be that she would have refused to wed Robert de Beauregard. But she
+was afraid. When Antonio was with her, she had clung to him, and he
+loved her the more for her timidity. With him gone and forbidden to come
+near her, she dared not resist the Duke's will nor brave his
+displeasure; so that a week before the day which the Duke had appointed
+for the wedding, she sent to Antonio, bidding him abandon a hope that
+was vain and set himself to forget a most unhappy lady.
+
+"Robert shall not have her," said Antonio, putting the letter in his
+belt.
+
+"Then the time is short," said Tommasino.
+
+They were walking together on the terrace before Antonio's house, whence
+they looked on the city across the river. Antonio cast his eye on the
+river and on the wall of the Duke's garden that ran along it; fair
+trees, shrubs, and flowers lined the top of the wall, and the water
+gleamed in the sunshine.
+
+"It is strange," said Antonio, musing, "that one maiden can darken for a
+man all the world that God lights with his sun. Yet since so it is,
+Tommasino, a man can be but a man; and being a man, he is a poor man, if
+he stand by while another takes his love."
+
+"And that other a stranger, and, as I swear, a cut-throat," added
+Tommasino.
+
+When they had dined and evening began to come on, Antonio made his
+servants saddle the best horses in his stable--though, indeed, the
+choice was small, for Antonio was not rich as a man of his rank counts
+riches--and the two rode down the hill towards the city. But, as they
+went, Antonio turned once and again in his saddle and gazed long at the
+old gray house, the round tower, and the narrow gate.
+
+"Why look behind, and not forward?" asked Tommasino.
+
+"Because there is a foreboding in me," answered Antonio, "that it will
+be long before that gate again I pass through. Were there a hope of
+persuading you, Tommasino, I would bid you turn back, and leave me to go
+alone on this errand."
+
+"Keep your breath against when you have to run," laughed Tommasino,
+pricking his horse and tossing his hair, dark as Antonio's was fair,
+back from his neck.
+
+Across the bridge they rode and through the gates, and having traversed
+the great square, came to the door of Lucia's house, where it rose
+fronting the Duke's palace. Here Antonio dismounted, giving his bridle
+into Tommasino's hand, and bade the servants carry his name to the Lady
+Lucia. A stir arose among them and much whispering, till an old man,
+head of the servingmen, came forward, saying: "Pardon, my lord, but we
+are commanded not to admit you to the Lady Lucia;" and he waved his hand
+towards the inner part of the porch, where Antonio saw a dozen or more
+pikemen of the Duke's Guard drawn across the passage to the house; and
+their pikes flashed in the rays of the setting sun as they levelled them
+in front of their rank.
+
+Some of the townsmen and apprentice lads, stout fellows, each with a
+staff, had gathered now around Antonio, whom they loved for his feats of
+strength and his liberal gifts to the poor, and, understanding what was
+afoot, one came to him, saying: "There are some, my lord, who would
+enter with you if you are set on entering," and the fellow's eyes
+sparkled; for there was a great enmity in the town against the pikemen,
+and a lusty youth with a stick in his hand is never loth to find a use
+for it.
+
+For a moment Count Antonio hesitated; for they flocked closer to him,
+and Tommasino threw him a glance of appeal and touched the hilt of his
+sword. But he would not that the blood of men who were themselves loved
+by mothers, wives, and maids, should be shed in his quarrel, and he
+raised his hand, bidding them be still.
+
+"I have no quarrel with the pikeman," said he, "and we must not fight
+against His Highness's servants."
+
+The faces of the townsmen grew long in disappointment. Tommasino alone
+laughed low, recognising in Antonio's gentleness the lull that heralds a
+storm. The Count was never more dangerous than when he praised
+submission.
+
+"But," continued Antonio, "I would fain see the Lady Lucia." And with
+this he stepped inside the porch, signing to Tommasino to stay where he
+was; but the lad would not, and, leaping down, ran to his kinsman and
+stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
+
+Thus they stood facing the line of pikemen, when suddenly the opposing
+rank opened and Robert de Beauregard himself came through. Starting
+slightly on sight of Antonio, he yet bowed courteously, baring his head,
+and Antonio, with Tommasino, did the like.
+
+"What is your desire, my lord?" asked Robert.
+
+"I have naught to ask of you," answered Antonio, and he took a step
+forward. Robert's hand flew to his sword, and in a moment they would
+have fought. But now another figure came forward with uplifted hand. It
+was the Duke himself, and he looked on Antonio with his dark smile, and
+Antonio flushed red.
+
+"You seek me, Antonio?" asked the Duke.
+
+"I seek not your Highness, but my plighted wife," said Antonio.
+
+Duke Valentine smiled still. Coming to Antonio, he passed his arm
+through his, and said in most friendly fashion: "Come with me to my
+house, and we will talk of this;" and Antonio, caught fast in the choice
+between obedience and open revolt, went frowning across the square, the
+Duke's arm through his, Robert on the Duke's other side, and, behind,
+Tommasino with the horses. But as they went, a sudden cry came from the
+house they left, and a girl's face showed for an instant, tear-stained
+and pallid, at an open window. A shiver ran through Antonio; but the
+Duke pressing his arm, he went still in silence.
+
+At the door of the palace, a lackey took the horses from Tommasino, and
+the four passed through the great hall and through the Duke's cabinet
+beyond and into the garden; there the Duke sat down under the wall of
+the garden, near by the fish-pond, and turning suddenly on Antonio,
+spoke to him fiercely; "Men have died at my hands for less," said he.
+
+"Then for each of such shall you answer to God," retorted Antonio, not
+less hotly.
+
+"You scout my commands in the face of all the city," said the Duke in
+low stern tones. "Now, by Heaven, if you seek to see the girl again, I
+will hang you from the tower of the gate. So be warned--now--once: there
+shall be no second warning."
+
+He ceased, and sat with angry eyes on Antonio; and Robert, who stood by
+his master, glared as fierce. But Antonio was silent for a while, and
+rested his arm on Tommasino's shoulder.
+
+"My fathers have served and fought for your fathers," said he at last.
+"What has this gentleman done for the Duchy?"
+
+Then Robert spoke suddenly and scornfully: "This he is ready to do, to
+punish an insolent knave that braves His Highness's will."
+
+Antonio seemed not to hear him, for he did not move but stood with eyes
+bent on the Duke's face, looking whether his appeal should reach its
+mark. But Tommasino heard; yet never a word spoke Tommasino either, but
+he drew off the heavy riding-glove from his left hand, and it hung
+dangling in the fingers of his right, and he looked at the glove and at
+Robert and at the glove again.
+
+"I would his Highness were not here," said Tommasino to Robert with a
+smile.
+
+"Hold your peace, boy," said Robert, "or the Duke will have you
+whipped."
+
+Youth loves not to be taunted with its blessed state. "I have no more to
+say," cried Tommasino; and without more, caring naught now for the
+presence of the Duke, he flung his heavy glove full in Robert's face,
+and, starting back a pace, drew his sword. Then Antonio knew that the
+die was cast, for Tommasino would gain no mercy, having insulted the
+Duke's favourite and drawn his sword in the Duke's palace; and he also
+drew out his sword, and the pair stood facing the Duke and Robert de
+Beauregard. It was but for an instant that they stood thus; then Robert,
+who did not lack courage to resent a blow, unsheathed and rushed at the
+boy. Antonio left his cousin to defend himself, and, bowing low to the
+Duke, set his sword at the Duke's breast, before the Duke could so much
+as rise from his seat.
+
+"I would not touch your Highness," said he, "but these gentlemen must
+not be interrupted."
+
+"You take me at a disadvantage," cried the Duke.
+
+"If you will swear not to summon your guard, I will sheath my sword, my
+lord; or, if you will honour me by crossing yours on mine, you shall
+draw yours."
+
+The place where they sat was hidden from the palace windows, yet the
+Duke trusted that the sound of the clashing steel would bring aid;
+therefore, not desiring to fight with Antonio (for Duke Valentine loved
+to scheme rather than to strike), he sat still, answering nothing. And
+now Tommasino and Robert were engaged, Robert attacking furiously and
+Tommasino parrying him as coolly as though they fenced for pastime in
+the school. It was Tommasino's fault to think of naught but the moment
+and he did not remember that every second might bring the guard upon
+them. And Antonio would not call it to his mind, but he said to the
+Duke: "The boy will kill him, sir. He is a finer swordsman than I, and
+marvellously active."
+
+Then the Duke, having been pondering on his course, and knowing
+Antonio--sitting there with the Count's sword against his breast--did
+by calculation what many a man braver in fight had not dared to do.
+There was in truth a courage in it, for all that it was born of
+shrewdness. For, thus with the sword on his heart, fixing a calm glance
+on Antonio, he cried as loudly as he could, "Help, help, treason!"
+
+Antonio drew back his arm for the stroke; and the Duke sat still; then,
+swift as thought, Antonio laughed, bowed to Duke Valentine and, turning,
+rushed between the fighters, striking up their swords. In amazement they
+stood for a moment: Antonio drove his sword into its sheath, and, while
+Robert was yet astounded, he rushed on him, caught him by the waist,
+and, putting forth his strength, flung him clear and far into the
+fish-pond. Then seizing Tommasino by the arm he started with him at a
+run for the great hall. The Duke rose, crying loudly, "Treason,
+treason!" But Antonio cried "Treason, treason," yet louder than the
+Duke; and presently Tommasino, who had frowned at his pastime being
+interrupted, fell a-laughing, and between the laughs cried "Treason,
+treason!" with Antonio. And at the entrance of the hall they met a
+dozen pikemen running; and Antonio, pointing over his shoulder, called
+in tones of horror, "Treason, treason!" And Tommasino cried, "The Duke!
+Help the Duke!" So that they passed untouched through the pikemen, who
+hesitated an instant in bewilderment but then swept on; for they heard
+the Duke's own voice crying still "Treason, treason!" And through the
+hall and out to the portico passed the cousins, echoing their cries of
+"Treason!" And every man they met went whither they pointed; and when
+they leapt on their horses, the very lackey that had held them dropped
+the bridles with hasty speed and ran into the palace, crying "Treason!"
+Then Antonio, Tommasino ever following, and both yet crying "Treason!"
+dashed across the square; and on the way they met the pikemen who
+guarded the Lady Lucia, and the townsmen who were mocking and snarling
+at the pikemen; and to pikemen and townsmen alike they cried (though
+Tommasino hardly could speak now for laughter and lack of breath),
+"Treason, treason!" And all to whom they cried flocked to the palace,
+crying in their turn, "Treason, treason!" so that people ran out of
+every house in the neighbourhood and hurried to the palace, crying
+"Treason!" and every one asking his neighbour what the treason was. And
+thus, by the time in which a man might count a hundred, a crowd was
+pushing and pressing and striving round the gate of the palace, and the
+cousins were alone on the other side of the great square.
+
+"Now thanks be to God for that idea!" gasped Tommasino.
+
+But Antonio gave not thanks till his meal was ended. Raising his voice
+as he halted his horse before the Lady Lucia's house, he called loudly,
+no longer "Treason!" but "Lucia!" And she, knowing his voice, looked out
+again from the window; but some hand plucked her away as soon as she had
+but looked. Then Antonio leapt from his horse with an oath and ran to
+the door, and finding it unguarded, he rushed in, leaving Tommasino
+seated on one horse and holding the other, with one eye on Lucia's house
+and the other on the palace, praying that, by the favour of Heaven,
+Antonio might come out again before the crowd round the Duke's gates
+discovered why it was, to a man, crying "Treason!"
+
+But in the palace of the Duke there was great confusion. For the
+pikemen, finding Robert de Beauregard scrambling out of the fish-pond
+with a drawn sword in his hand, and His Highness crying "Treason!" with
+the best of them, must have it that the traitor was none other than
+Robert himself, and in their dutiful zeal they came nigh to making an
+end of him then and there, before the Duke could gain silence enough to
+render his account of the affair audible. And when the first pikemen
+were informed, there came others; and these others, finding the first
+thronging round the Duke and Robert, cried out on them for the traitors,
+and were on the point of engaging them; and when they also had been with
+difficulty convinced, and the two parties, with His Highness and Robert,
+turned to the pursuit of the cousins, they found the whole of the great
+hall utterly blocked by a concourse of the townsmen, delighted beyond
+measure at the chance of an affray with the hated pikemen, who, they
+conceived, must beyond doubt be the wicked traitors that had risen in
+arms against the Duke's life and throne. Narrowly indeed was a great
+battle in the hall averted by the Duke himself, who leapt upon a high
+seat and spoke long and earnestly to the people, persuading them that
+not the pikemen, but Antonio and Tommasino, were the traitors; which the
+townsmen found hard to believe, in part because they wished not to
+believe ill of Antonio, and more inasmuch as every man there knew--and
+the women and children also--that Antonio and Tommasino, and none else
+of all the city had raised the alarm. But some hearkened at last; and
+with these and a solid wedge of the pikemen, the Duke and Robert, with
+much ado, thrust their way through the crowd and won access to the door
+of the palace.
+
+In what time a thousand men may be convinced, you may hope to turn one
+woman's mind, and at the instant that the Duke gained the square with
+his friends and his guards, Count Antonio had prevailed on the Lady
+Lucia to brave His Highness's wrath. It is true that he had met with
+some resistance from the steward, who was in Robert's pay, and had
+tarried to buffet the fellow into obedience; and with more from an old
+governess, who, since she could not be buffeted, had perforce to be
+locked in a cupboard; yet the better part of the time had to be spent in
+imploring Lucia herself. At last, with many fears and some tears, she
+had yielded, and it was with glad eyes that Tommasino saw the Count come
+forth from the door carrying Lucia on his arm; and others saw him also;
+for a great shout came from the Duke's party across the square, and the
+pikemen set out at a run with Robert himself at their head. Yet so soon
+as they were started, Antonio also, bearing Lucia in his arms, had
+reached where Tommasino was with the horses, and an instant later he was
+mounted and cried, "To the gate!" and he struck in his spurs, and his
+horse bounded forward, Tommasino following. No more than a hundred yards
+lay between them and the gate of the city, and before the pikemen could
+bar their path they had reached the gate. The gate-wardens were in the
+act of shutting it, having perceived the tumult; but Tommasino struck
+at them with the flat of his sword, and they gave way before the
+rushing horses; and before the great gate was shut, Antonio and he were
+on their way through, and the hoofs of their horses clattered over the
+bridge. Thus Antonio was clear of the city with his lady in his arms and
+Tommasino his cousin safe by his side.
+
+Yet they were not safe; for neither Duke Valentine nor Robert de
+Beauregard was a man who sat down under defeat. But few moments had
+passed before there issued from the gate a company of ten mounted and
+armed men, and Robert, riding in their front, saw, hard on a mile away,
+the cousins heading across the plain towards the spot where the spurs of
+Mount Agnino run down; for there was the way of safety. But it was yet
+ten miles away. And Robert and his company galloped furiously in
+pursuit, while Duke Valentine watched from the wall of the garden above
+the river.
+
+Now Count Antonio was a big man and heavy, so that his horse was weighed
+down by the twofold burden on its back; and looking behind him, he
+perceived that Robert's company drew nearer and yet nearer. And
+Tommasino, looking also, said, "I doubt they are too many for us, for
+you have the lady in your arms. We shall not get clear of the hills."
+
+Then Antonio drew in his horse a little and, letting the bridle fall,
+took the Lady Lucia in both his arms and kissed her, and having thus
+done, lifted her and set her on Tommasino's horse. "Thank God," said he,
+"that you are no heavier than a feather."
+
+"Yet two feathers may be too much," said Tommasino.
+
+"Ride on," said Antonio. "I will check them for a time, so that you
+shall come safe to the outset of the hill."
+
+Tommasino obeyed him; and Antonio, riding more softly now, placed
+himself between Tommasino and the pursuers. Tommasino rode on with the
+swooning lady in his arms; but his face was grave and troubled, for, as
+he said, two feathers may be overmuch, and Robert's company rode well
+and swiftly.
+
+"If Antonio can stop them, it is well," said he; "but if not, I shall
+not reach the hills;" and he looked with no great love on the unhappy
+lady, for it seemed like enough that Antonio would be slain for her
+sake, and Tommasino prized him above a thousand damsels. Yet he rode on,
+obedient.
+
+But Antonio's scheme had not passed undetected by Robert de Beauregard;
+and Robert, being a man of guile and cunning, swore aloud an oath that,
+though he died himself, yet Tommasino should not carry off Lucia.
+Therefore he charged his men one and all to ride after Tommasino and
+bring back Lucia, leaving him alone to contend with Antonio; and they
+were not loth to obey, for it was little to their taste or wish to
+surround Antonio and kill him. Thus, when the company came within fifty
+yards of Antonio, the ranks suddenly parted; five diverged to the right,
+and four to the left, passing Antonio in sweeping curves, so far off
+that he could not reach them, while Robert alone rode straight at him.
+Antonio, perceiving the stratagem, would fain have ridden again after
+Tommasino; but Robert was hard upon him, and he was in peril of being
+thrust through the back as he fled. So he turned and faced his enemy.
+But although Robert had sworn so boldly before his men, his mind was not
+what he had declared to them, and he desired to meet Antonio alone, not
+that he might fight a fair fight with him, but in order treacherously to
+deceive him--a thing he was ashamed to do before his comrades. Coming up
+then to Antonio, he reined in his horse, crying, "My lord, I bring peace
+from His Highness."
+
+Antonio wondered to hear him; yet, when Robert, his sword lying
+untouched in its sheath, sprang from his horse and approached him, he
+dismounted also; and Robert said to him: "I have charged them to injure
+neither the Lady Lucia nor your cousin by so much as a hair; for the
+Duke bids me say that he will not constrain the lady."
+
+"Is she then given to me?" cried Antonio, his face lighting up with a
+marvellous eagerness.
+
+"Nay, not so fast," answered Robert with subtle cunning. "The Duke will
+not give her to you now. But he will exact from you and from me alike
+an oath not to molest, no, not to see her, for three months, and then
+she shall choose as she will between us."
+
+While he spoke this fair speech, he had been drawing nearer to Antonio;
+and Antonio, not yet convinced of his honesty, drew back a pace. Then
+Robert let go hold of his horse, unbuckled his sword, flung it on the
+ground, and came to Antonio with outstretched hands. "Behold!" said he;
+"I am in your mercy, my lord. If you do not believe me, slay me."
+
+Antonio looked at him with searching wistful eyes; he hated to war
+against the Duke, and his heart was aflame with the hope that dwelt for
+him in Robert's words; for he did not doubt but that neither three
+months, nor three years, nor three hundred years, could change his
+lady's love.
+
+"You speak fair, sir," said he; "but what warrant have I?"
+
+"And, save your honour, what warrant have I, who stand here unarmed
+before you?" asked Robert.
+
+For a while Antonio pondered; then he said, "My lord, I must crave your
+pardon for my doubt; but the matter is so great that to your word I dare
+not trust; but if you will ride back with your men and pray the Duke to
+send me a promise under his own hand, to that I will trust. And
+meanwhile Tommasino, with the Lady Lucia, shall abide in a safe place,
+and I will stay here, awaiting your return; and, if you will, let two of
+your men stay with me."
+
+"Many a man, my lord," returned Robert, "would take your caution in bad
+part. But let it be so. Come, we will ride after my company." And he
+rose and caught Antonio's horse by the bridle and brought it to him;
+"Mount, my lord," said he, standing by.
+
+Antonio, believing either that the man was true or that his
+treachery--if treachery there were in him--was foiled, and seeing him to
+all seeming unarmed, save for a little dagger in his belt which would
+hardly suffice to kill a man and was more a thing of ornament than use,
+set his foot in the stirrup and prepared to mount. And in so doing he
+turned his back on Robert de Beauregard. The moment for which that
+wicked man had schemed and lied was come. Still holding Antonio's
+stirrup with one hand, he drew, swift as lightning, from under his
+cloak, a dagger different far from the toy in his belt--short, strong,
+broad, and keen. And that moment had been Antonio's last, had it not
+chanced that, on the instant Robert drew the dagger, the horse started a
+pace aside, and Antonio, taken unawares, stumbled forward and came near
+falling on the ground. His salvation lay in that stumble, for Robert,
+having put all his strength into the blow, and then striking not Antonio
+but empty air, in his turn staggered forward, and could not recover
+himself before Antonio turned round, a smile at his own unwariness on
+his lips.
+
+Then he saw the broad keen knife in the hand of Robert. Robert breathed
+quickly, and glared at him, but did not rush on him. He stood glaring,
+the knife in his hands, his parted lips displaying grinning teeth. Not a
+word spoke Antonio, but he drew his sword, and pointed where Robert's
+sword lay on the grass. The traitor, recognising the grace that allowed
+him to take his sword, shamed, it may be, by such return for his own
+treachery, in silence lifted and drew it; and, withdrawing to a distance
+from the horses, which quietly cropped the grass, the two faced one
+another.
+
+Calm and easy were the bearing and the air of Count Antonio, if the
+pictures of him that live drawn in the words of those who knew him be
+truthful; calm and easy ever was he, save when he fought; but then it
+seemed as though there came upon him a sort of fury akin to madness, or
+(as the ancients would have fabled) to some inspiration from the God of
+War, which transformed him utterly, imbuing him with a rage and rushing
+impetuosity. Here lay his danger when matched with such a swordsman as
+was little Tommasino; but for all that, few cared to meet him, some
+saying that, though they called themselves as brave as others, yet they
+seemed half appalled when Count Antonio set upon them; for he fought as
+though he must surely win and as though God were with him. Thus now he
+darted upon Robert de Beauregard, in seeming recklessness of receiving
+thrusts himself, yet ever escaping them by his sudden resource and
+dexterity and ever himself attacking, leaving no space to take breath,
+and bewildering the other's practised skill by the dash and brilliance
+of his assault. And it may be also that the darkness, which was now
+falling fast, hindered Robert the more, for Antonio was famed for the
+keenness of his eyes by night. Be these things as they may, in the very
+moment when Robert pricked Antonio in the left arm and cried out in
+triumph on his stroke, Antonio leapt on him and drove his sword through
+his heart; and Robert, with the sword yet in him, fell to the ground,
+groaning. And when Antonio drew forth the sword, the man at his feet
+died. Thus, if it be God's will, may all traitors perish.
+
+Antonio looked round the plain; but it grew darker still, and even his
+sight did not avail for more than some threescore yards. Yet he saw a
+dark mass on his right, distant, as he judged, that space or more.
+Rapidly it moved: surely it was a group of men galloping, and Antonio
+stood motionless regarding them. But they swept on, not turning whither
+he stood; and he, unable to tell what they did, whether they sought him
+or whither they went, watched them till they faded away in the darkness;
+and then, leaving Robert where he lay, he mounted his horse and made
+speed towards the hills, praying that there he should find his cousin
+and the Lady Lucia, escaped from the pursuit of the Duke's men. Yet had
+he known what those dimly discerned riders bore with them, he would have
+been greatly moved at all costs and at every hazard to follow after them
+and seek to overtake them before they came to the city.
+
+On he rode towards the hills, quickly, yet not so hastily but that he
+scanned the ground as he went so well as the night allowed him. The moon
+was risen now and to see was easier. When he had covered a distance of
+some two miles, he perceived something lying across his path. Bending to
+look, he found it to be the corpse of a horse: he leapt down and bent
+over it. It was the horse Tommasino had ridden; it was hamstrung, and
+its throat had been cut. Antonio, seeing it, in sudden apprehension of
+calamity, cried aloud; and to his wonder his cry was answered by a
+voice which came from a clump of bushes fifty yards on the right. He ran
+hastily to the spot, thinking nothing of his own safety nor of anything
+else than what had befallen his friends; and under the shelter of the
+bushes two men of the Duke's Guard, their horses tethered near them,
+squatted on the ground, and, between, Tommasino lay full length on the
+ground. His face was white, his eyes closed, and a bloody bandage was
+about his head. One of the two by him had forced his lips open and was
+giving him to drink from a bottle. The other sprang up on sight of
+Antonio and laid a hand to his sword-hilt.
+
+"Peace, peace!" said Antonio. "Is the lad dead?"
+
+"He is not dead, my lord, but he is sore hurt."
+
+"And what do you here with him? And how did you take him?"
+
+"We came up with him here, and surrounded him; and while some of us held
+him in front, one cut the hamstrings of his horse from behind; and the
+horse fell, and with the horse the lady and the young lord. He was up in
+an instant; but as he rose, the lieutenant struck him on the head and
+dealt him the wound you see. Then he could fight no more; and the
+lieutenant took the lady, and with the rest rode back towards the city,
+leaving us charged with the duty of bringing the young lord in so soon
+as he was in a state to come with us."
+
+"They took the lady?"
+
+"Even so, my lord."
+
+"And why did they not seek for me?"
+
+The fellow--Martolo was his name--smiled grimly; and his comrade,
+looking up, answered: "Maybe they did not wish to find you, my lord.
+They had been eight to one, and could not have failed to take you in the
+end."
+
+"Aye, in the end," said Martolo, laughing now. "Nor," added he, "had the
+lieutenant such great love for Robert de Beauregard that he would
+rejoice to deliver you to death for his sake, seeing that you are a
+Monte Velluto and he a rascally----"
+
+"Peace! He is dead," said Count Antonio.
+
+"You have killed him?" they cried with one voice.
+
+"He attacked me in treachery, and I have killed him," answered Antonio.
+
+For a while there was silence. Then Antonio asked, "The lady--did she go
+willingly?"
+
+"She was frightened and dazed by her fall, my lord; she knew not what
+she did nor what they did to her. And the lieutenant took her in front
+of him, and, holding her with all gentleness, so rode towards the city."
+
+"God keep her," said Antonio.
+
+"Amen, poor lady!" said Martolo, doffing his cap.
+
+Then Antonio whistled to his horse, which came to his side; with a
+gesture he bade the men stand aside, and they obeyed him; and he
+gathered Tommasino in his arms. "Hold my stirrup, that I may mount,"
+said he; and still they obeyed. But when they saw him mounted, with
+Tommasino seated in front of him, Martolo cried, "But, my lord, we are
+charged to take him back and deliver him to the Duke."
+
+"And if you do?" asked Antonio.
+
+Martolo made a movement as of one tying a noose.
+
+"And if you do not?" asked Antonio.
+
+"Then we had best not show ourselves alive to the Duke."
+
+Antonio looked down on them. "To whom bear you allegiance?" said he.
+
+"To His Highness the Duke," they answered, uncovering as they spoke.
+
+"And to whom besides?" asked Antonio.
+
+"To none besides," they answered, wondering.
+
+"Aye, but you do," said he. "To One who wills not that you should
+deliver to death a lad who has done but what his honour bade him."
+
+"God's counsel God knows," said Martolo. "We are dead men if we return
+alone to the city. You had best slay us yourself, my lord, if we may not
+carry the young lord with us."
+
+"You are honest lads, are you not?" he asked. "By your faces, you are
+men of the city."
+
+"So are we, my lord; but we serve the Duke in his Guard for reward."
+
+"I love the men of the city as they love me," said Antonio. "And a few
+pence a day should not buy a man's soul as well as his body."
+
+The two men looked at one another in perplexity. The fear and deference
+in which they held Antonio forbade them to fall on him; yet they dared
+not let him take Tommasino. Then, as they stood doubting, he spoke low
+and softly to them: "When he that should give law and uphold right deals
+wrong, and makes white black and black white, it is for gentlemen and
+honest men to be a law unto themselves. Mount your horses, then, and
+follow me. And so long as I am safe, you shall be safe; and so long as I
+live, you shall live; and while I eat and drink, you shall have to drink
+and eat; and you shall be my servants. And when the time of God's
+will--whereof God forbid that I should doubt--is come, I will go back to
+her I love, and you shall go back to them that love you; and men shall
+say that you have proved yourselves true men and good."
+
+Thus it was that two men of the Duke's Guard--Martolo and he whom they
+called Bena (for of his true name there is no record)--went together
+with Count Antonio and his cousin Tommasino to a secret fastness in the
+hills; and there in the course of many days Tommasino was healed of the
+wound which the Lieutenant of the Guard had given him, and rode his
+horse again, and held next place to Antonio himself in the band that
+gathered round them. For there came to them every man that was
+wrongfully oppressed; and some came for love of adventure and because
+they hoped to strike good blows; and some came whom Antonio would not
+receive, inasmuch as they were greater rogues than were those whose
+wrath they fled from.
+
+Such is the tale of how Count Antonio was outlawed from the Duke's peace
+and took to the hills. Faithfully have I set it down, and whoso will may
+blame the Count, and whoso will may praise him. For myself, I thank
+Heaven that I am well rid of this same troublesome passion of love that
+likens one man to a lion and another to a fox.
+
+But the Lady Lucia, being brought back to the city by the Lieutenant of
+the Guard, was lodged in her own house, and the charge of her was
+commended by the Duke into the hands of a discreet lady; and for a while
+His Highness, for very shame, forbore to trouble her with suitors. For
+he said, in his bitter humour, as he looked down on the dead body of
+Robert de Beauregard: "I have lost two good servants and four strong
+arms through her; and mayhap, if I find her another suitor, she will rob
+me of yet another stalwart gentleman."
+
+So she abode, in peace indeed, but in sore desolation and sorrow,
+longing for the day when Count Antonio should come back to seek her. And
+again was she closely guarded by the Duke.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+COUNT ANTONIO AND THE TRAITOR PRINCE.
+
+
+Of all the deeds that Count Antonio of Monte Velluto did during the time
+that he was an outlaw in the hills (for a price had been set on his head
+by Duke Valentine), there was none that made greater stir or struck more
+home to the hearts of men, howsoever they chose to look upon it, than
+that which he performed on the high hill that faces the wicket gate on
+the west side of the city and is called now the Hill of Duke Paul.
+Indeed it was the act of a man whose own conscience was his sole guide,
+and who made the law which his own hand was to carry out. That it had
+been a crime in most men, who can doubt? That it was a crime in him, all
+governments must hold; and the same, I take it, must be the teaching of
+the Church. Yet not all men held it a crime, although they had not
+ventured it themselves, both from the greatness of the person whom the
+deed concerned, and also for the burden that it put on the conscience of
+him that did it. Here, then, is the story of it, as it is still told
+both in the houses of the noble and in peasants' cottages.
+
+While Count Antonio still dwelt at the Court, and had not yet fled from
+the wrath aroused in the Duke by the Count's attempt to carry off the
+Lady Lucia, the Duke's ward, the nuptials of His Highness had been
+celebrated with great magnificence and universal rejoicing; and the
+feasting and exultation had been most happily renewed on the birth of an
+infant Prince, a year later. Yet heavy was the price paid for this gift
+of Heaven, for Her Highness the Duchess, a lady of rare grace and
+kindliness, survived the birth of her son only three months, and then
+died, amidst the passionate mourning of the people, leaving the Duke a
+prey to bitter sorrow. Many say that she had turned his heart to good
+had she but lived, and that it was the loss of her that soured him and
+twisted his nature. If it be so, I pray that he has received pardon for
+all his sins; for his grief was great, and hardly to be assuaged even by
+the love he had for the little Prince, from whom he would never be
+parted for an hour, if he could contrive to have the boy with him, and
+in whom he saw, with pride, the heir of his throne.
+
+Both in the joy of the wedding and the grief at the Duchess's death,
+none had made more ostentatious sign of sharing than His Highness's
+brother, Duke Paul. Yet hollow alike were his joy and his grief, save
+that he found true cause for sorrow in that the Duchess left to her
+husband a dear memorial of their brief union. Paul rivalled the Duke in
+his caresses and his affected love for the boy, but he had lived long in
+the hope that His Highness would not marry, and that he himself should
+succeed him in his place, and this hope he could not put out of his
+heart. Nay, as time passed and the baby grew to a healthy boy, Paul's
+thoughts took a still deeper hue of guilt. It was no longer enough for
+him to hope for his nephew's death, or even to meditate how he should
+bring it about. One wicked imagining led on, as it is wont in our sinful
+nature, to another, and Satan whispered in Paul's ear that the Duke
+himself was short of forty by a year, that to wait for power till youth
+were gone was not a bold man's part, and that to contrive the child's
+death, leaving his father alive, was but to double the risk without
+halving the guilt. Thus was Paul induced to dwell on the death of both
+father and son, and to say to himself that if the father went first the
+son would easily follow, and that with one cunning and courageous stroke
+the path to the throne might be cleared.
+
+While Paul pondered on these designs, there came about the events which
+drove Count Antonio from the Court; and no sooner was he gone and
+declared in open disobedience and contumacy against the Duke, than Paul,
+seeking a handle for his plans, seemed to find one in Antonio. Here was
+a man driven from his house (which the Duke had burnt), despoiled of his
+revenues, bereft of his love, proclaimed a free mark for whosoever would
+serve the Duke by slaying him. Where could be a better man for the
+purposes of a malcontent prince? And the more was Paul inclined to use
+Antonio from the fact that he had shown favour to Antonio, and been wont
+to seek his society; so that Antonio, failing to pierce the dark depths
+of his heart, was loyally devoted to him, and had returned an answer
+full of gratitude and friendship to the secret messages in which Paul
+had sent him condolence on the mishap that had befallen him.
+
+Now in the beginning of the second year of Count Antonio's outlawry, His
+Highness was most mightily incensed against him, not merely because he
+had so won the affection of the country-folk that none would betray his
+hiding-place either for threats or for reward, but most chiefly by
+reason of a certain act which was in truth more of Tommasino's doing
+than of Antonio's. For Tommasino, meeting one of the Duke's farmers of
+taxes, had lightened him of his fat bag of money, saying that he would
+himself assume the honour of delivering what was fairly due to His
+Highness, and had upon that scattered three-fourths of the spoil among
+the poor, and sent the beggarly remnant privily by night to the gate of
+the city, with a writing, "There is honour among thieves; who, then, may
+call Princes thieves?" And this writing had been read by many, and the
+report of it, spreading through the city, had made men laugh. Therefore
+the Duke had sworn that by no means should Antonio gain pardon save by
+delivering that insolent young robber to the hands of justice. Thus he
+was highly pleased when his brother sought him in the garden (for he sat
+in his wonted place under the wall by the fish-pond) and bade him listen
+to a plan whereby the outlaws should be brought to punishment. The Duke
+took his little son upon his knees and prayed his brother to tell his
+device.
+
+"You could not bring me a sweeter gift than the head of Tommasino," said
+he, stroking the child's curls; and the child shrank closer into his
+arms, for the child did not love Paul but feared him.
+
+"Antonio knows that I love Your Highness," said Paul, seating himself
+on the seat by the Duke, "but he knows also that I am his friend, and a
+friend to the Lady Lucia, and a man of tender heart. Would it seem to
+him deep treachery if I should go privately to him and tell him how that
+on a certain day you would go forth with your guard to camp in the spurs
+of Mount Agnino, leaving the city desolate, and that on the night of
+that day I could contrive that Lucia should come secretly to the gate,
+and that it should be opened for her, so that by a sudden descent she
+might be seized and carried safe to his hiding-place before aid could
+come from Your Highness?"
+
+"But what should the truth be?" asked Valentine.
+
+"The truth should be that while part of the Guard went to the spurs of
+the Mount, the rest should lie in ambush close inside the city gates and
+dash out on Antonio and his company."
+
+"It is well, if he will believe."
+
+Then Paul laid his finger on his brother's arm. "As the clock in the
+tower of the cathedral strikes three on the morning of the 15th of the
+month, do you, dear brother, be in your summer-house at the corner of
+the garden yonder; and I will come thither and tell you if he has
+believed and if he has come. For by then I shall have learnt from him
+his mind: and we two will straightway go rouse the guards and lead the
+men to their appointed station, and when he approaches the gate we can
+lay hands on him."
+
+"How can you come to him? For we do not know where he is hid."
+
+"Alas, there is not a rogue of a peasant that cannot take a letter to
+him!"
+
+"Yet when I question them, aye, though I beat them, they know nothing!"
+cried Valentine in chagrin. "Truly, the sooner we lay him by the heels,
+the better for our security."
+
+"Shall it be, then, as I say, my lord?"
+
+"So let it be," said the Duke. "I will await you in the summer-house."
+
+Paul, perceiving that his brother had no suspicions of him, and would
+await him in the summer-house, held his task to be already half done.
+For his plan was that he and Antonio should come together to the
+summer-house, but that Antonio should lie hid till Paul had spoken to
+the Duke; then Paul should go out on pretext of bidding the guard make
+ready the ambush, and leave the Duke alone with Antonio. Antonio then,
+suddenly springing forth, should slay the Duke; while Paul--and when he
+thought on this, he smiled to himself--would so contrive that a body of
+men should bar Antonio's escape, and straightway kill him. Thus should
+he be quit both of his brother and of Antonio, and no man would live who
+knew how the deed was contrived. "And then," said he, "I doubt whether
+the poor child, bereft of all parental care, will long escape the
+manifold perils of infancy."
+
+Thus he schemed; and when he had made all sure, and noised about the
+Duke's intentions touching his going to the spurs of Mount Agnino, he
+himself set forth alone on his horse to seek Antonio. He rode till he
+reached the entrance of the pass leading to the recesses of the hills.
+There he dismounted, and sat down on the ground; and this was at noon on
+the 13th day of the month. He had not long been sitting, when a face
+peered from behind a wall of moss-covered rock that fronted him, and
+Paul cried, "Is it a friend?"
+
+"A friend of whom mean you, my lord?" came from the rock.
+
+"Of whom else than of Count Antonio?" cried Paul.
+
+A silence followed and a delay; then two men stole cautiously from
+behind the rock, and in one of them Paul knew the man they called Bena,
+who had been of the Duke's Guard. The men, knowing Paul, bowed low to
+him, and asked him his pleasure, and he commanded them to bring him to
+Antonio. They wondered, knowing not whether he came from the Duke or
+despite the Duke; but he was urgent in his commands, and at length they
+tied a scarf over his eyes, and set him on his horse, and led the horse.
+Thus they went for an hour. Then they prayed him to dismount, saying
+that the horse could go no farther; and though Paul's eyes saw nothing,
+he heard the whinnying and smelt the smell of horses.
+
+"Here are your stables then," said he, and dismounted with a laugh.
+
+Then Bena took him by the hand, and the other guided his feet, and
+climbing up steep paths, over boulders and through little water-courses,
+they went, till at length Bena cried, "We are at home, my lord;" and
+Paul, tearing off his bandage, found himself on a small level spot,
+ringed round with stunted wind-beaten firs; and three huts stood in the
+middle of the space, and before one of the huts sat Tommasino, composing
+a sonnet to a pretty peasant girl whom he had chanced to meet that day;
+for Tommasino had ever a hospitable heart. But seeing Paul, Tommasino
+left his sonnet, and with a cry of wonder sprang to meet him; and Paul
+took him by both hands and saluted him. That night and the morning that
+followed, Paul abode with Antonio, eating the good cheer and drinking
+the good wine that Tommasino, who had charged himself with the care of
+such matters, put before him. Whence they came from, Paul asked not; nor
+did Tommasino say more than that they were offerings to Count
+Antonio--but whether offerings of free-will or necessity, he said not.
+And during this time Paul spoke much with Antonio privily and apart,
+persuading him of his friendship, and telling most pitiful things of the
+harshness shown by Valentine his brother to the Lady Lucia, and how the
+lady grew pale, and peaked and pined, so that the physicians knit their
+brows over her and the women said no drugs would patch a broken heart.
+Thus he inflamed Antonio's mind with a great rage against the Duke, so
+that he fell to counting the men he had and wondering whether there were
+force to go openly against the city. But in sorrow Paul answered that
+the pikemen were too many.
+
+"But there is a way, and a better," said Paul, leaning his head near to
+Antonio's ear. "A way whereby you may come to your own again, and
+rebuild your house that the Duke has burnt, and enjoy the love of Lucia,
+and hold foremost place in the Duchy."
+
+"What way is that?" asked Antonio in wondering eagerness. "Indeed I am
+willing to serve His Highness in any honourable service, if by that I
+may win his pardon and come to that I long for."
+
+"His pardon! When did he pardon?" sneered Paul.
+
+To know honest men and leave them to their honesty is the last great
+gift of villainy. But Paul had it not; and now he unfolded to Antonio
+the plan that he had made, saving (as needs not to be said) that part of
+it whereby Antonio himself was to meet his death. For a pretext he
+alleged that the Duke oppressed the city, and that he, Paul, was put out
+of favour because he had sought to protect the people, and was fallen
+into great suspicion. Yet, judging Antonio's heart by his own, he dwelt
+again and longer on the charms of Lucia, and on the great things he
+would give Antonio when he ruled the Duchy for his nephew; for of the
+last crime he meditated, the death of the child, he said naught then,
+professing to love the child. When the tale began, a sudden start ran
+through Antonio, and his face flushed; but he sat still and listened
+with unmoved face, his eyes gravely regarding Paul the while. No anger
+did he show, nor wonder, nor scorn, nor now any eagerness; but he gazed
+at the Prince with calm musing glance, as though he considered of some
+great question put before him. And when Paul ended his tale, Antonio sat
+yet silent and musing. But Paul was trembling now, and he stretched out
+his hand and laid it on Antonio's knee, and asked, with a feigned laugh
+that choked in the utterance, "Well, friend Antonio, is it a clever
+plan, and will you ride with me?"
+
+Minute followed minute before Antonio answered. At length the frown
+vanished from his brow, and his face grew calm and set, and he answered
+Duke Paul, saying, "It is such a plan as you, my lord, alone of all men
+in the Duchy could make; and I will ride with you."
+
+Then Paul, in triumph, caught him by the hands and pressed his hands,
+calling him a man of fine spirit and a true friend, who should not lack
+reward. And all this Antonio suffered silently; and in silence still he
+listened while Paul told him how that a path led privately from the bank
+of the river, through a secret gate in the wall, to the summer-house
+where the Duke was to be; of this gate he alone, saving the Duke had the
+key; they had but to swim the river and enter by this gate. Having
+hidden Antonio, Paul would talk with the Duke; then he would go and
+carry off what remained of the guard over and above those that were gone
+to the hills; and Antonio, having done his deed, could return by the
+same secret path, cross the river again, and rejoin his friends. And in
+a short space of time Paul would recall him with honour to the city and
+give him Lucia to wife.
+
+"And if there be a question as to the hand that dealt the blow, there is
+a rascal whom the Duke flogged but a few days since, a steward in the
+palace. He deserves hanging, Antonio, for a thousand things of which he
+is guilty, and it will trouble me little to hang him for one whereof he
+chances to be innocent." And Duke Paul laughed heartily.
+
+"I will ride with you," said Antonio again.
+
+Then, it being full mid-day, they sat down to dinner, Paul bandying many
+merry sayings with Tommasino, Antonio being calm but not uncheerful. And
+when the meal was done, Paul drank to the good fortune of their
+expedition; and Antonio having drained his glass, said, "May God
+approve the issue," and straightway bade Tommasino and Martolo prepare
+to ride with him. Then, Paul being again blindfolded, they climbed down
+the mountain paths till they came where the horses were, and thus, as
+the sun began to decline, set forward, at a fair pace, Duke Paul and
+Antonio leading by some few yards; while Tommasino and Martolo, having
+drunk well, and sniffing sport in front of them, sang, jested, and
+played pranks on one another as they passed along. But when night fell
+they became silent; even Tommasino turned grave and checked his horse,
+and the space between them and the pair who led grew greater, so that it
+seemed to Duke Paul that he and Antonio rode alone through the night,
+under the shadows of the great hills. Once and again he spoke to
+Antonio, first of the scheme, then on some light matter; but Antonio did
+no more than move his head in assent. And Antonio's face was very white,
+and his lips were close shut.
+
+It was midnight when Duke Paul and Antonio reached the plain: the moon,
+till now hidden by the mountains, shone on them, and, seeing Antonio's
+face more plainly, Paul cried, half in jest, half in uneasiness, "Come,
+man, look not so glum about it! 'Tis but the life of a rogue."
+
+"Indeed it is no more," said Antonio, and he turned his eyes on Duke
+Paul.
+
+Paul laughed, but with poor merriment. Whence it came he knew not, but a
+strange sudden sense of peril and of doom had fallen on him. The massive
+quiet figure of Antonio, riding ever close to him, silent, stern, and
+watchful, oppressed his spirit.
+
+Suddenly Antonio halted and called to Martolo to bring him a lantern:
+one hung from Martolo's saddle, and he brought it, and went back. Then
+Antonio lit the lantern and gave an ivory tablet to Paul and said to
+him, "Write me your promise."
+
+"You distrust me, then?" cried Paul in a great show of indignation.
+
+"I will not go till you have written the promise."
+
+Now Paul was somewhat loth to write the promise, fearing that it should
+be found on Antonio's body before he could contrive to remove it; but
+without it Antonio declared he would not go. So Paul wrote, bethinking
+himself that he held safe in his house at home permission from the Duke
+to seek Antonio and beguile him to the city, and that with the witness
+of this commission he could come off safe, even though the tablet were
+found on Antonio. Taking the peril then, rather than fail, he wrote,
+setting out the promises he made to Antonio in case (thus he phrased it)
+of the death of his brother. And he delivered the tablet to Antonio; and
+Antonio, restoring the lantern to Martolo, stowed the tablet about him,
+and they set forth again.
+
+As the clock in the tower of the cathedral, distantly booming in their
+ears, sounded the hour of two, they came to where the road parted. In
+one direction it ran level across the plain to the river and the city,
+and by this way they must go, if they would come to the secret gate and
+thence to the Duke's summer-house. But the second road left the plain,
+and mounted the hill that faces the wicket-gate, which is now called the
+Hill of Duke Paul. And at the parting of the road, Antonio reined in his
+horse and sat silent for a great while. Again Paul, scanning his face,
+was troubled, so that Martolo, who had drawn near, saw him wipe a drop
+from his brow. And Paul said, "For what wait we, Antonio? Time presses,
+for it has gone two o'clock."
+
+Then Antonio drew him apart, and fixing his eyes on him, said, "What of
+the child? What mean you by the child? How does it profit you that the
+father die, if the child live?"
+
+Paul, deeming that Antonio doubted him and saw a snare, and holding it
+better to seem the greatest of villains than to stir suspicion in a man
+who held him in his hands, smiled cunningly, and answered, "The child
+will grow sickly and pine when his father is not alive to care for him."
+
+"It is enough," said Antonio; and again a flush mounted on his face, and
+died down again, and left him pale. For some think he would have turned
+from his purpose, had Paul meant honestly by the child. I know not. At
+least, the foul murder plotted against the child made him utterly
+relentless.
+
+"Let us go on and end the matter," urged Paul, full of eagerness, and,
+again, of that strange uneasiness born of Antonio's air.
+
+"Ay, we will go on and finish it," said Antonio, and with that he leapt
+down from his horse. Paul did the like, for it had been agreed that the
+others, with the horses, were to await Antonio's return, while the Count
+and Paul went forward on foot: and Tommasino and Martolo, dismounting
+also, tied the horses to trees and stood waiting Antonio's orders.
+
+"Forward!" cried Paul.
+
+"Come, then," said Antonio, and he turned to the road that mounted the
+hill.
+
+"It is by the other road we go," said Paul.
+
+"It is by this road," said Antonio, and he raised his hand and made a
+certain sign, whereat the swords of his friends leapt from their
+scabbards, and they barred the way, so that Duke Paul could turn nowhere
+save to the road that mounted the hill. Then Paul's face grew long,
+drawn, and sallow with sudden fear. "What means this?" he cried. "What
+means this, Antonio?"
+
+"It means, my lord, that you must mount the hill with me," answered
+Antonio, "even to the top of it, whence a man can see the city."
+
+"But for what?"
+
+"That this matter may be finished," said Antonio; and, coming to Paul,
+he laid a hand on his shoulder and turned him to the path up the hill.
+But Paul, seeing his face and the swords of Tommasino and Martolo that
+barred all escape, seized his hand, saying, "Before God, I mean you
+true, Antonio! As Christ died for us, I mean you true, Antonio!"
+
+"Of that I know not, and care not; yet do not swear it now by Christ's
+name if it be not true. How meant you, my lord, by your brother and your
+brother's son?"
+
+Paul licked his lips, for they had gone dry, and he breathed as a man
+pants who has run far and fast. "You are three to one," he hissed.
+
+"We shall be but man to man on the top of the hill," said Antonio.
+
+Then suddenly Tommasino spoke unbidden. "There is a priest in the
+village a mile away," said he, and there was pity in his voice.
+
+"Peace, Tommasino! What priest has he provided for his brother?"
+
+And Tommasino said no more, but he turned his eyes away from the face of
+Duke Paul: yet when he was an old man, one being in his company heard
+him say he dreamed yet of it. As for Martolo, he bent his head and
+crossed himself.
+
+Then Paul threw himself on his knees before Antonio and prayed him to
+let him go; but Antonio seemed not to hear him, and stood silent with
+folded arms. Yet presently he said, "Take your sword then, my lord. If I
+fall, these shall not touch you. This much I give, though it is more
+than I have right to give."
+
+But Paul would not take his sword, but knelt, still beseeching Antonio
+with tears, and mingling prayers and curses in a flow of agonised words.
+
+At last Antonio plucked him from the ground and sternly bade him mount
+the hill; and finding no help, he set out, his knees shaking beneath
+him, while Antonio followed close upon him. And thus Tommasino and
+Martolo watched them go till the winding of the path hid them from view,
+when Martolo fell on his knees, and Tommasino drew a breath as though a
+load had rested on his chest.
+
+It was but a short way to the summit, but the path was steep, and the
+two went slowly, so that, as they came forth on the top, the first gleam
+of dawn caught them in its pale light. The city lay grey and drab below
+them, and the lonely tree, that stands to this day upon the hill, swayed
+in the wind with mournful murmurings. Paul stumbled and sank in a heap
+on the ground. And Antonio said to him, "If you will, pray," and went
+and leant against the bare trunk of the tree, a little way apart. But
+Paul, thinking on man's mercy, not on God's, crawled on his knees across
+the space between and laid hold of Antonio's legs. And he said nothing,
+but gazed up at Antonio. And at the silent appeal Antonio shivered for
+an instant, but he did not fly the gaze of Paul's eyes, but looked down
+on him and answered, "You must die. Yet there is your sword, and there a
+free road to the city."
+
+Then Paul let go Antonio's legs and rose, and drew his sword. But his
+hand was trembling, and he could scarce stand. Then Antonio gave to him
+a flask that he carried, holding strong waters; and the wretch, drinking
+greedily, found some courage, and came suddenly at Antonio before
+Antonio looked for his attack. But the Count eluded him, and drawing his
+blade awaited the attack; and Paul seized again the flask that he had
+flung on the ground, and drained it, and mad now with the fumes rushed
+at Antonio, shrieking curses and blasphemies. The sun rose on the moment
+that their blades crossed; and before its rays had shone a minute,
+Antonio had driven his sword through the howling wretch's lung, and Duke
+Paul lay dying on the grassy hill.
+
+Then Count Antonio stripped off his doublet and made a pillow of it for
+Paul's head, and sat down by him, and wiped his brow, and disposed his
+body with such ease as seemed possible. Yet he took no pains to stanch
+the blood or to minister to the wound, for his intent was that Paul
+should die and not live. And Paul lay some moments on his back, then
+twisted on his side; once he flung his legs wide and gathered them again
+under his body, and shivered, turning on his back again: and his jaw
+fell, and he died there on the top of the hill. And the Count closed his
+eyes, and sat by him in silence for many minutes; and once he buried his
+face in his hands, and a single sob shook him.
+
+But now it was growing to day, and he rose, and took from the Duke's
+waist the broad silken band that he wore, wrought with golden embroidery
+on a ground of royal blue. Then he took Paul in his arms and set him
+upright against the trunk of the tree, and, encircling tree and body
+with the rich scarf, he bound the corpse there; and he took the ivory
+tablet from his belt and tied the riband that hung through a hole in it
+to the riband of the Order of St. Prisian, that was round Paul's neck,
+and he wrote on the tablet, "Witness my hand--ANTONIO of Monte Velluto."
+And he wiped the blade of his sword long and carefully on the grass till
+it shone pure, clean, and bright again. Then he gazed awhile at the
+city, that grew now warm and rich in the increasing light of the sun,
+and turned on his heel and went down the hill by the way that he had
+come.
+
+At the foot, Tommasino and Martolo awaited him; and when he came down
+alone, Martolo again signed the cross; but Tommasino glanced one
+question, and, finding answer in Antonio's nod, struck his open palm on
+the quarters of Duke Paul's horse and set it free to go where it would;
+and the horse, being free, started at a canter along the road to the
+city. And Antonio mounted and set his face again towards the hills. For
+awhile he rode alone in front; but when an hour was gone, he called to
+Tommasino, and, on the lad joining him, talked with him, not gaily
+indeed (that could not be), yet with calmness and cheerfulness on the
+matters that concerned the band. But Paul's name did not cross his lips;
+and the manner in which he had dealt with Paul on the hill rested
+unknown till a later time, when Count Antonio formally declared it, and
+wrote with his own hand how Duke Paul had died. Thus, then, Count
+Antonio rode back to the hills, having executed on the body of Paul that
+which seemed to him right and just.
+
+Long had Duke Valentine waited for his brother in the summer-house and
+greatly wondered that he came not. And as the morning grew and yet Paul
+came not, the Duke feared that in some manner Antonio had detected the
+snare, and that he held Paul a prisoner; for it did not enter the Duke's
+mind that Antonio would dare to kill his brother. And when it was five
+o'clock, the Duke, heavy-eyed for want of sleep, left the summer-house,
+and having traversed the garden, entered his cabinet and flung himself
+on a couch there; and notwithstanding his uneasiness for his brother,
+being now very drowsy, he fell asleep. But before he had slept long, he
+was roused by two of his pages, who ran in crying that Duke Paul's horse
+had come riderless to the gate of the city. And the Duke sprang up,
+smiting his thigh, and crying, "If harm has come to him, I will not rest
+till I have Antonio's head." So he mustered a party of his guards, some
+on horseback and some on foot, and passed with all speed out of the
+city, seeking his brother, and vowing vengeance on the insolence of
+Count Antonio.
+
+But the Duke was not first out of the city; for he found a stream of
+townsmen flocking across the bridge; and at the end of the bridge was a
+gathering of men, huddled close round a peasant who stood in the centre.
+The pikemen made a way for His Highness; and when the peasant saw him,
+he ran to him, and resting his hand on the neck of the Duke's horse, as
+though he could scarce stand alone, he cried, pointing with his hand to
+the hill that rose to the west, "The Duke Paul, the Duke Paul!" And no
+more could he say.
+
+"Give him a horse, one of you, and let another lead it," cried the Duke.
+"And forward, gentlemen, whither he points!"
+
+Thus they set forth, and as they went, the concourse grew, some
+overtaking them from the city, some who were going on their business or
+for pleasure into the city turning and following after the Duke and his
+company. So that a multitude went after Valentine and the peasant, and
+they rode together at the head. And the Duke said thrice to the peasant,
+"What of my brother?" But the peasant, who was an old man, did but point
+again to the hill.
+
+At the foot of the hill, all that had horses left them in charge of the
+boys who were of the party, for the Duke, presaging some fearful thing,
+would suffer none but grown men to mount with him; and thus they went
+forward afoot till they reached the grassy summit of the hill. And then
+the peasant sprang in front, crying, "There, there!" and all of them
+beheld the body of Duke Paul, bound to the tree by the embroidered
+scarf, his head fallen on his breast, and the ivory tablet hanging from
+the riband of the Order of St. Prisian. And a great silence fell on them
+all, and they stood gazing at the dead prince.
+
+But presently Duke Valentine went forward alone; and he knelt on one
+knee and bowed his head, and kissed his brother's right hand. And a
+shout of indignation and wrath went up from all the crowd, and they
+cried, "Whose deed is this?" The Duke minded them not, but rose to his
+feet and laid his hand on the ivory tablet; and he perceived that it was
+written by Duke Paul; and he read what Paul had written to Antonio; how
+that he, the Duke, being dead, Antonio should come to his own again,
+and wed Lucia, and hold foremost place in the Duchy. And, this read, the
+Duke read also the subscription of Count Antonio--"Witness my
+hand--ANTONIO of Monte Velluto." Then he was very amazed, for he had
+trusted his brother. Yet he did not refuse the testimony of the ivory
+tablet nor suspect any guile or deceit in Antonio. And he stood
+dry-eyed, looking on the dead face of Duke Paul. Then, turning round, he
+cried in a loud voice, so that every man on the hill heard him, "Behold
+the body of a traitor!" And men looked on him, and from him to the faces
+of one another, asking what he meant. But he spoke no other word, and
+went straightway down the hill, and mounted his horse again, and rode
+back to the city; and, having come to his palace, he sent for his little
+son, and went with him into the cabinet behind the great hall, where the
+two stayed alone together for many hours. And when the child came forth,
+he asked none concerning his uncle the Duke Paul.
+
+Now all the company had followed down from the hill after the Duke, and
+no man dared to touch the body unbidden. Two days passed, and a great
+storm came, so that the rain beat on Paul's face and the lightning
+blackened it. But on the third day, when the storm had ceased, the Duke
+bade the Lieutenant of the Guard to go by night and bring the body of
+Paul: and the Lieutenant and his men flung a cloak over the face, and,
+having thus done, brought the body into the city at the break of day:
+yet the great square was full of folk watching in awe and silence. And
+they took the body to the Cathedral, and buried it under the wall on the
+north side in the shade of a cypress tree, laying a plain flat stone
+over it. And Duke Valentine gave great sums for masses to be said for
+the repose of his brother's soul. Yet there are few men who will go by
+night to the Hill of Duke Paul; and even now when I write, there is a
+man in the city who has lost his senses and is an idiot: he, they say,
+went to the hill on the night of the 15th of the month wherein Paul
+died, and came back mumbling things terrible to hear. But whether he
+went because he lacked his senses, or lost his senses by reason of the
+thing he saw when he went, I know not.
+
+Thus died Duke Paul the traitor. Yet, though the Duke his brother knew
+that what was done upon him was nothing else than he had deserved and
+should have suffered had he been brought alive to justice, he was very
+wroth with Count Antonio, holding it insolence that any man should lay
+hands on one of his blood, and, of his own will, execute sentence upon a
+criminal of a degree so exalted. Therefore he sent word to Antonio, that
+if he caught him, he would hang him on the hill from the branches of the
+tree to which Antonio had bound Paul, and would leave his body there for
+three times three days. And, this message coming to Antonio, he sent one
+privily by night to the gate of the city, who laid outside the gate a
+letter for the Duke; and in the letter was written, "God chooses the
+hand. All is well."
+
+And Count Antonio abode still an outlaw in the mountains, and the Lady
+Lucia mourned in the city.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+COUNT ANTONIO AND THE PRINCE OF MANTIVOGLIA.
+
+
+I know of naught by which a man may better be judged than by his bearing
+in matters of love. What know I of love, say you--I, whose head is grey,
+and shaven to boot? True, it is grey, and it is shaven. But once it was
+brown, and the tonsure came not there till I had lived thirty years and
+borne arms for twelve. Then came death to one I loved, and the tonsure
+to me. Therefore, O ye proud young men and laughing girls, old Ambrose
+knows of love, though his knowledge be only like the memory that a man
+has of a glorious red-gold sunset which his eyes saw a year ago: cold
+are the tints, gone the richness, sober and faint the picture. Yet it is
+something; he sees no more, but he has seen; and sometimes still I seem
+to see a face that last I saw smiling in death. They tell me such
+thoughts are not fitting in me, but I doubt their doing a man much harm;
+for they make him take joy when others reap the happiness that he,
+forestalled by fate's sickle, could not garner. But enough! It is of
+Count Antonio I would write, and not of my poor self. And the story may
+be worth the reading--or would be, had I more skill to pen it.
+
+Now in the summer of the second year of Count Antonio's banishment, when
+the fierce anger of Duke Valentine was yet hot for the presumption shown
+by the Count in the matter of Duke Paul's death, a messenger came
+privily to where the band lay hidden in the hills, bringing greeting to
+Antonio from the Prince of Mantivoglia, between whom and the Duke there
+was great enmity. For in days gone by Firmola had paid tribute to
+Mantivoglia, and this burden had been broken off only some thirty years;
+and the Prince, learning that Antonio was at variance with Duke
+Valentine, perceived an opportunity, and sent to Antonio, praying him
+very courteously to visit Mantivoglia and be his guest. Antonio, who
+knew the Prince well, sent him thanks, and, having made dispositions for
+the safety of his company and set Tommasino in charge of it, himself
+rode with the man they called Bena, and, having crossed the frontier,
+came on the second day to Mantivoglia. Here he was received with great
+state, and all in the city were eager to see him, having heard how he
+had dealt with Duke Paul and how he now renounced the authority of
+Valentine. And the Prince lodged him in his palace, and prepared a
+banquet for him, and set him on the right hand of the Princess, who was
+a very fair lady, learned, and of excellent wit; indeed, I have by me
+certain stories which she composed, and would read on summer evenings in
+the garden; and it may be that, if I live, I will make known certain of
+them. Others there are that only the discreet should read; for what to
+one age is but mirth turns in the mind of the next to unseemliness and
+ribaldry. This Princess, then, was very gracious to the Count, and
+spared no effort to give him pleasure; and she asked him very many
+things concerning the Lady Lucia, saying at last, "Is she fairer than
+I, my lord?" But Antonio answered, with a laugh, "The moon is not fairer
+than the sun, nor the sun than the moon: yet they are different." And
+the Princess laughed also, saying merrily, "Well parried, my lord!" And
+she rose and went with the Prince and Antonio into the garden. Then the
+Prince opened to Antonio what was in his mind, saying, "Take what
+command you will in my service, and come with me against Firmola; and
+when we have brought Valentine to his knees, I will take what was my
+father's, and should be mine: and you shall wring from him your pardon
+and the hand of your lady." And the Princess also entreated him. But
+Antonio answered, "I cannot do it. If Your Highness rides to Firmola, it
+is likely enough that I also may ride thither; but I shall ride to put
+my sword at the service of the Duke. For, although he is not my friend,
+yet his enemies are mine." And from this they could not turn him. Then
+the Prince praised him, saying, "I love you more for denying me,
+Antonio; and when I send word of my coming to Valentine, I will tell
+him also of what you have done. And if we meet by the walls of Firmola,
+we will fight like men; and, after that, you shall come again to
+Mantivoglia;" and he drank wine with Antonio, and so bade him God-speed.
+And the Princess, when her husband was gone, looked at the Count and
+said, "Valentine will not give her to you. Why will not you take her?"
+
+But Antonio answered: "The price is too high."
+
+"I would not have a man who thought any price too high," cried the
+Princess.
+
+"Then your Highness would mate with a rogue?" asked Count Antonio,
+smiling.
+
+"If he were one for my sake only," said she, fixing her eyes on his face
+and sighing lightly, as ladies sigh when they would tell something, and
+yet not too much nor in words that can be repeated. But Antonio kissed
+her hand, and took leave of her; and with another sigh she watched him
+go.
+
+But when the middle of the next month came, the Prince of Mantivoglia
+gathered an army of three thousand men, of whom seventeen hundred were
+mounted, and crossed the frontier, directing his march towards Firmola
+by way of the base of Mount Agnino and the road to the village of
+Rilano. The Duke, hearing of his approach, mustered his Guards to the
+number of eight hundred and fifty men, and armed besides hard upon two
+thousand of the townsmen and apprentices, taking an oath of them that
+they would serve him loyally; for he feared and distrusted them; and of
+the whole force, eleven hundred had horses. But Count Antonio lay still
+in the mountains, and did not offer to come to the Duke's aid.
+
+"Will you not pray his leave to come and fight for him?" asked
+Tommasino.
+
+"He will love to beat the Prince without my aid, if he can," said
+Antonio. "Heaven forbid that I should seem to snatch at glory, and make
+a chance for myself from his necessity."
+
+So he abode two days where he was; and then there came a shepherd, who
+said, "My lord, the Duke has marched out of the city and lay last night
+at Rilano, and is to-day stretched across the road that leads from the
+spurs of Agnino to Rilano, his right wing resting on the river. There
+he waits the approach of the Prince; and they say that at daybreak
+to-morrow the Prince will attack."
+
+Then Antonio rose, saying, "What of the night?"
+
+Now the night was very dark, and the fog hung like a grey cloak over the
+plain. And Antonio collected all his men to the number of threescore and
+five, all well-armed and well-horsed; and he bade them march very
+silently and with great caution, and led them down into the plain. And
+all the night they rode softly, husbanding their strength and sparing
+their horses; and an hour before the break of day they passed through
+the outskirts of Rilano and halted a mile beyond the village, seeing the
+fires of the Duke's bivouacs stretched across the road in front of them;
+and beyond there were other fires where the Prince of Mantivoglia lay
+encamped. And Bena said, "The Prince will be too strong for the Duke, my
+lord."
+
+"If he be, we also shall fight to-morrow, Bena," answered Antonio.
+
+"I trust, then, that they prove at least well matched," said Bena; for
+he loved to fight, and yet was ashamed to wish that the Duke should be
+defeated.
+
+Then Count Antonio took counsel with Tommasino; and they led the band
+very secretly across the rear of the Duke's camp till they came to the
+river. There was a mill on the river, and by the mill a great covered
+barn where the sacks of grain stood; and Antonio, having roused the
+miller, told him that he came to aid the Duke, and not to fight against
+him, and posted his men in this great barn; so that they were behind the
+right wing of the Duke's army, and were hidden from sight. Day was
+dawning now: the campfires paled in the growing light, and the sounds of
+preparation were heard from the camp. And from the Prince's quarters
+also came the noise of trumpets calling the men to arms.
+
+At four in the morning the battle was joined, Antonio standing with
+Tommasino and watching from the mill. Now Duke Valentine had placed his
+own guards on either wing, and the townsmen in the centre; but the
+Prince had posted the flower of his troops in the centre; and he rode
+there himself, surrounded by many lords and gentlemen; and with great
+valour and impetuosity he flung himself against the townsmen, recking
+little of how he fared on either wing. This careless haste did not pass
+unnoticed by the Duke, who was a cool man and wore a good head; and he
+said to Lorenzo, one of his lords who was with him, "If we win on right
+and left, it will not hurt us to lose in the middle;" and he would not
+strengthen the townsmen against the Prince, but rather drew off more of
+them, and chiefly the stoutest and best equipped, whom he divided
+between the right wing where he himself commanded, and the left which
+Lorenzo led. Nay, men declare that he was not ill pleased to see the
+brunt of the strife and the heaviest loss fall on the apprentices and
+townsmen. For a while indeed these stood bravely; but the Prince's
+chivalry came at them in fierce pride and gallant scorn, and bore them
+down with the weight of armour and horses, the Prince himself leading on
+a white charger and with his own hand slaying Glinka, who was head of
+the city-bands and a great champion among them. But Duke Valentine and
+Lorenzo upheld the battle on the wings, and pressed back the enemy
+there; and the Duke would not send aid to the townsmen in the centre,
+saying "I shall be ready for the Prince as soon as the Prince is ready
+for me, and I can spare some of those turbulent apprentices." And he
+smiled his crafty smile, adding, "From enemies also a wise man may suck
+good;" and he pressed forward on the right fighting more fiercely than
+was his custom. But when Antonio beheld the townsmen hard pressed and
+being ridden down by the Prince of Mantivoglia's knights and saw that
+the Duke would not aid them, he grew very hot and angry, and said to
+Tommasino, "These men have loved my house, Tommasino. It may be that I
+spoil His Highness's plan, but are we to stand here while they perish?"
+
+"A fig for His Highness's plan!" said Tommasino; and Bena gave a cry of
+joy and sprang, unbidden, on his horse.
+
+"Since you are up, Bena," said the Count, "stay up, and let the others
+mount. The Duke's plan, if I read it aright, is craftier than I love,
+and I do not choose to understand it."
+
+Then, when the townsmen's line was giving way before the Prince, and the
+apprentices, conceiving themselves to be shamefully deserted, were more
+of a mind to run away than to fight any more, suddenly Antonio rode
+forth from the mill. He and his company came at full gallop; but he
+himself was ten yards ahead of Bena and Tommasino, for all that they
+raced after him. And he cried aloud, "To me, men of Firmola, to me,
+Antonio of Monte Velluto!" and they beheld him with utter astonishment
+and great joy. For his helmet was fallen from his head, and his fair
+hair gleamed in the sun, and the light of battle played on his face. And
+the band followed him, and, though they had for the most part no armour,
+yet such was the fury of their rush, and such the mettle and strength of
+their horses, that they made light of meeting the Prince's knights in
+full tilt. And the townsmen cried, "It is the Count! To death after the
+Count!" And Antonio raised the great sword that he carried, and rode at
+the Marshal of the Prince's palace, who was in the van of the fight,
+and he split helmet and head with a blow. Then he came to where the
+Prince himself was, and the great sword was raised again, and the Prince
+rode to meet him, saying, "If I do not die now, I shall not die to-day."
+But when Antonio saw the Prince, he brought his sword to his side and
+bowed and turned aside, and engaged the most skilful of the Mantivoglian
+knights. And he fought that day like a man mad; but he would not strike
+the Prince of Mantivoglia. And after a while the Prince ceased to seek
+him; and a flatterer said to the Prince, "He is bold against us, but he
+fears you, my lord." But the Prince said, "Peace, fool. Go and fight."
+For he knew that not fear, but friendship, forbade Antonio to assail
+him.
+
+Yet by now the rout of the townsmen was stayed and they were holding
+their own again in good heart and courage, while both on the right and
+on the left the Duke pressed on and held the advantage. Then the Prince
+of Mantivoglia perceived that he was in a dangerous plight, for he was
+in peril of being worsted along his whole line; for his knights did no
+more than hold a doubtful balance against the townsmen and Antonio's
+company, while the Duke and Lorenzo were victorious on either wing; and
+he knew that if the Duke got in rear of him and lay between him and
+Mount Agnino, he would be sore put to it to find a means of retreat.
+Therefore he left the centre and rode to the left of his line and
+himself faced Duke Valentine. Yet slowly was he driven back, and he gave
+way sullenly, obstinately, and in good order, himself performing many
+gallant deeds, and seeking to come to a conflict with the Duke. But the
+Duke, seeing that the day was likely to be his, would not meet him and
+chose to expose his person to no more danger: "For," he said, "a soldier
+who is killed is a good soldier; but a chief who is killed save for some
+great object is a bad chief." And he bided his time and slowly pressed
+the Prince back, seeking rather to win the battle than the praise of
+bravery. But when Count Antonio saw that all went well, and that the
+enemy were in retreat, he halted his band; and at this they murmured,
+Bena daring to say, "My lord, we have had dinner, and may we not have
+supper also?" Antonio smiled at Bena, but would not listen.
+
+"No," said he. "His Highness has won the victory by his skill and
+cunning. I did but move to save my friends. It is enough. Shall I seek
+to rob him of his glory? For the ignorant folk, counting the arm more
+honourable than the head, will give me more glory than him if I continue
+in the fight." And thus, not being willing to force his aid on a man who
+hated to receive it, he drew off his band. Awhile he waited; but when he
+saw that the Prince was surely beaten, and that the Duke held victory in
+his hand, he gave the word that they should return by the way they had
+come.
+
+"Indeed," said Tommasino, laughing, "it may be wisdom as well as good
+manners, cousin. For I would not trust myself to Valentine if he be
+victorious, for all the service which we have done him in saving the
+apprentices he loves so well."
+
+So Antonio's band turned and rode off from the field, and they passed
+through Rilano. But they found the village desolate; for report had
+come from the field that the Duke's line was broken, and that in a short
+space the Prince of Mantivoglia would advance in triumph, and having
+sacked Rilano, would go against Firmola, where there were but a few old
+men and boys left to guard the walls against him. And one peasant, whom
+they found hiding in the wood by the road, said there was panic in the
+city, and that many were escaping from it before the enemy should
+appear.
+
+"It is months since I saw Firmola," said Antonio with a smile. "Let us
+ride there and reassure these timid folk. For my lord the Duke has
+surely by now won the victory, and he will pursue the Prince till he
+yields peace and abandons the tribute."
+
+Now a great excitement rose in the band at these words; for although
+they had lost ten men in the battle and five more were disabled, yet
+they were fifty stout and ready; and it was not likely that there was
+any force in Firmola that could oppose them. And Martolo, who rode with
+Tommasino, whispered to him, "My lord, my lord, shall we carry off the
+Lady Lucia before His Highness can return?"
+
+Tommasino glanced at Antonio. "Nay, I know not what my cousin purposes,"
+said he.
+
+Then Antonio bade Bena and Martolo ride on ahead, taking the best
+horses, and tell the people at Firmola that victory was with the Duke,
+and that His Highness's servant, Antonio of Monte Velluto, was at hand
+to protect the city till His Highness should return in triumph. And the
+two, going ahead while the rest of the band took their mid-day meal, met
+many ladies and certain rich merchants and old men escaping from the
+city, and turned them back, saying that all was well; and the ladies
+would fain have gone on and met Antonio; but the merchants, hearing that
+he was there, made haste to get within the walls again, fearing that he
+would levy a toll on them for the poor, as his custom was. At this Bena
+laughed mightily, and drew rein, saying, "These rabbits will run quicker
+back to their burrow than we could ride, Martolo. Let us rest awhile
+under a tree; I have a flask of wine in my saddle-bag." So they rested;
+and while they rested, they saw what amazed them; for a lady rode alone
+towards them on a palfrey, and though the merchants met her and spoke
+with her, yet she rode on. And when she came to the tree where Bena and
+Martolo were, they sprang up and bared their heads; for she was the Lady
+Lucia; and her face was full of fear and eagerness as she said, "No
+guard is kept to-day, even on helpless ladies. Is it true that my lord
+is near?"
+
+"Yes, he is near," said Bena, kissing her hand. "See, there is the dust
+of his company on the road."
+
+"Go, one of you, and say that I wait for him," she commanded; so Martolo
+rode on to carry the news farther, and Bena went to Antonio and said,
+"Heaven, my lord, sends fortune. The Lady Lucia has escaped from the
+city, and awaits you under yonder tree."
+
+And when Tommasino heard this, he put out his hand suddenly and caught
+Antonio's hand and pressed it, saying, "Go alone, and bring her here: we
+will wait: the Duke will not be here for many hours yet."
+
+Then Antonio rode alone to the tree where Lucia was; and because he had
+not seen her for many months, he leapt down from his horse and came
+running to her, and, kneeling, kissed her hand; but she, who stood now
+by her palfrey's side, flung her arms about his neck and fell with tears
+and laughter into his arms, saying, "Antonio, Antonio! Heaven is with
+us, Antonio."
+
+"Yes," said he. "For His Highness has won the day."
+
+"Have not we won the day also?" said she, reaching up and laying her
+hands on his shoulders.
+
+"Heart of my heart," said he softly, as he looked in her eyes.
+
+"The cage is opened, and, Antonio, the bird is free," she whispered, and
+her eyes danced and her cheek went red. "Lift me to my saddle, Antonio."
+
+The Count obeyed her, and himself mounted; and she said, "We can reach
+the frontier in three hours, and there--there, Antonio, none fears the
+Duke's wrath." And Antonio knew what she would say, save that she would
+not speak it bluntly--that there they could find a priest to marry
+them. And his face was pale as he smiled at her. Then he laid his hand
+on her bridle and turned her palfrey's head towards Firmola. Her eyes
+darted a swift question at him, and she cried low, "Thither, Antonio?"
+
+Then he answered her, bending still his look on her, "Alas, I am no
+learned man, nor a doctor skilled in matters of casuistry and nice
+distinctions. I can but do what the blood that is in me tells me a
+gentleman should do. To-day, sweetheart--ah, will you not hide your face
+from me, sweetheart, that my words may not die in my mouth?--to-day our
+lord the Duke fights against the enemies of our city, holding for us in
+hard battle the liberty that we have won, and bearing the banner of
+Firmola high to heaven in victory."
+
+She listened with strained frightened face; and the horses moved at a
+walk towards Firmola. And she laid her hand on his arm, saying again,
+"Antonio!"
+
+"And I have fought with my lord to-day, and I would be at his side now,
+except that I do his pleasure better by leaving him to triumph alone.
+But my hand has been with him to-day, and my heart is with him to-day.
+Tell me, sweetheart, if I rode forth to war and left you alone, would
+you do aught against me till I returned?"
+
+She did not answer him.
+
+"A Prince's city," said he, "should be as his faithful wife; and when he
+goes to meet the enemy, none at home should raise a hand against him;
+above all may not one who has fought by his side. For to stand side by
+side in battle is a promise and a compact between man and man, even as
+though man swore to man on a holy relic."
+
+Then she understood what he would say, and she looked away from him
+across the plain; and a tear rolled down her cheek as she said, "Indeed,
+my lord, the error lies in my thoughts; for I fancied that your love was
+mine."
+
+Antonio leant from his saddle and lightly touched her hair. "Was that
+indeed your fancy?" said he. "And I prove it untrue?"
+
+"You carry me back to my prison," she said. "And you will ride away."
+
+"And so I love you not?" he asked.
+
+"No, you love me not," said she; and her voice caught in a sob.
+
+"See," said he; "we draw near to Firmola, and the city gates are open;
+and, look, they raise a flag on the Duke's palace; and there is joy for
+the victory that Martolo has told them of. And in all the Duchy there
+are but two black hearts that burn with treacherous thoughts against His
+Highness, setting their own infinite joy above the honour and faith they
+owe him."
+
+"Nay, but are there two?" she asked, turning her face from him.
+
+"In truth I would love to think there was but one," said he. "And that
+one beats in me, sweetheart, and so mightily, that I think it will burst
+the walls of my body, and I shall die."
+
+"Yet we ride to Firmola," said she.
+
+"Yet, by Christ's grace," said Count Antonio, "we ride to Firmola."
+
+Then the Lady Lucia suddenly dropped her bridle on the neck of her
+palfrey and caught Antonio's right hand in her two hands and said to
+him, "When I pray to-night, I will pray for the cleansing of the black
+heart, Antonio. And I will make a wreath and carry it to the Duke and
+kiss his hand for his victory. And I will set lights in my window and
+flags on my house; and I will give my people a feast; and I will sing
+and laugh for the triumph of the city and for the freedom this day has
+won for us: and when I have done all this, what may I do then, Antonio?"
+
+"I am so cruel," said he, "that then I would have you weep a little: yet
+spoil not the loveliest eyes in all the world; for if you dim them, it
+may be that they will not shine like stars across the plain and even
+into the hut where I live among the hills."
+
+"Do they shine bright, Antonio?"
+
+"As the gems on the Gates of Heaven," he answered; and he reined in his
+horse and gave her bridle into her hands. And then for many minutes
+neither spoke; and Count Antonio kissed her lips, and she his; and they
+promised with the eyes what they needed not to promise with the tongue.
+And the Lady Lucia went alone on her way to Firmola. But the Count sat
+still like a statue of marble on his horse, and watched her as she rode.
+And there he stayed till the gates of the city received her and the
+walls hid her from his sight; and the old men on the walls saw him and
+knew him, and asked, "Does he come against us? But it was against the
+Prince of Mantivoglia that we swore to fight." And they watched him till
+he turned and rode at a foot's pace away from the city. And now as he
+rode his brow was smooth and calm and there was a smile on his lips.
+
+But when Antonio had ridden two or three miles and came where he had
+left the band, he could see none of them. And a peasant came running to
+him in great fright and said, "My lord, your men are gone again to aid
+the Duke; for the Prince has done great deeds, and turned the fight, and
+it is again very doubtful: and my lord Tommasino bade me say that he
+knew your mind, and was gone to fight for Firmola."
+
+Then Antonio, wondering greatly at the news, set his horse to a gallop
+and passed through Rilano at furious speed, and rode on towards Agnino;
+and it was now afternoon. Presently he saw the armies, but they seemed
+to lie idle, over against one another. And, riding on, he met Bena, who
+was come to seek him. And Bena said, "The Prince and his knights have
+fought like devils, my lord, and the townsmen grew fearful again when
+you were gone; and we, coming back, have fought again. But now a truce
+has sounded, and the Prince and the Duke are meeting in conference
+between the armies. Yet they say that no peace will be made; for the
+Prince, taking heart from his sudden success, though he is willing to
+abandon the tribute, asks something in return which the Duke will not
+grant. Yet perhaps he has granted it by now, for his men are weary."
+
+"He should grant nothing," cried Antonio, and galloped on again. But
+Bena said to himself with an oath, "He has sent back the lady! The
+saints save us!" and followed Antonio with a laugh on his face.
+
+But Antonio, thinking nothing of his own safety, rode full into the
+ranks of the Duke's Guard, saying, "Where does my lord talk with the
+Prince?" And they showed him where the place was; for the Prince and
+the Duke sat alone under a tree between the two arrays. And the Duke
+looked harsh and resolute, while the Prince was very courteously
+entreating him.
+
+"Indeed," said he, "so doubtful has the day been, my lord, that I might
+well refuse to abandon the tribute, and try again to-morrow the issue of
+the fight. But, since so many brave men have fallen on both sides, I am
+willing to abandon it, asking of you only such favour as would be
+conceded to a simple gentleman asking of his friend. And yet you will
+not grant it me, and thus bring peace between us and our peoples."
+
+Duke Valentine frowned and bit his lip; and the Prince rose from where
+he had been seated, and lifted his hand to the sky, and said, "So be it,
+my lord; on your head lies the blame. For to-morrow I will attack again;
+and, as God lives, I will not rest till the neck of the city of Firmola
+is under my foot, or my head rolls from my shoulders by your sword."
+
+Then Duke Valentine paced up and down, pondering deeply. For he was a
+man that hated to yield aught, and beyond all else hated what the
+Prince of Mantivoglia asked of him. Yet he feared greatly to refuse; for
+the townsmen had no stomach for another fight and had threatened to
+march home if he would not make peace with the Prince. Therefore he
+turned to the Prince, and, frowning heavily, was about to say, "Since it
+must be so, so let it be," when suddenly the Count Antonio rode up and
+leapt from his horse, crying, "Yield nothing, my lord, yield nothing!
+For if you will tell me what to do, and suffer me to be your hand, we
+will drive the enemy over our borders with great loss."
+
+Then the Prince of Mantivoglia fell to laughing, and he came to Antonio
+and put his arm about his neck, saying, "Peace, peace, thou foolish
+man!"
+
+Antonio saluted him with all deference, but he answered, "I must give
+good counsel to my lord the Duke." And he turned to the Duke again,
+saying, "Yield nothing to the Prince, my lord."
+
+Duke Valentine's lips curved in his slow smile as he looked at Antonio.
+"Is that indeed your counsel? And will you swear, Antonio, to give me
+your aid against the Prince so long as the war lasts, if I follow it?"
+
+"Truly, I swear it," cried Antonio. "Yet what need is there of an oath?
+Am I not Your Highness's servant, bound to obey without an oath?"
+
+"Nay, but you do not tell him----" began the Prince angrily.
+
+Duke Valentine smiled again; he was ever desirous to make a show of
+fairness where he risked nothing by it; and he gazed a moment on
+Antonio's face; then he answered to the Prince of Mantivoglia, "I know
+the man, my lord. I know him in his strength and in his folly. Do not we
+know one another, Antonio?"
+
+"Indeed, I know not all your Highness's mind," answered Antonio.
+
+"Well, I will tell him," said Duke Valentine. "This Prince, Antonio, has
+consented to a peace, and to abandon all claim to tribute from our city,
+on one condition; which is, that I, the Duke, shall do at his demand
+what of my own free and sovereign will I would not do."
+
+"His demand is not fitting nor warranted by his power," said Antonio;
+but in spite of his words the Prince of Mantivoglia passed his arm
+through his, and laughed ruefully, whispering, "Peace, man, peace."
+
+"And thus I, the Duke, having bowed my will to his, shall return to
+Firmola, not beaten indeed, yet half-beaten and cowed by the power of
+Mantivoglia."
+
+"It shall not be, my lord," cried Count Antonio.
+
+"Yet, my lord Duke, you do not tell him what the condition is," said the
+Prince.
+
+"Why, it is nothing else than that I should pardon you, and suffer you
+to wed the Lady Lucia," said Duke Valentine.
+
+Then Count Antonio loosed himself from the arm of the Prince and bent
+and kissed the Prince's hand; but he said, "Is this thing to come twice
+on a man in one day? For it is but an hour or less that I parted from
+the lady of whom you speak; and if her eyes could not move me, what else
+shall move me?" And he told them briefly of his meeting with the Lady
+Lucia. But Duke Valentine was wroth with the shame that a generous act
+rouses in a heart that knows no generosity; and the Prince was yet more
+wroth, and he said to Duke Valentine, "Were there any honour in you, my
+lord, you would not need my prayers to pardon him."
+
+At this the Duke's face grew very dark; and he cried angrily, "Get back
+to your own line, my lord, or the truce shall not save you." And he
+turned to Antonio and said, "Three hours do I give you to get hence,
+before I pursue."
+
+Antonio bowed low to him and to the Prince; and they three parted, the
+two princes in bitter wrath, and set again on fighting to the end, the
+one because he was ashamed and yet obstinate, the other for scorn of a
+rancour that found no place in himself. But Count Antonio went back to
+his company and drew it some little way off from both armies; and he
+said to Tommasino, "The truce is ended, and they will fight again so
+soon as the men have had some rest;" and he told Tommasino what had
+passed. Then he sat silent again; but presently he laid hold of his
+cousin's arm, saying, "Look you, Tommasino, princes are sometimes fools;
+and hence come trouble and death to honest humble folk. It is a sore
+business that they fight again to-morrow, and not now for any great
+matter, but because they are bitter against one another on my account.
+Cannot I stop them, Tommasino?"
+
+"Aye, if you have five thousand men and not thirty-five--for that is the
+sum of us now, counting Martolo, who is back from Firmola."
+
+Antonio looked thoughtfully through the dusk of evening which now fell.
+"They will not fight to-night," he said. "I am weary of this
+blood-letting." And Tommasino saw that there was something in his mind.
+
+Now the night fell dark again and foggy, even as the night before; and
+none in either army dared to move, and even the sentries could see no
+more than a few yards before them. But Antonio's men being accustomed to
+ride in the dark, and to find their way through mists both in plain and
+hill, could see more clearly; and Antonio divided them into two parties,
+himself leading one, and giving the other into Tommasino's charge.
+Having very securely tethered their horses, they set forth, crawling on
+their bellies through the grass. Antonio with his party made for the
+camp of the Prince, while Tommasino and his party directed their way
+towards the Duke's bivouacs. And they saw the fires very dimly through
+the mist, and both parties passed the sentries unobserved, and made
+their way to the centre of the camps. Then, on the stroke of midnight, a
+strange stir arose in both the camps. Nothing could be seen by reason of
+the darkness and the mist; but suddenly cries arose, and men ran to and
+fro; and a cry went up from the Duke's camp, "They are behind us! They
+are behind us! We are surrounded!" And in the Prince's camp also was
+great fear; for from behind them, towards where the spurs of Mount
+Agnino began, there came shouts of "At them, at them! Charge!" And the
+Prince's officers, perceiving the cries to be from men of Firmola (and
+this they knew by reason of certain differences in the phrasing of
+words), conceived that the Duke had got behind them, and was lying
+across their way of retreat.
+
+Then the Duke, hearing the shouts in his own camp, ran out from his
+tent; and he was met by hundreds of the townsmen, who cried, "My lord,
+we are surrounded!" For Antonio's men had gone to the townsmen and shewn
+them how they might escape more fighting; and the townsmen were nothing
+loth; and they insisted with the Duke that a body of men on horseback
+had passed behind them. So the Duke sent out scouts, who could see
+nothing of the horsemen. But then the townsmen cried, some being in the
+secret, others not, "Then they have ridden past us, and are making for
+Firmola. And they will do Heaven knows what there. Lead us after them,
+my lord!" And the Duke was very angry; but he was also greatly afraid,
+for he perceived that there was a stir in the Prince's camp also, and
+heard shouts from there, but could not distinguish what was said. And
+while he considered what to do, the townsmen formed their ranks and sent
+him word that they were for Firmola; and when he threatened them with
+his Guard, they rejoined that one death was as good as another; and the
+Duke gnawed his nails and went pale with rage. But Count Antonio's men,
+seeing how well the plan had sped, crept again out from the camp, and
+returned to where they had tethered their horses, and mounted, each
+taking a spare horse. And before they had been there long, they heard
+trumpets sound in the Duke's camp, and the camp was struck, and the Duke
+and all his force began to retreat on Rilano, throwing out many scouts,
+and moving very cautiously in the darkness and mist. Yet when they came
+on nobody, they marched more quickly, even the Duke himself now
+believing that the Prince of Mantivoglia had of a purpose allowed the
+stir in his camp to be seen and heard, in order that he might detach a
+column to Firmola unobserved, and attack the city before the Duke came
+up. Therefore he now pressed on, saying, "I doubt not that the Prince
+himself is with the troop that has gone to Firmola." And all night long
+they marched across the plain, covering a space of eighteen miles; and
+just before the break of day they came to the city.
+
+Thus did it fall out with the army of Duke Valentine. But the Prince of
+Mantivoglia had been no less bewildered; for when he sent out men to see
+what the cries behind the camp meant, he found no man; but he still
+heard scattered cries among the rising ground, where the hills began.
+And he in his turn saw a stir in the camp opposite to him. And, being an
+impetuous Prince, as he had shown both in evil and in good that day, he
+snatched up his sword, swearing that he would find the truth of the
+matter, and bidding his officers wait his return and not be drawn from
+their position before he came again to them; and taking some of his
+younger knights and a few more, he passed out of his camp, and paused
+for a moment, bidding those with him spread themselves out in a thin
+line, in order the better to reconnoitre, and that, if some fell into an
+ambuscade, others might survive to carry the news back to the camp. And
+he, having given his order, himself stood resting on his sword. But in
+an instant, before he could so much as lift the point of his sword from
+the ground, silent blurred shapes came from the mist, and were in front
+and behind and round him; and they looked so strange that he raised his
+hand to cross himself; but then a scarf was thrown over his mouth, and
+he was seized by eight strong hands and held so that he could not
+struggle; and neither could he cry out by reason of the scarf across his
+mouth. And they that held him began to run rapidly; and he was carried
+out of the camp without the knowledge of any of those who were with him,
+and they, missing their leader, fell presently into a great
+consternation, and ran to and from in the gloom crying, "The Prince?
+Have you seen the Prince? Is His Highness with you? In God's name, has
+the Prince been this way?" But they did not find him, and they grew more
+confounded, stumbling against one another and being much afraid. And
+when the Prince was nowhere to be found, they lost heart, and began to
+fall back towards their own borders, skirting the base of Agnino. And
+their retreat grew quicker; and at last, when morning came, they were
+near the border; but the fog still wrapped all the plain in obscurity,
+and, robbed of their leader, they dared attempt nothing.
+
+Now the Prince of Mantivoglia, whom his army sought thus in fear and
+bewilderment, was carried very quickly up to the high ground, where the
+rocks grew steep and close and the way led to the peak of Agnino. And as
+he was borne along, some one bound his hands and his feet; and still he
+was carried up, till at last he found himself laid down gently on the
+ground. And though he knew no fear--for they of Mantivoglia have ever
+been most valiant Princes and strangers to all fear--yet he thought that
+his last hour was come, and, fearing God though he feared nothing else,
+he said a prayer and commended his soul to the Almighty, grieving that
+he should not receive the last services of the Church. And having done
+this, he lay still until the dawning day smote on his eyes and he could
+see; for the fog that lay dense on the plain was not in the hills, but
+hung between them and the plain. And he looked round, but saw no man. So
+he abode another hour, and then he heard a step behind him, and a man
+came, but whence he could not see; and the man stooped and loosed the
+scarf from his mouth and cut his bonds, and he sat up, uttering a cry of
+wonder. For Count Antonio stood before him, his sword sheathed by his
+side. And he said to the Prince of Mantivoglia, "Do to me what you will,
+my lord. If you will strike me as I stand, strike. Or if you will do me
+the honour to cross swords, my sword is ready. Or, my lord, if you will
+depart in peace and in my great love and reverence, I will give thanks
+to Heaven and to a noble Prince."
+
+"Antonio, what does this mean?" cried the Prince, divided between anger
+and wonder.
+
+Then Antonio told him all that he had done: how the Duke was gone back
+with his army to Firmola, and how the Prince's army had retreated
+towards the borders of Mantivoglia; for of all this his men had informed
+him; and he ended, saying, "For since it seemed that I was to be the
+most unworthy cause of more fighting between two great Princes, it came
+into my head that such a thing should not be. And I rejoice that now it
+will not; for the townsmen will not march out again this year at least,
+and Your Highness will scarce sit down before Firmola with the season
+now far gone."
+
+"So I am baulked?" cried the Prince, and he rose to his feet. "And this
+trick is played me by a friend!"
+
+"I am of Firmola," said Antonio, flushing red. "And while there was war,
+I might in all honour have played another trick, and carried you not
+hither, but to Firmola."
+
+"I care not," cried the Prince angrily. "It was a trick, and no fair
+fighting."
+
+"Be it as you will, my lord," said Antonio. "A man's own conscience is
+his only judge. Will you draw your sword, my lord?"
+
+But the Prince was very angry, and he answered roughly, "I will not
+fight with you, and I will not speak more with you. I will go."
+
+"I will lead Your Highness to your horse," said Antonio.
+
+Then he led him some hundreds of paces down the hill, and they came
+where a fine horse stood ready saddled.
+
+"It is not my horse," said the Prince.
+
+"Be not afraid, my lord. It is not mine either," said Antonio smiling.
+"A rogue who serves me, and is called Bena, forgot his manners so far as
+to steal it from the quarters of the Duke. I pray you use some
+opportunity of sending it back to him, or I shall be dubbed
+horse-stealer with the rest."
+
+"I am glad it is not yours," said the Prince, and he prepared to mount,
+Antonio holding the stirrup for him. And when he was mounted, Antonio
+told him how to ride, so that he should come safely to his own men, and
+avoid certain scouting parties of the Duke that he had thrown out behind
+him as he marched back to Firmola. And having done this, Antonio stood
+back and bared his head and bowed.
+
+"And where is your horse?" asked the Prince suddenly.
+
+"I have no horse, my lord," said Antonio. "My men with all my horses
+have ridden back to our hiding-place in the hills. I am alone here, for
+I thought that Your Highness would kill me, and I should need no horse."
+
+"How, then, will you escape the scouting parties?"
+
+"I fear I shall not escape them, my lord," said Antonio, smiling again.
+
+"And if they take you?"
+
+"Of a surety I shall be hanged," said Count Antonio.
+
+The Prince of Mantivoglia gathered his brow into a heavy frown, but the
+corners of his lips twitched, and he did not look at Antonio. And thus
+they rested a few moments, till suddenly the Prince, unable to hold
+himself longer, burst into a great and merry peal of laughter; and he
+raised his fist and shook it at Antonio, crying, "A scurvy trick,
+Antonio! By my faith, a scurvier trick by far than that other of yours!
+Art thou not ashamed, man? Ah, you cast down your eyes! You dare not
+look at me, Antonio."
+
+"Indeed I have naught to say for this last trick, my lord," said
+Antonio, laughing also.
+
+"Indeed I must carry this knave with me!" cried the Prince. "Faugh, the
+traitor! Get up behind me, traitor! Clasp me by the waist, knave!
+Closer, knave! Ah, Antonio, I know not in what mood Heaven was when you
+were made! I would I had the heart to leave you to your hanging! For
+what a story will my Princess make of this! I shall be the best-derided
+man in all Mantivoglia."
+
+"I think not, my dear lord," said Count Antonio, "unless a love that a
+man may reckon on as his lady-love's and a chivalry that does not fail,
+and a valour that has set two armies all agape in wonder, be your
+matters for mirth in Mantivoglia. And indeed, my lord, I would that I
+were riding to the lady I love best in the world, as Your Highness
+rides; for she might laugh till her sweet eyes ran tears so I were near
+to dry them."
+
+The Prince put back his hand towards Antonio and clasped Antonio's hand,
+and said, "What said she when you left her, Antonio? For with women love
+is often more than honour, and their tears rust the bright edge of a
+man's conscience."
+
+"Her heart is even as Our Lady's, and with tears and smiles she left
+me," said Antonio, and he grasped the Prince's hand. "Come, my lord, we
+must ride, or it is a prison for you and a halter for me."
+
+So they rode together in the morning on the horse that Bena had stolen
+from among the choicest of Duke Valentine's, and, keeping cunningly
+among the spurs of the hills, they were sighted once only from afar off
+by the Duke's scouts, and escaped at a canter, and came safe to the
+Prince's army, where they were received with great wonder and joy. But
+the Prince would not turn again to besiege Firmola, for he had had a
+fill of fighting, and the season grew late for the siege of a walled
+town. So he returned with all his force to Mantivoglia, having won by
+his expedition much praise of valour, and nothing else in the wide world
+besides; which thing indeed is so common in the wars of princes that
+even wise men have well-nigh ceased to wonder at it.
+
+But the Princess of Mantivoglia heard all that had passed with great
+mirth, and made many jests upon her husband; and again, lest the Prince
+should take her jesting in evil part, more upon Duke Valentine. But
+concerning Count Antonio and the Lady Lucia she did not jest. Yet one
+day, chancing to be alone with Count Antonio--for he stayed many days
+at the Court of Mantivoglia, and was treated with great honour--she said
+to him, with a smile and half-raised eyelids, "Had I been a man, my lord
+Antonio, I would not have returned alone from the gates of Firmola. In
+truth, your lady needs patience for her virtue, Count Antonio!"
+
+"I trust, then, that Heaven sends it to her, madame," said Antonio.
+
+"And to you also," she retorted with a laugh. "And to her trust in you
+also, I pray. For an absent lover is often an absent heart, Antonio, and
+I hear that many ladies would fain soften your exile. And what I hear,
+the Lady Lucia may hear also."
+
+"She would hear it as the idle babbling of water over stones," said
+Antonio. "But, madame, I am glad that I have some honesty in me. For if
+there were not honest men and true maids in this world, I think more
+than a half of the wits would starve for lack of food."
+
+"Mercy, mercy!" she cried. "Indeed your wit has a keen edge, my lord."
+
+"Yet it is not whetted on truth and honesty," said he.
+
+She answered nothing for a moment; then she drew near to him and stood
+before him, regarding his face; and she sighed "Heigh-ho!" and again
+"Heigh-ho!" and dropped her eyes, and raised them again to his face; and
+at last she said, "To some faithfulness is easy. I give no great praise
+to the Lady Lucia." And when she had said this she turned and left him,
+and was but little more in his company so long as he stayed at
+Mantivoglia. And she spoke no more of the Lady Lucia. But when he was
+mounting, after bidding her farewell, she gave him a white rose from her
+bosom, saying carelessly, "Your colour, my lord, and the best. Yet God
+made the other roses also."
+
+"All that He made He loves, and in all there is good," said Antonio, and
+he bowed very low, and, having kissed her hand, took the rose; and he
+looked into her eyes and smiled, saying, "Heaven give peace where it has
+given wit and beauty;" and so he rode away to join his company in the
+hills. And the Princess of Mantivoglia, having watched till he was out
+of sight, went into dinner, and was merrier than ever she had shown
+herself before; so that they said, "She feared Antonio and is glad that
+he is gone." Yet that night, while her husband slept, she wept.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+COUNT ANTONIO AND THE WIZARD'S DRUG.
+
+
+The opinion of man is ever in flux save where it is founded on the rock
+of true religion. What our fathers believed, we disbelieve; but often
+our sons shall again receive it. In olden time men held much by magic
+and black arts; now such are less esteemed; yet hereafter it may well be
+that the world will find new incantations and fresh spells, the same
+impulse flowing in a different channel and never utterly to be checked
+or stemmed by the censures of the Church or the mocking of unbelievers.
+As for truth--in truth who knows truth? For the light of Revelation
+shines but in few places, and for the rest we are in natural darkness,
+groping along unseen paths towards unknown ends. May God keep our
+footsteps!
+
+Now towards the close of the third year of his outlawry the heart of
+Count Antonio of Monte Velluto had grown very sad. For it was above the
+space of a year since he had heard news of the Lady Lucia, and hard upon
+two since he had seen her face; so closely did Duke Valentine hold her
+prisoner in Firmola. And as he walked to and fro among his men in their
+hiding place in the hills, his face was sorrowful. Yet, coming where
+Tommasino and Bena sat together, he stopped and listened to their talk
+with a smile. For Bena cried to Tommasino, "By the saints, my lord, it
+is even so! My father himself had a philtre from him thirty years ago;
+and though, before, my mother had loathed to look on my father, yet now
+here am I, nine-and-twenty years of age and a child born in holy
+wedlock. Never tell me that it is foolishness, my lord!"
+
+"Of whom do you speak, Bena?" asked Antonio.
+
+"Of the Wizard of Baratesta, my lord. Aye, and he can do more than make
+a love-potion. He can show you all that shall come to you in a mirror,
+and make the girl you love rise before your eyes as though the shape
+were good flesh and blood."
+
+"All this is foolishness, Bena," said Count Antonio.
+
+"Well, God knows that," said Bena. "But he did it for my father; and as
+he is thirty years older, he will be wiser still by now;" and Bena
+strode off to tend his horse, somewhat angry that Antonio paid so little
+heed to his words.
+
+"It is all foolishness, Tommasino," said Antonio.
+
+"They say that of many a thing which gives a man pleasure," said
+Tommasino.
+
+"I have heard of this man before," continued the Count, "and marvellous
+stories are told of him. Now I leave what shall come to me in the hands
+of Heaven; for to know is not to alter, and knowledge without power is
+but fretting of the heart; but----" And Antonio broke off.
+
+"Ride then, if you can safely, and beg him to show you Lucia's face,"
+said Tommasino. "For to that I think you are making."
+
+"In truth I was, fool that I am," said Antonio.
+
+"But be wary; for Baratesta is but ten miles from the city, and His
+Highness sleeps with an open eye."
+
+So Antonio, albeit that he was in part ashamed, learnt from Bena where
+the wizard dwelt on the bridge that is outside the gate of
+Baratesta--for the Syndic would not suffer such folk to live inside the
+wall--and one evening he saddled his horse and rode alone to seek the
+wizard, leaving Tommasino in charge of the band. And as he went, he
+pondered, saying, "I am a fool, yet I would see her face;" and thus,
+still dubbing himself fool, yet still persisting, he came to the bridge
+of Baratesta; and the wizard, who was a very old man and tall and
+marvellously lean, met him at the door of the house, crying, "I looked
+for your coming, my lord." And he took Antonio's horse from him and
+stood it in a stable beside the house, and led Antonio in, saying again,
+"Your coming was known to me, my lord;" and he brought Antonio to a
+chamber at the back of the house, having one window, past which the
+river, being then in flood, rushed with noise and fury. There were many
+strange things in the chamber, skulls and the forms of animals from
+far-off countries, great jars, basins, and retorts, and in one corner a
+mirror half-draped in a black cloth.
+
+"You know who I am?" asked Antonio.
+
+"That needs no art," answered the wizard, "and I pretend to none in it.
+Your face, my lord, was known to me as to any other man, from seeing you
+ride with the Duke before your banishment."
+
+"And you knew that I rode hither to-night?"
+
+"Aye," said the wizard. "For the stars told of the coming of some great
+man; and I turned from my toil and watched for you."
+
+"What toil?" asked Antonio. "See, here is money, and I have a quiet
+tongue. What toil?"
+
+The wizard pointed to a heap of broken and bent pieces of base metal. "I
+was turning dross to gold," said he, in a fearful whisper.
+
+"Can you do that?" asked Antonio, smiling.
+
+"I can, my lord, though but slowly."
+
+"And hate to love?" asked Count Antonio.
+
+The wizard laughed harshly. "Let them that prize love, seek that," said
+he. "It is not for me."
+
+"I would it had been; then had my errand here been a better one. For I
+am come to see the semblance of a maiden's face."
+
+The wizard frowned as he said, "I had looked for a greater matter. For
+you have a mighty enemy, my lord, and I have means of power for freeing
+men of their enemies."
+
+But Count Antonio, knowing that he spoke of some dark device of spell or
+poison, answered, "Enough! enough! For I am a man of quick temper, and
+it is not well to tell me of wicked things, lest I be tempted to
+anticipate Heaven's punishment."
+
+"I shall not die at your hands, my lord," said the wizard. "Come, will
+you see what shall befall you?"
+
+"Nay, I would but see my lady's face; a great yearning for that has come
+over me, and, although I take shame in it, yet it has brought me here."
+
+"You shall see it then; and if you see more, it is not by my will,"
+said the wizard; and he quenched the lamp that burned on the table, and
+flung a handful of some powder on the charcoal in the stove; and the
+room was filled with a thick sweet-smelling vapour. And the wizard tore
+the black cloth off the face of the mirror and bade Antonio look
+steadily in the mirror. Antonio looked till the vapour that enveloped
+all the room cleared off from the face of the mirror, and the wizard,
+laying his hand on Antonio's shoulder, said, "Cry her name thrice." And
+Antonio thrice cried "Lucia!" and again waited. Then something came on
+the polished surface of the mirror; but the wizard muttered low and
+angrily, for it was not the form of Lucia nor of any maiden; yet
+presently he cried low, "Look, my lord, look!" and Antonio, looking, saw
+a dim, and shadowy face in the mirror; and the wizard began to fling his
+body to and fro, uttering strange whispered words; and the sweat stood
+in beads on his forehead. "Now, now!" he cried; and Antonio, with
+beating heart, fastened his gaze on the mirror. And as the story goes (I
+vouch not for it) he saw, though very dimly, the face of Lucia; but
+more he saw also; for beside the face was his own face, and there was a
+rope about his neck, and the half-shaped arm of a gibbet seemed to hover
+above him. And he shrank back for an instant.
+
+"What more you see is not by my will," said the wizard.
+
+"What shall come is only by God's will," said Antonio. "I have seen her
+face. It is enough."
+
+But the wizard clutched him by the arm, whispering in terror, "It is a
+gibbet; and the rope is about your neck."
+
+"Indeed, I seem to have worn it there these three years, and it is not
+drawn tight yet; nor is it drawn in the mirror."
+
+"You have a good courage," said the wizard with a grim smile. "I will
+show you more;" and he flung another powder on the charcoal; and the
+shapes passed from the mirror. But another came; and the wizard, with a
+great cry, fell suddenly on his knees, exclaiming, "They mock me, they
+mock me! They show what they will, not what I will. Ah, my lord, whose
+is the face in the mirror?" And he seized Antonio again by the arm.
+
+"It is your face," said Antonio; "and it is the face of a dead man, for
+his jaw has dropped, and his features are drawn and wrung."
+
+The wizard buried his face in his hands; and so they rested awhile till
+the glass of the mirror cleared; and Antonio felt the body of the wizard
+shaking against his knee.
+
+"You are old," said Antonio, "and death must come to all. Maybe it is a
+lie of the devil; but if not, face it as a man should."
+
+But the wizard trembled still; and Antonio, casting a pitiful glance on
+him, rose to depart. But on the instant as he moved, there came a sudden
+loud knocking at the door of the house, and he stood still. The wizard
+lifted his head to listen.
+
+"Have you had warning of more visitors to-night?" asked Antonio.
+
+"I know not what happens to-night," muttered the wizard. "My power is
+gone to-night."
+
+The knocking at the door came again, loud and impatient.
+
+"They will beat the door down if you do not open," said Antonio. "I will
+hide myself here behind the mirror; for I cannot pass them without being
+seen; and if I am seen here, it is like enough that the mirror will be
+proved right both for you and me."
+
+So Antonio hid himself, crouching down behind the mirror; and the
+wizard, having lit a small dim lamp, went on trembling feet to the door.
+And presently he came back, followed by two men whose faces were hid in
+their cloaks. One of them sat down, but the other stood and flung his
+cloak back over his shoulders; and Antonio, observing him from behind
+the mirror, saw that he was Lorenzo, the Duke's favourite.
+
+Then Lorenzo spoke to the wizard saying, "Why did you not come sooner to
+open the door?"
+
+"There was one here with me," said the wizard, whose air had become
+again composed.
+
+"And is he gone? For we would be alone."
+
+"He is not to be seen," answered the wizard. "Utterly alone here you
+cannot be."
+
+When he heard this, Lorenzo turned pale, for he did not love this
+midnight errand to the wizard's chamber.
+
+"But no man is here," said the wizard.
+
+A low hoarse laugh came from the man who sat. "Tricks of the trade,
+tricks of the trade!" said he; and Antonio started to hear his voice.
+"Be sure that where a prince, a courtier, and a cheat are together, the
+devil makes a fourth. But there is no need to turn pale over it,
+Lorenzo."
+
+When the wizard heard, he fell on his knees; for he knew that it was
+Duke Valentine who spoke.
+
+"Look you, fellow," pursued His Highness, "you owe me much thanks that
+you are not hanged already; for by putting an end to you I should please
+my clergy much and the Syndic of Baratesta not a little. But if you do
+not obey me to-night, you shall be dead before morning."
+
+"I shall not die unless it be written in the stars," said the wizard,
+but his voice trembled.
+
+"I know nothing of the stars," said the Duke, "but I know the mind of
+the Duke of Firmola, and that is enough for my purpose." And he rose
+and began to walk about the chamber, examining the strange objects that
+were there; and thus he came in front of the mirror, and stood within
+half a yard of Antonio. But Lorenzo stood where he was, and once he
+crossed himself secretly and unobserved.
+
+"What would my lord the Duke?" asked the wizard.
+
+"There is a certain drug," said the Duke, turning round towards the
+wizard, "which if a man drink--or a woman, Lorenzo--he can walk on his
+legs and use his arms, and seem to be waking and in his right mind; yet
+is his mind a nothing, for he knows not what he does, but does
+everything that one, being with him, may command, and without seeming
+reluctance; and again, when bidden, he will seem to lose all power of
+movement, and to lack his senses. I saw the thing once when I sojourned
+with the Lord of Florence; for a wizard there, having given the drug to
+a certain man, put him through strange antics, and he performed them all
+willingly."
+
+"Aye, there is such a drug," said the wizard.
+
+"Then give it me," said the Duke; "and I give you your life and fifty
+pieces of gold. For I have great need of it."
+
+Now when Antonio heard the Duke's words, he was seized with great fear;
+for he surmised that it was against Lucia that the Duke meant to use
+this drug; and noiselessly he loosened his sword in its sheath and bent
+forward again to listen.
+
+"And though my purpose is nothing to you, yet it is a benevolent
+purpose. Is it not, Lorenzo?"
+
+"It is your will, not mine, my lord," said Lorenzo in a troubled voice.
+
+"Mine shall be the crime, then, and yours the reward," laughed the Duke.
+"For I will give her the drug, and she shall wed you."
+
+Then Antonio doubted no longer of what was afoot, nor that a plot was
+laid whereby Lucia should be entrapped into marriage with Lorenzo, since
+she could not be openly forced. And anger burned hotly in him. And he
+swore that, sooner than suffer the thing to be done, he would kill the
+Duke there with his own hand or himself be slain.
+
+"And you alone know of this drug now, they say," the Duke went on. "For
+the wizard of Florence is dead. Therefore give it me quickly."
+
+But the wizard answered, "It will not serve, my lord, that I give you
+the drug. With my own hand I must give it to the persons whom you would
+thus affect, and I must tell them what they should do."
+
+"More tricks!" said the Duke scornfully. "I know your ways. Give me the
+drug." And he would not believe what the wizard said.
+
+"It is even as I say," said the wizard. "And if Your Highness will carry
+the drug yourself, I will not vouch its operation."
+
+"Give it me; for I know the appearance of it," said the Duke.
+
+Then the wizard, having again protested, went to a certain shelf and
+from some hidden recess took a small phial, and came with it to the
+Duke, saying, "Blame me not, if its operation fail."
+
+The Duke examined the phial closely, and also smelt its smell. "It is
+the same," said he. "It will do its work."
+
+Then Count Antonio, who believed no more than the Duke what the wizard
+had said concerning the need of his own presence for the working of the
+drug, was very sorely put to it to stay quietly where he was; for if the
+Duke rode away now with the phial, he might well find means to give it
+to the Lady Lucia before any warning could be conveyed to her. And,
+although the danger was great, yet his love for Lucia and his fear for
+her overcame his prudence, and suddenly he sprang from behind the
+mirror, drawing his sword and crying, "Give me that drug, my lord, or
+your life must answer for it."
+
+But fortune served him ill; for as the Duke and Lorenzo shrank back at
+his sudden appearance, and he was about to spring on them, behold, his
+foot caught in the folds of the black cloth that had been over the
+mirror and now lay on the ground, and, falling forward, he struck his
+head on the marble rim that ran round the charcoal stove, and, having
+fallen with great force, lay there like a man dead. With loud cries of
+triumph, the Duke and Lorenzo, having drawn their swords, ran upon him;
+and the Duke planted his foot upon his neck, crying, "Heaven sends a
+greater prize! At last, at last I have him! Bind his hands, Lorenzo."
+
+Lorenzo bound Antonio's hands as he lay there, a log for stillness. The
+Duke turned to the wizard and a smile bent his lips. "O faithful subject
+and servant!" said he. "Well do you requite my mercy and forbearance, by
+harbouring my bitterest enemies and suffering them to hear my secret
+counsels. Had not Antonio chanced to trip, it is like enough he would
+have slain Lorenzo and me also. What shall be your reward, O faithful
+servant?"
+
+When the Wizard of Baratesta beheld the look that was on Duke
+Valentine's face, he suddenly cried aloud, "The mirror, the mirror!" and
+sank in a heap on the floor, trembling in every limb; for he remembered
+the aspect of his own face in the mirror and knew that the hour of his
+death had come. And he feared mightily to die; therefore he besought the
+Duke very piteously, and told him again that from his hand alone could
+the drug receive its potency. And so earnest was he in this, that at
+last he half-won upon the Duke, so that the Duke wavered. And as he
+doubted, his eye fell on Antonio; and he perceived that Antonio was
+recovering from his swoon.
+
+"There is enough for two," said he, "in the phial; and we will put this
+thing to the test. But if you speak or move or make any sign, forthwith
+in that moment you shall die." Then the Duke poured half the contents of
+the phial into a glass and came to Lorenzo and whispered to him, "If the
+drug works on him, and the wizard is proved to lie, the wizard shall
+die; but we will carry Antonio with us; and when I have mustered my
+Guard, I will hang him in the square as I have sworn. But if the drug
+does not work, then we must kill him here; for I fear to carry him
+against his will; for he is a wonderful man, full of resource, and the
+people also love him. Therefore, if the operation of the drug fail, run
+him through with your sword when I give the signal."
+
+Now Antonio was recovering from his swoon, and he overheard part of
+what the Duke said, but not all. As to the death of the wizard he did
+not hear, but he understood that the Duke was about to test the effect
+of the drug on him, and that if it had no effect, he was to die;
+whereas, if its operation proved sufficient, he should go alive; and he
+saw here a chance for his life in case what the wizard had said should
+prove true.
+
+"Drink, Antonio," said the Duke softly. "No harm comes to you. Drink: it
+is a refreshing draught."
+
+And Antonio drank the draught, the wizard looking on with parted lips
+and with great drops of sweat running from his forehead and thence down
+his cheeks to his mouth, so that his lips were salt when he licked them.
+And the Duke, having seen that Lorenzo had his sword ready for Antonio,
+took his stand by the wizard with the dagger from his belt in his hand.
+And he cried to Antonio, "Rise." And Antonio rose up. The wizard started
+a step towards him; but the Duke showed his dagger, and said to Antonio,
+"Will you go with me to Firmola, Antonio?"
+
+And Antonio answered, "I will go."
+
+"Do you love me, Antonio?" asked the Duke.
+
+"Aye, my lord," answered Antonio.
+
+"Yet you have done many wicked things against me."
+
+"True, my lord," said Antonio.
+
+"Is your mind then changed?"
+
+"It is, my lord," said Antonio.
+
+"Then leap two paces into the air," said the Duke; and Antonio
+straightway obeyed.
+
+"Go down on your knees and crawl;" and Antonio crawled, smiling secretly
+to himself.
+
+Then the Duke bade Lorenzo mount Antonio on his horse; and he commanded
+the wizard to follow him; and they all went out where the horses were;
+and the three mounted, and the wizard followed; and they came to the end
+of the bridge. There the Duke turned sharp round and rode by the side of
+the rushing river. And, suddenly pausing, he said to Antonio, "Commend
+thy soul to God and leap in."
+
+And Antonio commended his soul to God, and would have leapt in; but the
+Duke caught him by the arm even as he set spurs to his horse, saying,
+"Do not leap." And Antonio stayed his leap. Then the Duke turned his
+face on the wizard, saying, "The potion works, wizard. Why did you lie?"
+
+Then the wizard fell on his knees, cursing hell and heaven; for he could
+not see how he should escape. For the potion worked. And Antonio
+wondered what should fall out next. But Duke Valentine leapt down from
+his horse and approached the wizard, while Lorenzo set his sword against
+Antonio's breast. And the Duke, desirous to make a final trial, cried
+again to Antonio, "Fling yourself from your horse." And Antonio, having
+his arms bound, yet flung himself from his horse, and fell prone on the
+ground, and lay there sorely bruised.
+
+"It is enough," said the Duke. "You lied, wizard."
+
+But the wizard cried, "I lied not, I lied not, my lord. Slay me not, my
+lord! For I dare not die."
+
+But the Duke caught him by the throat and drove his dagger into his
+breast till the fingers that held the dagger were buried in the folds
+of the wizard's doublet; and the Duke pulled out the dagger, and, when
+the wizard fell, he pushed him with his foot over the brink, and the
+body fell with a loud splash into the river below.
+
+Thus died the Wizard of Baratesta, who was famed above all of his day
+for the hidden knowledge that he had; yet he served not God, but Satan,
+and his end was the end of a sinner. And, many days after, his body was
+found a hundred miles from that place; and certain charitable men,
+brethren of my own order, gave it burial. So that he died that same
+night in which the mirror had shown him his face as the face of a dead
+man; but whence came the vision I know not.
+
+Then the Duke set Antonio again on his horse, and the three rode
+together towards Firmola, and as they went, again and again the Duke
+tested the operation of the drug, setting Antonio many strange,
+ludicrous, and unseemly things to do and to say; and Antonio did and
+said them all. But he wondered greatly that the drug had no power over
+him, and that his brain was clear and his senses all his own; nor did
+he then believe that the Duke had, in truth, slain the wizard for any
+reason save that the wizard had harboured him, an outlaw, and suffered
+him to hear the Duke's counsels: and he was grieved at the wizard's
+death.
+
+Thus they rode through the night; and it was the hour of dawn when they
+came to the gates of Firmola. Now Antonio was puzzled what he should do;
+for having been in a swoon, he knew not whether the Duke had more of the
+potion; nor could he tell with certainty whether the potion would be
+powerless against the senses of a weak girl as it had proved against his
+own. Therefore he said to the Duke, "I pray you, my lord, give me more
+of that sweet drink. For it has refreshed me and set my mind at rest
+from all trouble."
+
+"Nay, Antonio, you have had enough," said the Duke, bantering him. "I
+have another use for the rest." And they were now nearing the gates of
+Firmola. Then Antonio began to moan pitifully, saying, "These bonds hurt
+my hands;" and he whined and did as a child would do, feigning to cry.
+The Duke laughed in bitter triumph, saying to Lorenzo, "Indeed it is a
+princely drug that makes Antonio of Monte Velluto like a peevish child!"
+And being now very secure of the power of the drug, he bade Lorenzo
+loosen the bonds, saying to Antonio, "Take the reins, Antonio, and ride
+with us into the city."
+
+And Antonio answered, "I will, my good lord."
+
+"It is even as I saw when I was with the Lord of Florence," whispered
+the Duke in exultation.
+
+"Yet I will still have my sword ready," said Lorenzo.
+
+"There is no need; he is like a tame dog," said the Duke carelessly.
+
+But the Duke was not minded to produce Antonio to the people till all
+his Guards were collected and under arms, and the people thus restrained
+by a great show of force. Therefore he bade Antonio cover his face with
+his cloak; and Antonio, Lorenzo's sword being still at his breast,
+obeyed; and thus they three rode through the gates of Firmola and came
+to the Duke's palace; and Antonio did all that the Duke ordered, and
+babbled foolishly like a bewildered child when the Duke asked him
+questions, so that His Highness laughed mightily, and, coming into the
+garden, sat down in his favourite place by the fish-pond, causing
+Antonio to stand over against him.
+
+"Indeed, Antonio," said he, "I can do no other than hang you."
+
+"If it be your pleasure, my lord."
+
+"And then Lucia shall drink of this wonderful drug also, and she will be
+content and obedient, and will gladly wed Lorenzo. Let us have her here
+now, and give it to her without delay. You do not fret at that, Antonio?
+You love not the obstinate girl?"
+
+"In truth, no," laughed Antonio. "She is naught to me!" And he put his
+hand to his head, saying perplexedly, "Lucia? Yes, I remember that name.
+Who was she? Was she aught to me, my lord?"
+
+Then Lorenzo wondered greatly, and the doubts that he had held
+concerning the power of the wizard's drug melted away; yet he did not
+laugh like the Duke, but looked on Antonio and said sadly to the Duke,
+sinking his voice, "Not thus should Antonio of Monte Velluto have died."
+
+"So he dies, I care not how," answered the Duke. "Indeed, I love to see
+him a witless fool even while his body is yet alive. O rare wizard, I go
+near to repenting having done justice on you! Go, Lorenzo, to the
+officer of the Guard and bid him fetch hither the Lady Lucia, and we
+will play the pretty comedy to the end."
+
+"Will you be alone with him?" asked Lorenzo.
+
+"Aye; why not? See! he is tame enough," and he buffeted Antonio in the
+face with his riding-glove. And Antonio whimpered and whined.
+
+Now the officer of the Guard was in his lodge at the entrance of the
+palace, on the other side of the great hall; and Lorenzo turned and
+went, and presently the sound of his feet on the marble floor of the
+hall grew faint and distant. The Duke sat with the phial in his hand,
+smiling at Antonio who crouched at his feet. And Antonio drew himself on
+his knees quite close to the Duke, and looked up in his face with a
+foolish empty smile. And the Duke, laughing, buffeted him again. Then,
+with a sudden spring, like the spring of that Indian tiger which the
+Mogul of Delhi sent lately as a gift to the Most Christian King, and the
+king, for his diversion, made to slay deer before him at the _ch√¢teau_
+of Blois (which I myself saw, being there on a certain mission, and
+wonderful was the sight), Count Antonio, leaping, was upon the Duke; and
+he snatched the philtre from the Duke's hand and seized the Duke's head
+in his hands and wrenched his jaw open, and he poured the contents of
+the phial down the Duke's throat, and the Duke swallowed the potion.
+Then Antonio fixed a stern and imperious glance on the Duke, nailing his
+eyes to the Duke's and the Duke's to his, and he said in a voice of
+command, "Obey! You have drunk the potion!" And still he kept his eyes
+on the Duke's. And the Duke, amazed, suddenly began to tremble, and
+sought to rise; and Antonio took his hands off him, but said, "Sit
+there, and move not." Then, although Antonio's hands were no longer upon
+him, yet His Highness did not rise, but after a short struggle with
+himself sank back in his seat, and stared at Antonio like a bird
+fascinated by a snake. And he moaned, "Take away your eyes; they burn my
+brain. Take them away." But Antonio gazed all the more intently at him,
+saying, "Be still, be still!" and holding up his arm in enforcement of
+his command. And Antonio took from the Duke the sword that he wore and
+the dagger wherewith the Duke had killed the Wizard of Baratesta, he
+making no resistance, but sitting motionless with bewildered stare. Then
+Antonio looked round, for he knew that Lorenzo would soon come. And for
+the last time he bent his eyes again on the Duke's eyes in a very long
+gaze and the Duke cowered and shivered, moaning, "You hurt me, you hurt
+me."
+
+Then Antonio said, "Be still and speak not till I return and bid you;"
+and he suddenly left the Duke and ran at the top of his speed along
+under the wall of the garden, and came where the wall ended; and there
+was a flight of steps leading up on to the top of the wall. Running up
+it, Antonio stood for a moment on the wall; and the river ran fifty
+feet below. But he heard a cry from the garden, and beheld Lorenzo
+rushing up to the Duke, and behind Lorenzo, the Captain of the Guard
+and, two men who led a maiden in white. Then Count Antonio, having
+commended himself to the keeping of God, leapt head foremost from the
+top of the wall into the river, and his body clove the water as an arrow
+cleaves the wand.
+
+Now Lorenzo marvelled greatly at what he saw, and came to the Duke
+crying, "My lord, what does this mean? Antonio flies!" But the Duke
+answered nothing, sitting with empty eyes and lips set in a rigid smile;
+nor did he move. "My lord, what ails you?" cried Lorenzo. Yet the Duke
+did not answer. Then Lorenzo's eye fell on the fragments of the phial
+which lay broken on the rim of the fish-pond where Antonio had flung it;
+and he cried out in great alarm, "The potion! Where is the potion?" But
+the Duke did not answer. And Lorenzo was much bewildered and in sore
+fear; for it seemed as though His Highness's senses were gone; and
+Lorenzo said, "By some means he has drunk the potion!" And he ran up to
+the Duke, and caught him by the arm and shook him violently, seeking to
+rouse him from his stupor, and calling his name with entreaties, and
+crying, "He escapes, my lord; Antonio escapes! Rouse yourself, my
+lord--he escapes!" But the Duke did no more than lift heavy dull eyes to
+Lorenzo's face in puzzled inquiry.
+
+And, seeing the strange thing, the Captain of the Guard hurried up, and
+with him the Lady Lucia, and she said, "Alas, my lord is ill!" and
+coming to His Highness she set her cool soft hand on his hot throbbing
+brow, and took perfume from a silver flask that hung at her girdle, and
+wetted her handkerchief with it and bathed his brow, whispering soft
+soothing words to him, as though he had been a sick woman. For let a
+woman have what grudge she may against a man, yet he gains pardon for
+all so soon as he becomes sick enough to let her nurse and comfort him;
+and Lucia was as tender to the Duke as to the Count Antonio himself,
+and forgot all save the need of giving him ease and rousing him from
+his stupor.
+
+But Lorenzo cried angrily, "I at least have my senses!" And he said to
+the Captain of the Guard, "I must needs stay with His Highness; but
+Antonio of Monte Velluto has leapt from the wall into the river. Go and
+bring him here, dead or alive, and I will be your warrant to the Duke.
+But if he be as when I saw him last, he will give you small trouble. For
+he was like a child for weakness and folly." And having said this, he
+turned to the Duke again, and gave his aid to Lucia's ministrations.
+
+Now the gentleman who commanded the Duke's Guard at this time was a
+Spaniard, by name Corogna, and he was young, of high courage, and
+burning to do some great deed. Therefore he said, "I pray he be as he is
+wont to be: yet I will bring him to the feet of my lord the Duke." And
+he ran swiftly through the hall and called for his horse, and drawing
+his sword, rode alone out of the city and across the bridge, seeking
+Antonio, and saying to himself, "What a thing if I take him! And if he
+slay me, why, I will show that a gentleman of Andalusia can die;" yet
+he thought for an instant of the house where his mother lived. Then he
+scanned the plain, and he beheld a man running some half-mile away; and
+the man seemed to be making for the hill on which stood the ruins of
+Antonio's house that the Duke had burnt. Then Corogna set spurs to his
+horse; but the man, whom by his stature and gait Corogna knew to be
+Antonio, ran very swiftly, and was not overtaken before he came to the
+hill; and he began to mount by a very steep rugged path, and he was out
+of sight in the trees when Corogna came to the foot. And Corogna's horse
+stumbled among the stones, and could not mount the path; so Corogna
+sprang off his back and ran on foot up the path, sword in hand. And he
+came in sight of Antonio round a curve of the path three parts of the
+way up the hill. Antonio was leaning against the trunk of a tree and
+wringing the water out of his cloak. Corogna drew near, sword in hand,
+and with a prayer to the Holy Virgin on his lips. And he trembled, not
+with fear, but because fate offered a great prize, and his name would
+be famed throughout Italy if he slew or took Antonio of Monte Velluto;
+and for fame, even as for a woman's smile, a young man will tremble as a
+coward quakes with fear.
+
+The Count Antonio stood as though sunk in a reverie; yet, presently,
+hearing Corogna's tread, he raised his eyes, and smiling kindly on the
+young man, he said, "Very strange are the ways of Heaven, sir. I think
+that the Wizard of Baratesta spoke truth, and did not lie to the Duke.
+Yet I had that same power which the wizard claimed, although the Duke
+had none over me. We are children, sir, and our game is blind-man's
+buff; but all are blinded, and it is but the narrowest glimpse that we
+obtain now and again by some clever shifting of the handkerchief. Yet
+there are some things clear enough; as that a man should do his work,
+and be clean and true. What would you with me, sir? For I do not think I
+know you."
+
+"I am of Andalusia, and my name is Corogna. I am Captain of His
+Highness's Guard, and I come to bring you, alive or dead, to his
+presence."
+
+"And are you come alone on that errand, sir?" asked Antonio with a smile
+that he strove to smother, lest it should wound the young man's honour.
+
+"David slew Goliath, my lord," said the Spaniard with a bow.
+
+Then Count Antonio held out his hand to the young man and said
+courteously, "Sir, your valour needs no proof and fears no reproach. I
+pray you suffer me to go in peace. I would not fight with you, if I may
+avoid it honourably. For what has happened has left me more in the mood
+for thinking than for fighting. Besides, sir, you are young, and, far
+off in Andalusia, loving eyes, and maybe sparkling eyes, are strained to
+the horizon, seeking your face as you return."
+
+"What is all that, my lord?" asked Corogna. "I am a man, though a young
+one; and I am here to carry you to the Duke." And he touched Antonio's
+sword with his, saying, "Guard yourself."
+
+"It is with great pain and reluctance that I take my sword, and I call
+you to witness of it; but if I must, I must;" and the Count took up his
+position and they crossed swords.
+
+Now Corogna was well-taught and skilful, but he did not know the cunning
+which Antonio had learned in the school of Giacomo in Padua, nor had he
+the strength and endurance of the Count. Antonio would fain have wearied
+him out, and then, giving him some slight wound to cover his honour,
+have left him and escaped; but the young man came at him impetuously,
+and neglected to guard himself while he thrust at his enemy: once and
+again the Count spared him; but he did not know that he had received the
+courtesy, and taking heart from his immunity came at Antonio more
+fiercely again; until at last Antonio, breathing a sigh, stiffened his
+arm, and, waiting warily for the young man again to uncover himself,
+thrust at his breast, and the sword's point entered hard by the young
+man's heart; and the young man staggered, and would have fallen,
+dropping his sword; but Antonio cast away his own sword and supported
+him, stanching the blood from the wound and crying, "God send I have not
+killed him!"
+
+And on his speech came the voice of Tommasino, saying carelessly, "Here,
+in truth, cousin, is a good prayer wasted on a Spaniard!"
+
+Antonio, looking up, saw Tommasino and Bena. And Tommasino said, "When
+you did not come back, we set out to seek you, fearing that you were
+fallen into some snare and danger. And behold, we find you nursing this
+young spark; and how you missed his heart, Antonio, I know not, nor what
+Giacomo of Padua would say to such bungling."
+
+But Antonio cared not for his cousin's words, which were spoken in a
+banter that a man uses to hide his true feelings; and they three set
+themselves to save the young man's life; for Tommasino and Bena had seen
+the better part of the fight and perceived that he was a gallant youth.
+But as they tended him, there came shouts and the sound of horses' hoofs
+mounting the hill by the winding road that led past Antonio's house. And
+Tommasino touched Antonio on the shoulder, saying, "We can do no more
+for him; and if we linger, we must fight again."
+
+Then they laid the young man down, Antonio stripping off his cloak and
+making a pillow of it; and Bena brought the horses, for they had led one
+with them for Antonio, in case there should be need of it; and they were
+but just mounted when twenty of the Duke's Guard appeared three hundred
+yards away, ascending the crest of the hill.
+
+"Thank Heaven there are so many," said Antonio, "for now we can flee
+without shame;" and they set spurs to their horses and fled. And certain
+of the Duke's Guard pursued, but only two or three were so well mounted
+as to be able to come near them; and these two or three, finding that
+they would be man to man, had no liking for the business, and each
+called out that his horse was foundered; and thus it was that none of
+them came up with Count Antonio, but all, after a while, returned
+together to the city, carrying the young Spaniard Corogna, their
+captain. But as they drew near to the gates, Corogna opened his eyes and
+murmured some soft-syllabled name that they could not hear, and, having
+with failing fingers signed the cross, turned on his side and died. And
+they brought his body to the great hall of the Duke's palace.
+
+There in the great hall sat Duke Valentine: his face was pale and his
+frown heavy, and he gazed on the dead body of the young man and spoke no
+word. Yet he had loved Corogna, and out of love for him had made him
+Captain of his Guard. And he passed his hand wearily across his brow,
+murmuring, "I cannot think, I cannot think." And the Lady Lucia stood by
+him, her hand resting on his shoulder and her eyes full of tears. But at
+last the strange spell which lay on the senses of the Duke passed away:
+his eyes again had the light of reason in them, and he listened while
+they told him how Antonio had himself escaped, and had afterwards slain
+Corogna on the top of the hill where Antonio's house had stood. And the
+Duke was very sorry for Corogna's death: and he looked round on them
+all, saying, "He made of me a log of wood, and not a man. For when I had
+drunk and looked in his eyes, it seemed to me that my eyes were bound to
+his, and that I looked to him for command, and to know what I should
+do, and that he was my God, and without his will I could not move. Yes,
+I was then to him even as he had seemed to be to me as we rode from
+Baratesta. And even now I am not free from this strange affection; for
+he seems still to be by me, and if his voice came now bidding me to do
+anything, by St. Prisian, I should arise and do it! Send my physician to
+me. And let this young man lie in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin in
+the Cathedral, and to-morrow he shall be buried. But when I am well, and
+this strange affection is passed from me, and hangs no more like a fog
+over my brain, then I will exact the price of his death from Antonio,
+together with the reckoning of all else in respect of which he stands in
+my debt."
+
+But the Lady Lucia, hearing this, said boldly, "My lord, it is by your
+deed and through your devices that this gentleman has met his death, and
+the blame of it is yours, and not my lord Antonio's."
+
+At her bold and angry words Duke Valentine was roused, and the last of
+his languor left him; and he glared at her in wrath, crying "Go to your
+house;" and he rose up suddenly from where he sat and went into his
+cabinet, Lorenzo attending him. And on the day after he walked first
+behind the bier of Corogna, and his face was very pale, but his air
+composed and his manner as it was wont to be. For the spell had passed
+and he was his own man again.
+
+But Count Antonio heard with great grief of the death of the young man,
+and was very sorry that he had been constrained to kill him, and took
+great blame to himself for seeking counsel of the Wizard of Baratesta,
+whence had come death to the young man no less than to the wizard
+himself.
+
+Such is the story of the drug which the Wizard of Baratesta gave to Duke
+Valentine of Firmola. To me it seems a strange tale, but yet it is well
+attested and stands on as strong a rock of testimony as anything which
+is told concerning the Count. The truth of it I do not understand, and
+often I ponder of it, wondering whether the Wizard of Baratesta spoke
+truth, and why the drug which had no power over Count Antonio bound the
+senses and limbs of the Duke in utter torpor and helplessness. And once,
+when I was thus musing over the story, there came to my cell a monk of
+the Abbey of St. Prisian, who was an old man and very learned; and I
+went to walk with him in the garden, and coming to the fountain we sat
+down by the basin; and knowing that his lore was wide and deep, I set
+before him all the story, asking him if he knew of this strange drug;
+but he smiled at me, and taking the cup that lay by the basin of the
+fountain, he filled it with the clear sparkling water and drank a
+little, and held the cup to me, saying, "I think the Wizard of Baratesta
+would have wrought the spell as well with no other drug than this."
+
+"You say a strange thing," said I.
+
+"And I do not marvel," said he, "that the Duke had no power over Count
+Antonio, for he knew not how to wield such power. But neither do I
+wonder that power lay in Count Antonio to bend the mind of the Duke to
+his will. I warrant you, Ambrose, that the wonderful drug was not
+difficult to compound."
+
+Then I understood what he meant; for he would have it that the drug was
+but a screen and a pretence, and that the power lay not in it, but in
+the man that gave it. Yet surely this is to explain what is obscure by a
+thing more obscure, and falls thus into a fault hated of the logicians.
+For Heaven may well have made a drug that binds the senses and limbs of
+men. Has not the poppy some such effect? And the ancients fabled the
+like of the lotus plant. But can we conceive that one man should by the
+mere glance of his eye have such power over another as to become to him,
+by these means and no other, a lord and master? In truth I find that
+hard to believe, and I doubt whether a man may lawfully believe it. Yet
+I know not. Knowledge spreads, and men grow wiser in hidden things; and
+although I who write may not live till the time when the thing shall be
+made clear, yet it may be God's will to send such light to the men of
+later days that, reading this story, they may find in it nothing that is
+strange or unknown to their science and skill. I pray that they may use
+the knowledge God sends in His holy service, and not in the work of the
+devil, as did the Wizard of Baratesta.
+
+But Count Antonio being, by his guile and adroitness, and by that
+strange power which he had from the drug or whence I know not, delivered
+out of the hands of Duke Valentine, abode with his company on the hills
+throughout the cold of winter, expecting the day when he might win the
+hand of the Lady Lucia; and she returned to her house, and said nothing
+of what had befallen the Duke. Yet the Duke showed her no tenderness,
+but rather used more severity with her. It is an evil service to a proud
+man to aid him in his day of humiliation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+COUNT ANTONIO AND THE SACRED BONES.
+
+
+There is one tale concerning Count Antonio of Monte Velluto, when he
+dwelt an outlaw in the hills, which men tell with fear and doubt,
+marvelling at the audacity of his act, and sometimes asking themselves
+whether he would in very truth have performed what he swore on the faith
+of his honour he would do, in case the Duke did not accede to his
+demands. For the thing he threatened was such as no man of Firmola dares
+think on without a shudder; for we of Firmola prize and reverence the
+bones of our saint, the holy martyr Prisian, above and far beyond every
+other relic, and they are to us as it were the sign and testimony of
+God's enduring favour to our country. But much will a man do for love of
+a woman, and Antonio's temper brooked no obstacle: so that I, who know
+all the truth of the matter, may not doubt that he would have done even
+as he said, braving the wrath of Heaven and making naught of the terror
+and consternation that had fallen on the city and the parts round about
+it. Whether that thought of his heart was such as would gain pardon, I
+know not: had the thing been done, I could scarce hope even in Heaven's
+infinite mercy. Yet this story also I must tell, lest I be charged with
+covering up what shames Antonio; for with the opinions of careless and
+faithless men (who are too many in this later age) I have no communion,
+and I tell the tale not to move laughter or loose jests, but rather that
+I may show to what extremity a man in nature good may be driven by
+harshness and the unmerited disfavour of his Prince.
+
+In the third year, then, of Count Antonio's outlawry, His Highness the
+Duke looked on the Lady Lucia and found that she was of full age for
+marriage. Therefore he resolved that she should be wed, and, since
+Robert de Beauregard, to whom he had purposed to give her, was dead, he
+chose from among his lords a certain gentleman of great estate and a
+favourite of his, by name Lorenzo, and sent word to Lucia that she had
+spent too much of her youth pining for what could not be hers, and must
+forthwith receive Lorenzo for her husband. But Lucia, being by now a
+woman and no more a timid girl, returned to His Highness a message that
+she would look on no other man than Antonio. On this the Duke, greatly
+incensed, sent and took her, and set her in a convent within the city
+walls, and made her know that there she should abide till her life's
+end, or until she should obey his command; and he charged the Abbess to
+treat her harshly and to break down her pride: and he swore that she
+should wed Lorenzo; or, if she were obstinate, then she should take the
+vows of a nun in the convent. Many weeks the Lady Lucia abode in the
+convent, resisting all that was urged upon her. But at last, finding no
+help from Antonio, being sore beset and allowed no rest, she broke one
+day into passionate and pitiful weeping, and bade the Abbess tell His
+Highness that, since happiness was not for her in this world, she would
+seek to find it in Heaven, and would take the vows, rendering all her
+estate into the Duke's hand, that he might have it, and give it to
+Lorenzo or to whom he would. Which message being told to Duke Valentine,
+weary of contending with her, and perchance secretly fearing that
+Antonio would slay Lorenzo as he had slain Robert, he cursed her for an
+obstinate wench, and bade her take the vows, and set a day for her to
+take them: but her estate he assumed into his own hand, and made from
+out of it a gift of great value to Lorenzo. And Lorenzo, they say, was
+well content thus to be quit of the matter. "For," said he, "while that
+devil is loose in the hills, no peace would there have been for the
+lady's husband."
+
+But when it came to the ears of Count Antonio that the Lady Lucia was to
+take the veil on the morrow of the feast of St. Prisian, his rage and
+affliction knew no bounds. "If need be," he cried, "I will attack the
+city with all my men, before I will suffer it."
+
+"Your men would be all killed, and she would take the veil none the
+less," said Tommasino. For Antonio had but fifty men, and although they
+were stout fellows and impossible to subdue so long as they stayed in
+the hills, yet their strength would have been nothing against a fortress
+and the Duke's array.
+
+"Then," said Antonio, "I will go alone and die alone."
+
+As he spoke, he perceived Martolo coming to him, and, calling him, he
+asked him what he would. Now Martolo was a devout man and had been much
+grieved when Antonio had fallen under a sentence of excommunication by
+reason of a certain quarrel that he had with the Abbot of the Abbey of
+St. Prisian in the hills, wherein the Count had incurred the
+condemnation of the Church, refusing, as his way was, to admit any rule
+save of his own conscience. Yet Martolo abode with Antonio from love of
+him. And now he bowed and answered, "My lord, in three days it is the
+feast of St. Prisian, and the sacred bones will then be carried from the
+shrine in the church of the saint at Rilano to the city." For it was at
+Rilano that Prisian had suffered, and a rich church had been built on
+the spot.
+
+"I remember that it is wont to be so, Martolo," answered the Count.
+
+"When I dwelt with my father," said Martolo, "I was accustomed to go
+forth with all the people of my village and meet the sacred bones, and
+kneeling, receive the benediction from the Lord Archbishop as he passed,
+bearing the bones in their golden casket. And the like I would do this
+year, my lord."
+
+"But are you not excommunicated in company with Count Antonio and me?"
+asked Tommasino, lightly smiling; for Tommasino also stood condemned.
+
+"I pray not. I was not named in the sentence," said Martolo, signing the
+cross.
+
+"Go in peace, Martolo; but see that you are not taken by the Duke's
+men," said Count Antonio.
+
+"But few of them go with the Archbishop, my lord. For who would lay
+hands on the sacred bones? The guard is small, and I shall easily elude
+them." So Martolo departed, and told the man they called Bena what had
+passed; but Bena was a graceless fellow and would not go with him.
+
+Now when Martolo was gone, Count Antonio sat down on a great stone and
+for a long while he said nothing to Tommasino. But certain words out of
+those which Martolo had spoken were echoing through his brain, and he
+could not put them aside; for they came again and again and again; and
+at last, looking up at Tommasino who stood by him, he said, "Tommasino,
+who would lay hands on the sacred bones?"
+
+Tommasino looked down into his eyes; then he laid a hand on his
+shoulder; and Antonio still looked up and repeated, "Who would lay hands
+on the sacred bones?"
+
+Tommasino's eyes grew round in wonder: he smiled, but his smile was
+uneasy, and he shifted his feet. "Is it that you think of, Antonio?" he
+asked in a low voice. "Beside it, it would be a light thing to kill the
+Duke in his own palace."
+
+Then Antonio cried, striking his fist on the palm of his hand, "Are dead
+bones more sacred than that living soul on which the Duke lays hands to
+force it to his will?"
+
+"The people reverence the bones as God Himself," said Tommasino,
+troubled.
+
+"I also reverence them," said Antonio, and fell again into thought. But
+presently he rose and took Tommasino's arm, and for a long while they
+walked to and fro. Then they went and sought out certain chosen men of
+the band; for the greater part they dared not trust in such a matter,
+but turned only to them that were boldest and recked least of sacred
+things. To ten of such Antonio opened his counsel; and by great rewards
+he prevailed on them to come into the plan, although they were, for all
+their boldness, very sore afraid lest they, laying hands on the bones,
+should be smitten as was he who touched the Ark of the Covenant.
+Therefore Antonio said, "I alone will lay hands on the golden casket;
+the rest of you shall but hold me harmless while I take it."
+
+"But if the Lord Archbishop will not let it go?"
+
+"The Lord Archbishop," said Tommasino, "will let it go." For Tommasino
+did not love the Archbishop, because he would not remove the sentence of
+excommunication which he had laid upon Antonio and Tommasino on the
+prayer of the Abbot of St. Prisian's.
+
+Now when the feast of St. Prisian was come, the Lord Archbishop, who had
+ridden from the city on the eve of the feast, and had lodged in the
+house of the priests that served the church, went with all his train
+into the church, and, the rest standing afar off and veiling their eyes,
+took from the wall of the church, near by the High Altar, the golden
+casket that held the bones of the blessed St. Prisian. And he wrapped
+the casket in a rich cloth and held it high before him in his two hands.
+And when the people had worshipped, the Archbishop left the church and
+entered his chair and passed through the village of Rilano, the priests
+and attendants going first, and twelve of the Duke's Guard, whom the
+Duke had sent, following after. Great was the throng of folk, come from
+all the country round to gaze on the casket and on the procession of the
+Lord Archbishop; and most devout of them all was Martolo, who rested on
+his knees from the moment the procession left the church till it was
+clear of the village. And Martolo was still on his knees when he beheld
+go by him a party of peasants, all, save one, tall and powerful men,
+wearing peasants' garb and having their faces overshadowed by large
+hats. These men also had knelt as the casket passed, but they had risen,
+and were marching shoulder to shoulder behind the men of the Duke's
+Guard, a peasant behind every pikeman. Martolo gazed long at them; then
+he moistened his lips and crossed himself, murmuring, "What does this
+thing mean? Now God forbid----!" And, breaking off thus, he also rose
+and went to the house of his father, sore vexed and troubled to know
+what the thing might mean. But he spoke of it to none, no, not to his
+father, observing the vow of secrecy in all matters which he had made to
+Count Antonio.
+
+At the bounds of the village the greater part of the people ceased to
+follow the procession of the sacred bones, and, having received the
+Archbishop's blessing, turned back to their own homes, where they
+feasted and made merry; but the twelve peasants whom Martolo had seen
+followed the procession when it set forth for the next village, distant
+three miles on the road to Firmola. Their air manifested great
+devotion, for they walked with heads bent on their breasts and downcast
+eyes, and they spoke not once on the way; but each kept close behind a
+pikeman. When the procession had gone something more than a mile from
+the village of Rilano, it came where a little stream crosses the
+highway; and the rains having been heavy for a week before, the stream
+was swollen and the ford deeper than it was wont to be. Therefore the
+officer of the Guard, thinking of no danger, bade six of his men lay
+down their pikes and go lift the Archbishop's chair over the ford, lest
+the Archbishop should be wetted by the water. And on hearing this order,
+the tallest among the peasants put his hand up to his hat and twisted
+the feather of it between his thumb and his forefinger: and the shortest
+of them whispered, "The sign! The sign!" while every man of them drew a
+great dagger from under his habit and held it behind his back. Now by
+this time the priests and attendants had passed the ford; and one-half
+of the Guard had laid down their pikes and were gone to raise the
+Archbishop's chair, the remainder standing at their ease, leaning on
+their pikes and talking to one another. Again the tallest peasant
+twisted the feather in his hat; and without speech or cry the peasants
+darted forward. Six of them seized the pikes that lay on the ground; the
+remaining six sprang like wild-cats on the backs of the pikemen,
+circling the necks of the pikemen with their arms, pulling them back and
+coming near to throttling them, so that the pikemen, utterly amazed and
+taken full at disadvantage, staggered and fell backward, while the
+peasants got on the top of them and knelt on their breasts and set the
+great daggers at their hearts. While this passed on the road, the
+remainder of Antonio's band--for such were the peasants--rushed into the
+stream and compelled the unarmed pikemen to set down the Archbishop's
+chair in the midst, so that the water came in at the windows of the
+chair; and the pikemen, held at bay with their own pikes, sought to draw
+their poniards, but Antonio cried, "Slay any that draw!" And he came to
+the chair and opened the door of it, and, using as little force as he
+might, he laid hands on the casket that held the sacred bones, and
+wrested it from the feeble hands of the Archbishop. Then he and his men,
+standing in line, stepped backwards with the pikes levelled in front of
+them till they came out of the water and on to the dry road again; and
+one pikeman rushed at Antonio, but Tommasino, sparing to kill him,
+caught him a buffet on the side of the head with a pike, and he fell
+like a log in the water, and had been drowned, but that two of his
+comrades lifted him. Then all twelve of the band being together--for the
+first six had risen now from off the six pikemen, having forced them, on
+pain of instant death, to deliver over their pikes to them--Antonio,
+with the casket in his hands, spoke in a loud voice, "I thank God that
+no man is dead over this business; but if you resist, you shall die one
+and all. Go to the city; tell the Duke that I, Antonio of Monte Velluto,
+have the bones of the blessed St. Prisian, and carry them with me to my
+hiding-place in the highest parts of the hills. But if he will swear by
+these bones that I hold, and by his princely word, that he will not
+suffer the Lady Lucia to take the vows, nor will constrain her to wed
+any man, but will restore her to her own house and to her estate, then
+let him send the Archbishop again, and I will deliver up the sacred
+bones. But if he will not swear, then, as God lives, to-morrow, at
+midnight, I will cause a great fire to be kindled on the top of the
+hills--a fire whose flame you shall see from the walls of the city--and
+in that fire will I consume the sacred bones, and I will scatter the
+ashes of them to the four winds. Go and bear the message that I give you
+to the Duke."
+
+And, having thus said, Antonio, with his men, turned and went back at a
+run along the road by which they had come; but to the village of Rilano
+they did not go, but turned aside before they came to it, and, coming to
+the farm of one who knew Antonio, they bought of him, paying him in good
+coin of the Duchy, three horses, which Antonio, Tommasino, and Bena
+mounted; and they three rode hard for the hills, the rest following as
+quickly as they might; so that by nightfall they were all safely
+assembled in their hiding-place, and with them the bones of the blessed
+St. Prisian. But they told not yet to the rest of the band what it was
+that Antonio carried under his cloak; nor did Martolo, when he returned
+from Rilano, ask what had befallen, but he crossed himself many times
+and wore a fearful look.
+
+But Tommasino came to Antonio and said to him, "Why did you not ask also
+pardon for all of us, and for yourself the hand of Lucia?"
+
+"A great thing, and a thing that troubles me, I have done already,"
+answered Antonio. "Therefore I will ask nothing for myself, and nothing
+may I ask for you or for my friends. But if I ask nothing save that
+right and justice be done, it may be that my sin in laying hands on the
+sacred bones will be the less."
+
+Now after Antonio and his men were gone, the Archbishop's train stayed
+long by the stream on the road, lamenting and fearing to go forward. Yet
+at last they went forward, and being come to the next village found all
+the people awaiting them at the bounds. And when the people saw the
+disorder of the procession, and that the pikemen had no pikes, they ran
+forward, eagerly asking what had befallen; and learning of the
+calamity, they were greatly afraid and cursed Antonio; and many of them
+accompanied the Archbishop on his way to the city, whence he came
+towards evening. A great concourse of people awaited his coming there,
+and the Duke himself sat on a lofty seat in the great square, prepared
+to receive the sacred bones, and go with them to the Cathedral, where
+they were to be exposed to the gaze of the people at High Mass. And they
+set the Archbishop's chair down before the Duke's seat, and the
+Archbishop came and stood before the Duke, and his priests and the
+pikemen with him. And the Duke started up from his seat, crying, "What
+ails you?" and sank back again, and sat waiting to hear what the
+Archbishop should say.
+
+Then the Archbishop, his robes still damp and greatly disordered, his
+limbs trembling in anger and in fear, raised his voice; and all the
+multitude in the square was silent while he declared to His Highness
+what things Count Antonio had done, and rehearsed the message that he
+had sent. But when the Archbishop told how Antonio had sworn that as
+God lived he would scatter the ashes of the sacred bones to the winds,
+the men caught their breath with a gasp, while the women murmured
+affrightedly, "Christ save us;" and Duke Valentine dug the nails of his
+hand, whereon his head rested, into the flesh of his cheek. For all the
+city held that, according to the words St. Prisian himself had uttered
+before he suffered, the power and prosperity of the Duchy and the favour
+of Heaven to it rested on the presence among them and the faithful
+preservation and veneration of those most holy relics. And the
+Archbishop, having ended the message, cried, "God pardon my lips that
+repeat such words," and fell on his knees before Duke Valentine, crying,
+"Justice on him, my lord, justice!" And many in the throng echoed his
+cry; but others, and among them a great part of the apprenticed lads who
+loved Antonio, muttered low one to another, "But the Duke has taken his
+sweetheart from him," and they looked on the Duke with no favourable
+eye.
+
+Then Duke Valentine rose from his seat and stood on the topmost step
+that led to it, and he called sundry of his lords and officers round
+him, and then he beckoned for silence, and he said, "Before the sun sets
+to-morrow, the Lady Lucia shall take the vows;" and he, with his train,
+took their way to the palace, the pikemen clearing a path for them. And
+now indeed was silence; for all marvelled and were struck dumb that the
+Duke said naught concerning the bones of St. Prisian, and they searched
+one another's faces for the meaning of his words. But the Archbishop
+arose, and, speaking to no man, went to the Cathedral, and knelt before
+the altar in the chapel of St. Prisian, and there abode on his knees.
+
+Surely never, from that day until this hour, has such a night passed in
+the city of Firmola. For the Duke sent orders that every man of his
+Guard should be ready to start at break of day in pursuit of Antonio,
+and through the hours of the evening they were busied in preparing their
+provisions and accoutrements. But their looks were heavy and their
+tongues tied, for they knew, every man of them, that though the Duke
+might at the end take Antonio, yet he could not come at him before the
+time that Antonio had said. And this the townsmen knew well also; and
+they gathered themselves in groups in the great square, saying, "Before
+the Duke comes at him, the sacred bones will be burnt, and what will
+then befall the Duchy?" And those who were friendly to Antonio, foremost
+among them being the apprenticed lads, spread themselves here and there
+among the people, asking cunningly whether it concerned the people of
+Firmola more that the blessing of St. Prisian should abide with them, or
+that a reluctant maiden should be forced to take the veil; and some grew
+bold to whisper under their breath that the business was a foul one, and
+that Heaven did not send beauty and love that priests should bury them
+in convent walls. And the girls of the city, ever most bold by reason of
+their helplessness, stirred up the young men who courted them, leading
+them on and saying, "He is a true lover who risks his soul for his
+love;" or, "I would I had one who would steal the bones of St. Prisian
+for my sake, but none such have I:" with other stirring and inflaming
+taunts, recklessly flung from pouting lips and from under eyes that
+challenged. And all the while Duke Valentine sat alone in his cabinet,
+listening to the tumult that sounded with muffled din through the walls
+of the palace.
+
+Now there was in the city a certain furrier named Peter, a turbulent
+fellow who had been put out of his craft-guild because he would not
+abide by the laws of the craft, and lived now as he best could, being
+maintained in large measure by those who listened to his empty and
+seditious conversation. This man, loving naught that there was worthy of
+love in Count Antonio, yet loved him because he defied the Duke; and
+about midnight, having drunk much wine, he came into the square and
+gathered together the apprentices, saying, "I have a matter to say to
+you--and to you--and to you," till there were many scores of them round
+him: then he harangued them, and more came round; and when at last Peter
+cried, "Give us back the sacred bones!" a thousand voices answered him,
+"Aye, give us back the bones!" And when the pikemen would have seized
+him, men, and women also, made a ring round him, so that he could not
+be taken. And sober men also, of age and substance, hearkened to him,
+saying, "He is a knave, but he speaks truth now." So that a very great
+throng assembled, every man having a staff, and many also knives; and to
+those that had not knives, the women and girls brought them, thrusting
+them into their hands; nay, sundry priests also were among the people,
+moaning and wringing their hands, and saying that the favour of St.
+Prisian would be lost for ever to the city. And the square was thronged,
+so that a man could not move unless all moved, nor raise his hand to his
+head save by the favour of his neighbour. Yet presently the whole mass
+began to move, like a great wave of water, towards the Palace of the
+Duke, where the pikemen stood in ranks, ready now to go against Antonio.
+Suddenly arose a cry, "The Archbishop comes!" and the venerable man was
+seen, led through the crowd by Peter and some more, who brought him and
+set him in the front ranks of the people; and Peter cried boldly, "Where
+is the Duke?" But the Captain of the Guard came forward, sword in hand,
+and bade Peter be still, cursing him for insolence, and shouted that
+the people should disperse on pain of His Highness's displeasure. "Where
+is the Duke? Let him come out to us!" cried Peter; and the captain,
+despising him, struck him lightly with the flat of his sword. But Peter
+with a cry of rage struck the captain a great blow with his staff, and
+the captain staggered back, blood flowing from his head. Such was the
+beginning of the fray; for in an instant the pikemen and the people had
+joined battle: men cried in anger and women in fright: blood flowed, and
+sundry on both sides fell and rose no more; and the Archbishop came near
+to being trodden under foot till his friends and the priests gathered
+round him; and when he saw that men were being slain, he wept.
+
+Then the lord Lorenzo hastened to the cabinet of the Duke, whom he found
+pacing up and down, gnawing his finger-nails, and told him of what was
+done outside.
+
+"I care not," said the Duke. "She shall take the vows! Let the pikemen
+scatter them."
+
+Lorenzo then besought him, telling him that all the city was in arms,
+and that the conflict would be great. But the Duke said still, "She
+shall take the vows!" Nevertheless he went with Lorenzo, and came forth
+on to the topmost step of the portico. And when the people saw him they
+ceased for a moment to assail the pikemen, and cried out, "Give us back
+the sacred bones!"
+
+"Scatter these fellows!" said the Duke to the Captain of the Guard.
+
+"My lord, they are too many. And if we scatter them now, yet when we
+have gone against Count Antonio, they may do what they will with the
+city."
+
+The Duke stood still, pale, and again gnawing his nails; and the
+pikemen, finding the fight hard, gave back before the people; and the
+people pressed on.
+
+Then Peter the furrier came forward, and the hottest with him, and
+mocked the pikemen; and one of the pikemen suddenly thrust Peter through
+with his pike, and the fellow fell dead; on which a great cry of rage
+rose from all the people, and they rushed on the pikemen again and slew
+and were slain; and the fight rolled up the steps even to the very feet
+of the Duke himself. And at last, able no longer to contend with all the
+city, he cried, "Hold! I will restore the sacred bones!" But the people
+would not trust him and one cried, "Bring out the lady here before us
+and set her free, or we will burn the palace." And the Archbishop came
+suddenly and threw himself on his knees before the Duke, beseeching him
+that no more blood might be shed, but that the Lady Lucia should be set
+free. And the Duke, now greatly afraid, sent hastily the Lieutenant of
+the Guard and ten men, who came to the convent where Lucia was, and,
+brooking no delay, carried her with them in her bedgown, and brought and
+set her beside the Duke in the portico of the palace. Then the Duke
+raised his hand to heaven, and before all the people he said, "Behold,
+she is free! Let her go to her own house, and her estate shall be hers
+again. And by my princely word and these same holy bones, I swear that
+she shall not take the vows, neither will I constrain her to wed any
+man." And when he had said this, he turned sharply round on his heel,
+and, looking neither to the right nor to the left, went through the
+great hall to his cabinet and shut the door. For his heart was very sore
+that he must yield to Antonio's demand, and for himself he had rather a
+thousand times that the bones of St. Prisian had been burnt.
+
+Now when the Duke was gone, the people brought the Lady Lucia to her own
+house, driving out the steward whom the Duke had set there, and, this
+done, they came to the Archbishop, and would not suffer him to rest or
+to delay one hour before he set forth to carry the Duke's promise to
+Antonio. This the Archbishop was ready to do, for all that he was weary.
+But first he sent Lorenzo to ask the Duke's pleasure; and Lorenzo,
+coming to the Duke, prayed him to send two hundred pikes with the
+Archbishop. "For," said he, "your Highness has sworn nothing concerning
+what shall befall Antonio; and so soon as he has delivered up the bones,
+I will set on him and bring him alive or dead to your Highness."
+
+But the Duke would not hearken. "The fellow's name is like stale lees
+of wine in my mouth," said he. "Ten of my pikemen lie dead in the
+square, and more of the citizens. I will lose no more men over it."
+
+"Yet how great a thing if we could take him!"
+
+"I will take him at my own time and in my own way," said the Duke. "In
+God's name, leave me now."
+
+Lorenzo therefore got from the Duke leave for but ten men to go with the
+Archbishop, and to go himself if he would. And thus they set out,
+exhorted by the people, who followed them beyond the bounds of the city,
+to make all speed. And when they were gone, the people came back and
+took up the bodies of the dead; while the pikemen also took up the
+bodies of such of their comrades as were slain.
+
+Yet had Duke Valentine known what passed on the hills while the city was
+in tumult, it may not be doubted, for all his vexation, that he would
+have sent the two hundred whom Lorenzo asked: never had he a fairer
+chance to take Antonio. For when the Count and those who had been with
+him to Rilano were asleep, Antonio's head resting on the golden casket,
+a shepherd came to the rest of the band and told them what had been done
+and how all the country was in an uproar. Then a debate arose amongst
+the band, for, though they were lawless men, yet they feared God, and
+thought with great dread on what Antonio had sworn; so that presently
+they came altogether, and aroused Antonio, and said to him, "My lord,
+you have done much for us, and it may be that we have done somewhat for
+you. But we will not suffer the sacred bones to be burnt and scattered
+to the winds."
+
+"Except the Duke yields, I have sworn it, as God lives," answered
+Antonio.
+
+"We care not. It shall not be, no, not though you and we die," said
+they.
+
+"It is well; I hear," said Antonio, bowing his head.
+
+"In an hour," said they, "we will take the bones, if you will not
+yourself, my lord, send them back."
+
+"Again I hear," said Antonio, bowing his head; and the band went back to
+the fire round which they had been sitting, all save Martolo, who came
+and put his hand in Antonio's hand.
+
+"How now, Martolo?" asked Antonio.
+
+"What you will, I will, my lord," said Martolo. For though he trembled
+when he thought of the bones of St. Prisian, yet he clung always to
+Antonio. As for Bena and the others of the ten who had gone to Rilano,
+they would now have burnt not the bones only, but the blessed saint
+himself, had Antonio bidden them. Hard men, in truth, were they, and the
+more reckless now, because no harm had come to them from the seizing of
+the bones; moreover Antonio had given them good wine for supper, and
+they drank well.
+
+Now the rest of the band being gone back to their fire and the night
+being very dark, in great silence and caution Antonio, Tommasino,
+Martolo, Bena, and their fellows--being thirteen in all--rose from their
+places, and taking naught with them but their swords (save that Antonio
+carried the golden casket), they stole forth from the camp, and set
+their faces to climb yet higher into the heights of the hills. None
+spoke; one following another, they climbed the steep path that led up
+the mountain side; and when they had been going for the space of an
+hour, they heard a shout from far below them.
+
+"Our flight is known," said Tommasino.
+
+"Shall we stand and meet them, my lord?" asked Bena.
+
+"Nay, not yet," said Antonio; and the thirteen went forward again at the
+best speed they could.
+
+Now they were in a deep gorge between lofty cliffs; and the gorge still
+tended upwards; and at length they came to the place which is now named
+"Antonio's Neck." There the rocks came nigh to meeting and utterly
+barring the path; yet there is a way that one man, or at most two, may
+pass through at one time. Along this narrow tongue they passed, and,
+coming to the other side, found a level space on the edge of a great
+precipice, and Antonio pointing over the precipice, they saw in the
+light of the day, which now was dawning, the towers and spires of
+Firmola very far away in the plain below.
+
+"It is a better place for the fire than the other," said Antonio; and
+Bena laughed, while Martolo shivered.
+
+"Yet we risk being hindered by these fellows behind," said Tommasino.
+
+"Nay, I think not," said Antonio.
+
+Then he charged Tommasino and all of them to busy themselves in
+collecting such dry sticks and brushwood as they could; and there was
+abundance near, for the fir-trees grew even so high. And one of the men
+also went and set a snare, and presently caught a wild goat, so that
+they had meat. But Antonio took Bena and set him on one side of the way
+where the neck opened out into the level space; and he stood on the
+other side of the way himself. And when they stretched out their arms,
+the point of Bena's sword reached the hilt of Antonio's. And Antonio
+smiled, saying to Bena, "He had need to be a thin man, Bena, that passes
+between you and me."
+
+And Bena nodded his head at Count Antonio, answering, "Indeed this is as
+strait as the way to heaven, my lord, and leads, as it seems to me, in
+much the same direction."
+
+Thus Antonio and Bena waited in the shelter of the rocks at the opening
+of the neck, while the rest built up a great pile of wood. Then, having
+roasted the meat, they made their breakfast, Martolo carrying portions
+to Antonio and to Bena. And, their pursuers not knowing the path so well
+and therefore moving less quickly, it was but three hours short of noon
+when they heard the voices of men from the other side of the neck. And
+Antonio cried straightway, "Come not through at your peril! Yet one may
+come and speak with me."
+
+Then a great fellow, whose name is variously given, though most of those
+whom I have questioned call him Sancho, came through the neck, and,
+reaching the end of it, found the crossed swords of Antonio and Bena
+like a fence against his breast. And he saw also the great pile of wood,
+and resting now on the top of it the golden casket that held the sacred
+bones. And he said to Antonio, "My lord, we love you; but sooner than
+that the bones should be burnt, we will kill you and all that are with
+you."
+
+But Antonio answered, "I also love you, Sancho; yet you and all your
+company shall die sooner than my oath shall be broken."
+
+"Your soul shall answer for it, my lord," said Sancho.
+
+"You speak truly," answered Antonio.
+
+Then Sancho went back through the neck and took counsel with his
+fellows; and they made him their chief, and promised to be obedient to
+all that he ordered. And he said, "Let two run at their highest speed
+through the neck: it may be they will die, but the bones must be saved.
+And after them, two more, and again two. And I will be of the first
+two."
+
+But they would not suffer him to be of the first two, although he
+prevailed that he should be of the last two. And the six, being chosen,
+drew their swords and with a cry rushed into the neck. Antonio, hearing
+their feet, said to Bena, "A quick blow is as good as a slow, Bena." And
+even as he spoke the first two came to the opening of the neck. But
+Antonio and Bena struck at them before they came out of the narrowest
+part or could wield their swords freely; and the second two coming on,
+Bena struck at one and wounded him in the breast, and he wounded Bena
+in the face over the right eye, and then Bena slew him; while Antonio
+slew his man at his first stroke. And the fifth man and Sancho, the
+sixth, coming on, Antonio cried loudly, "Are you mad, are you mad? We
+could hold the neck against a hundred."
+
+But they would not stop, and Antonio slew the fifth, and Bena was in the
+act to strike at Sancho, but Antonio suddenly dashed Sancho's sword from
+his hand, and caught him a mighty buffet, so that he fell sprawling on
+the bodies of the five that were dead.
+
+"Go back, fool, go back!" cried Antonio.
+
+And Sancho, answering nothing, gathered himself up and went back; for he
+perceived now that not with the loss of half of his men would he get by
+Antonio and Bena; and beyond them stood Tommasino with ten whom he knew
+to be of the stoutest of the band.
+
+"It is a sore day's work, Bena," cried Antonio, looking at the dead
+bodies.
+
+"If a man be too great a fool to keep himself alive, my lord, he must
+die," answered Bena; and he pushed the bodies a little further back
+into the neck with his foot.
+
+Then Sancho's company took counsel again; for, much as they reverenced
+the sacred bones, there was none of them eager to enter the neck. Thus
+they were at a loss, till the shepherd who had come along with them
+spoke to Sancho, saying, "At the cost of a long journey you may come at
+him; for there is a way round that I can lead you by. But you will not
+traverse it in less than twelve or thirteen hours, taking necessary rest
+by the way."
+
+But Sancho, counting the time, cried, "It will serve! For although a
+thousand came against him, yet the Count will not burn the bones before
+the time of his oath."
+
+Therefore he left fifteen men to hold the neck, in case Antonio should
+offer to return back through it, and with the rest he followed the
+shepherd in great stealth and quiet; by reason of which, and of the rock
+between them, Antonio knew not what was done, but thought that the whole
+company lay still on the other side of the neck.
+
+Thus the day wore to evening as the Archbishop with the Lord Lorenzo and
+the guards came to the spur of the hills; and here they found a man
+waiting, who cried to them, "Do you bring the Duke's promise to the
+Count Antonio?"
+
+"Yes, we bring it," said they.
+
+"I am charged," said he, "to lead the Archbishop and one other after the
+Count." But since the Archbishop could not climb the hills, being old
+and weary, Lorenzo constrained the man to take with him four of the
+Guards besides; and the four bore the Archbishop along. Thus they were
+led through the secret tracks in the hills, and these Lorenzo tried to
+engrave on his memory, that he might come again. But the way was long
+and devious, and it was hard to mark it. Thus going, they came to the
+huts, and passing the huts, still climbed wearily till they arrived near
+to the neck. It was then night, and, as they guessed, hard on the time
+when Antonio had sworn to burn the sacred bones; therefore they pressed
+on more and more, and came at last to the entrance of the neck. Here
+they found the fifteen, and Lorenzo, running up, cried aloud, "We bring
+the promise, we bring the promise!"
+
+But scarcely had he spoken these words, when a sudden great shout came
+from the other side of the neck; and Lorenzo, drawing his sword, rushed
+into the neck, the fifteen following, yet leaving a space between him
+and them, lest they should see him fall, pierced by Antonio and Bena.
+And Lorenzo stumbled and fell over the five dead bodies which lay in the
+way of the neck. Uttering a cry, "What are these?" he scrambled again to
+his feet, and passed unhurt through the mouth of the neck, and the
+fifteen followed after him, while the Guards supported the Archbishop in
+their hands, his chair being too wide to pass through the neck. And when
+thus they all came through, wild and strange was the sight they saw. For
+it chanced that at the same time Sancho's company had completed their
+circuit, and had burst from behind upon Antonio and the twelve. And when
+the twelve saw them, they retreated to the great pile and made a ring
+round it, and stood there ready to die rather than allow Sancho's men
+to reach the pile. It was then midnight and the time of Count Antonio's
+oath. Count Antonio stood on the top of the great pile; at his feet lay
+the golden casket containing the sacred bones, and in his hand was a
+torch. And he cried aloud, "Hold them, while I fire the pile!" and he
+leapt down and came to the side of the pile and laid his torch to the
+pile. And in an instant the flames shot up, for the pile was dry.
+
+Now when Sancho's men saw the pile alight, with shouts of horror and of
+terror they charged at the top of their speed against the twelve who
+guarded the pile. And Lorenzo and his men also rushed; but the cries of
+Sancho's company, together with the answering defiance of the twelve,
+drowned the cries of Lorenzo; and Antonio and the twelve knew not that
+Lorenzo was come. And the flames of the pile grew, and the highest
+tongue of flame licked the side of the golden casket. But Antonio's
+voice rose above all, as he stood, aye, almost within the ambit of the
+fire, and cried, "Hold them a moment, Tommasino--a moment, Bena--and
+the thing is done!" Then Lorenzo tore his casque from his head and flung
+down his sword, and rushed unarmed between Antonio's men and Sancho's
+men, shouting louder than he had thought ever to shout, "The promise!
+the promise!" And at the same moment (so it is told, I but tell it as it
+is told) there came from heaven a great flash of lightning, which,
+aiding the glare of the flames, fully revealed the features of Lorenzo.
+Back fell Sancho's men, and Antonio's arrested their swords. And then
+they all cried as men cry in great joy, "The promise! the promise!" And
+for a moment all stood still where they were. But the flames leapt
+higher; and, as Antonio had said, they were seen by the great throng
+that gazed from the city walls; and they were seen by Duke Valentine as
+he watched from the wall of his garden by the river; and he went pale,
+gnawing his nails.
+
+Then the Count Antonio sprang on the burning pile, though it seemed that
+no man could pass alive through it. Yet God was with him, and he gained
+the top of it, and, stooping, seized the golden casket and flung it
+down, clear of the pile, even at the Lord Lorenzo's feet; and when
+Lorenzo sought to lift it, the heat of it blistered his hands, and he
+cried out with pain. But Count Antonio, choked by the smoke, his hair
+and his eyebrows scorched by the fire, staggered half-way down the pile
+and there sank on his knees. And there he had died, but that Tommasino,
+Bena, and Sancho, each eager to outstrip the other, rushed in and drew
+him forth, and fetched water and gave it to him, so that he breathed
+again and lived. But the flames leapt higher and higher; and they said
+on the city walls, "God help us! God help us! The sacred bones are
+burnt!" And women, aye, and men too, fell to weeping, and there was
+great sorrow, fear, and desolation. And the Duke gnawed his nails even
+to the quick, and spat the blood from his mouth, cursing Antonio.
+
+But Lorenzo, having perceived that the greater number was against
+Antonio, cried out to Sancho's men, "Seize him and bring him here!" For
+the Duke's promise carried no safety to Antonio.
+
+But Sancho answered him, "Now that the sacred bones are safe, we have no
+quarrel with my lord Antonio;" and he and his men went and laid down
+their swords by the feet of Antonio, where he lay on the ground, his
+head on Tommasino's lap. So that the whole band were now round Antonio,
+and Lorenzo had but four with him.
+
+"He asks war!" growled Bena to Tommasino. "Shall he not have war, my
+lord?"
+
+And Tommasino laughed, answering, "Here is a drunkard of blood!"
+
+But Count Antonio, raising himself, said, "Is the Archbishop here?"
+
+Then Lorenzo went and brought the Archbishop, who, coming, stood before
+Antonio, and rehearsed to him the oath that Duke Valentine had taken,
+and told him how the Lady Lucia was already free and in her own house,
+and made him aware also of the great tumult that had happened in the
+city. And Antonio listened to his tale in silence.
+
+Then the Archbishop raised a hand towards heaven and spoke in a solemn
+and sad voice, "Behold, there are ten of the Duke's Guard dead in the
+city, and there are twelve of the townsmen dead; and here, in the
+opening of the neck, there lie dead five men of those who followed you,
+my lord. Twenty-and-seven men are there that have died over this
+business. I pray more have not died in the city since I set forth. And
+for what has this been done, my lord? And more than the death of all
+these is there. For these sacred bones have been foully and
+irreligiously stolen and carried away, used with vile irreverence and
+brought into imminent hazard of utter destruction: and had they been
+destroyed and their ashes scattered to the four winds, according to your
+blasphemous oath, I know not what would have befallen the country where
+such an act was done. And for what has this been done, my lord? It has
+been done that a proud and violent man may have his will, and that his
+passion may be satisfied. Heavy indeed is the burden on your soul my
+lord; yes, on your soul is the weight of sacrilege and of much blood."
+
+The Archbishop ceased, and his hand dropped to his side. The flames on
+the pile were burning low, and a stillness fell on all the company. But
+at last Count Antonio rose to his feet and stood with his elbow on
+Tommasino's shoulder, leaning on Tommasino. His face was weary and sad,
+and he was very pale, save where in one spot the flame had scorched his
+cheek to an angry red. And looking round on the Archbishop, and on the
+Lord Lorenzo, and on them all, he answered sadly, "In truth, my Lord
+Archbishop, my burden is heavy. For I am an outlaw, and excommunicated.
+Twenty-and-seven men have died through my act, and I have used the
+sacred bones foully, and brought them into imminent peril of total
+destruction, according to my oath. All this is true, my lord. And yet I
+know not. For Almighty God, whom all we, whether honest men or knaves,
+men of law or lawless, humbly worship--Almighty God has His own scales,
+my lord. And I know not which thing be in those scales the heavier; that
+twenty-and-seven men should die, and that the bones of the blessed St.
+Prisian should be brought in peril, aye, or should be utterly
+destroyed; or again that one weak girl, who has no protection save in
+the justice and pity of men, should be denied justice and bereft of
+pity, and that no man should hearken to her weeping. Say, my lord--for
+it is yours to teach and mine to learn--which of these things should God
+count the greater sin? And for myself I have asked nothing; and for my
+friends here, whom I love--yes, even those I have killed for my oath's
+sake, I loved--I have dared to ask nothing. But I asked only that
+justice should be done and mercy regarded. Where, my lord, is the
+greater sin?"
+
+But the Archbishop answered not a word to Count Antonio; but he and the
+Lord Lorenzo came and lifted the golden casket, and, no man of Antonio's
+company seeking to hinder them, they went back with it to the city and
+showed it to the people; and after that the people had rejoiced greatly
+that the sacred bones, which they had thought to be destroyed, were
+safe, the Archbishop carried the golden casket back to the shrine in the
+village of Rilano, where it rests till this day. But Count Antonio
+buried the five men of his band whom he and Bena had slain, and with
+the rest he abode still in the hills, while the Lady Lucia dwelt in her
+own house in the city; and the Duke, honouring the oath which he had
+sworn before all the people, did not seek to constrain her to wed any
+man, and restored to her the estate that he had taken from her. Yet the
+Duke hated Count Antonio the more for what he had done, and sought the
+more eagerly how he might take him and put him to death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+COUNT ANTONIO AND THE HERMIT OF THE VAULT.
+
+
+Among the stories concerning the Count Antonio which were told to me in
+answer to my questioning (whereof I have rejected many as being no
+better than idle tales), there was one that met me often and yet seemed
+strange and impossible to believe; for it was said that he had during
+the time of his outlawry once spent several days in the vault of the
+Peschetti, and there suffered things that pass human understanding.
+
+This vault lies near to the church of St. John the Theologian, in the
+suburb of Baratesta, on the banks of the river; and the Peschetti had a
+palace hard by, and were a family of high nobility, and allied by blood
+to the house of Monte Velluto. But I could find no warrant for the
+story of Antonio's sojourn in the vault, and although many insisted that
+the tale was true, yet they could not tell how nor why the Count came to
+be in the vault; until at length I chanced on an aged woman who had
+heard the truth of the matter from her grandmother, and she made me
+acquainted with the story, pouring on me a flood of garrulous gossip,
+from which I have chosen as much as concerns the purpose. And here I set
+it down; for I believe it to be true, and I would omit nothing that
+touches the Count, so I can be sure that what I write is based on truth.
+
+When Count Antonio had dwelt in the hills for the space of three years
+and nine months, it chanced that Cesare, last of the Peschetti, died;
+and he made a will on his death-bed whereby he bequeathed to Count
+Antonio his lands and also a store of money, and many ornaments of gold,
+and jewels; for Antonio's mother had been of the house of the Peschetti,
+and Cesare loved Antonio, although he had not dared to give him
+countenance for fear of the Duke's anger; yet, knowing himself to be
+dying, he bequeathed everything to him, for the Duke's wrath could not
+hurt a dead man. And so soon as he was dead, his steward Giuseppe sent
+secretly and in haste to Antonio, saying, "My lord, you cannot take the
+lands or the house; but, if you will be wise, come quickly and take the
+money and the jewels; for I hear that His Highness the Duke, declaring
+that an outlaw has no right and can inherit nothing, will send and seize
+the treasure." Now Antonio, though grieved at the death of Cesare, was
+glad to hear of the treasure; for he was often hard put to it to
+maintain his company and those who depended on him for bread. So he
+pondered anxiously how he might reach the palace of the Peschetti and
+lay hands on the treasure and return safely; for at this time Duke
+Valentine had posted above a hundred of his Guard in the plain, and this
+troop watched all the approaches to the hills so that the band could not
+ride forth in a body unless it were prepared to do battle with the
+guards. Nor did Antonio desire to weaken the band, lest the guards,
+learning that the bravest were away, should venture an attack.
+Therefore he would not take Tommasino or Bena or any of the stoutest
+with him; but he took four young men who had come to him from Firmola,
+having fallen into the Duke's displeasure through brawling with his
+guards. These he mounted on good horses, and, having made a circuit to
+avoid the encampment in the plain, he came to Cesare's house on the day
+before that appointed for the funeral. Giuseppe came to meet him, and
+led him where the dead man lay, and, after the Count had gazed on his
+face and kissed his forehead, they two went to the treasury, and
+Giuseppe delivered the treasure to Antonio; and Antonio made him a
+present of value and confirmed him in his stewardship, although it was
+not likely that the Duke would suffer him to exercise any power,
+inasmuch as His Highness had declared his intention of forfeiting the
+estate into his own hand.
+
+Now it chanced that one of the young men, being regaled with wine, drank
+very freely, and began to talk loud and boastfully of his master's
+achievements as the servants sat under the trees in front of the house;
+and there was with them a certain tailor, a lame man, who had furnished
+mourning garments for the funeral. The tailor, learning that Antonio was
+come, said nothing, and seemed not to hear nor understand the drunken
+youth's talk; but at an early moment he took his departure and
+straightway hobbled as fast as his lame leg would let him to the Syndic
+of Baratesta, a very busy and ambitious fellow, who longed greatly to
+win the Duke's favour. And the tailor set the price of five pieces of
+gold and the ordering of a new gown on the news he brought; and the
+Syndic having agreed, the tailor cried, "Antonio of Monte Velluto is at
+the house of the Peschetti, and his band is not with him. If you hasten,
+you may catch him." At this the Syndic exulted very greatly; for the
+Duke's Commissaries would not arrive to assume possession of the house
+in his name till the morrow, by which time Antonio would be gone; and
+the Syndic rubbed his hands, saying, "If I can take him my glory will be
+great, and the gratitude of His Highness also." And he gathered together
+all his constables, and hard upon twenty discharged soldiers who dwelt
+in the town, and the fifteen men of the Duke's who were stationed at
+Baratesta to gather His Highness's dues; and thus, with a force of about
+fifty men, he set out in great haste for the house of the Peschetti, and
+was almost come there, before a little boy ran to Giuseppe crying that
+the Syndic and all the constables and many besides were coming to the
+house. And Giuseppe, who had but three men-servants of an age to fight,
+the other five being old (for Cesare had loved to keep those who served
+him well, even when their power grew less than their will), and moreover
+perceived that Antonio's four were young and untried, wrung his hands
+and hastened to the Count with the news, saying, "Yet weak as we are, we
+can die for you, my lord."
+
+"Heaven forbid!" said Antonio, looking out of the window. "Are they all
+townsmen that come with this Syndic?"
+
+"Alas, no, my lord. There are certain of the Duke's men, and I see among
+the rest men who have spent their days under arms, either in His
+Highness's service or in Free Companies."
+
+"Then," said Antonio, smiling, "unless I am to share Cesare's funeral, I
+had best be gone. For I have seen too much fighting to be ashamed to run
+away from it."
+
+"But, my lord, they are at the gates."
+
+"And is there no other gate?"
+
+"None, my lord, save the little gate in the wall there; and see, the
+Syndic has posted ten men there."
+
+"And he will search the house?"
+
+"I fear that he will, my lord. For he must have tidings of your coming."
+
+"Then where is my horse?" said Count Antonio; and Giuseppe showed him
+where the horse stood in the shadow of the portico. "Do not let the
+Syndic know," added Antonio, "that the young men are of my company, and
+send them away in safety."
+
+"But what do you, my lord?" cried Giuseppe.
+
+"What I have done before, Giuseppe. I ride for life," answered the
+Count.
+
+Then the Count, delaying no more, ran lightly down the stairs, leapt on
+his horse, and, drawing his sword, rode forth from the portico; and he
+was among the Syndic's company before they thought to see him; and he
+struck right and left with his sword; and they fell back before him in
+fear, yet striking at him as they shrank away; and he had come clean
+off, but for one grizzly-haired fellow who had served much in Free
+Companies and learnt cunning; for he stooped low, avoiding the sweep of
+Antonio's sword, and stabbed the horse in its belly, and stood wiping
+his knife and saying, "My legs are old. I have done my part. Do yours;
+the horse will not go far." In truth the horse was wounded to death, and
+its bowels protruded from the wound; and Antonio felt it falter and
+stumble. Yet the gallant beast carried him for half a mile, and then he
+sprang off, fearing it would fall under him as he sat and he be crushed
+by it; and he drew his sword across its throat that it might not linger
+in pain, and then ran on foot, hearing the cries of the Syndic's company
+as it pressed on behind him. And thus, running, he came to the church of
+St. John and to the vault of the Peschetti by it; two men were at work
+preparing for Cesare's funeral, and the door of the vault was open.
+Antonio hurled one man to the right and the other to the left, and
+rushed into the vault; for his breath failed, and there was no chance
+for his life were he overtaken in the open; and before the men regained
+their feet, he pulled the door of the vault close and sank on his knee
+inside, panting, and holding his sword in readiness to slay any who
+entered. Then the Syndic and his company came and called on him to
+surrender. And Antonio cried, "Come and take me." Then the Syndic bade
+the workmen pull open the door; but Antonio held it with one hand
+against them both. Yet at last they drew it a little open; and Antonio
+lunged with his sword through the aperture and wounded the Syndic in the
+leg, so that he stumbled backwards with an oath. And after that none was
+willing to enter first, until the grizzly-haired fellow came up; but he,
+seeing the aperture, rushed at it sword in hand, fearing no man, not
+even Count Antonio. But he could not touch Antonio, and he also fell
+back with a sore gash in his cheek; and Antonio laughed, saying, "Shall
+I surrender, Syndic?"
+
+Now the Syndic was very urgent in his desire to take Antonio, but his
+men shook their heads, and he himself could not stand because of the
+sword-thrust in his leg; and, instead of fighting, his company began to
+tell of the wonderful deeds Antonio had done, and they grew no bolder by
+this; and the grizzly-haired fellow mocked them, saying that he would go
+again at the aperture if two more would attempt it with him; but none
+offered. And the Syndic raged and rebuked them, but he could not hurt
+them, being unable to stand on his feet; so that one said boldly, "Why
+should we die? The Duke's Commissaries will be here to-morrow with a
+company of the Guard. Let the Count stay in the vault till then. He is
+in safe keeping; and when he sees the Guard he will surrender. It is
+likely enough that a great lord like the Count would rather die than
+give up his sword to the Syndic." Whereat the Syndic was very ill
+pleased, but all the rest mighty well pleased; and, having heard this
+counsel, they could by no means be persuaded to attack afresh, but they
+let Antonio draw the door close again, being in truth glad to see the
+last of his sword. Therefore the Syndic, having no choice, set twenty
+to guard the entrance of the vault and prepared to depart. But he cried
+to Antonio, again bidding him to surrender, for the Guard would come
+to-morrow, and then at least he could not hope to resist.
+
+"Aye, but to-morrow is to-morrow, Master Syndic," laughed Antonio. "Go,
+get your leg dressed, and leave to-morrow till it dawn."
+
+So the Syndic went home and the rest with him, leaving the twenty on
+guard. And to this day, if a man hath more love for fighting than skill
+in it, folk call him a Syndic of Baratesta.
+
+Count Antonio, being thus left in the vault, and perceiving that he
+would not be further molested that day, looked round; and though no
+daylight reached the vault, he could see, for the workmen had set a lamp
+there and it still burnt. Around him were the coffins of all the
+Peschetti who had died in five hundred years; and the air was heavy and
+stifling. Antonio took the lamp and walked round the vault, which was of
+circular form; and he perceived one coffin standing upright against the
+wall of the vault, as though there had been no room for it on the
+shelves. Then he sat down again, and, being weary, leant his head
+against the wall and soon slept; for a man whose conscience is easy and
+whose head has sense in it may sleep as well in a vault as in a
+bedchamber. Yet the air of the vault oppressed him, and he slept but
+lightly and uneasily. And, if a proof be needed how legends gather round
+the Count's name, I have heard many wonderful stories of what happened
+to him in the vault; how he held converse with dead Peschetti, how they
+told him things which it is not given to men to know, and how a certain
+beautiful lady, who had been dead two hundred years, having been slain
+by her lover in a jealous rage, came forth from the coffin, with her
+hair all dishevelled and a great wound yet bleeding in her bosom, and
+sang a low sweet wild love-song to him as he lay, and would not leave
+him though he bade her soul rest in the name of Christ and the Saints.
+But that any of these things happened I do not believe.
+
+It was late when the Count awoke, and the lamp had burnt out, so that
+the vault was utterly dark. And as the Count roused himself, a sound
+strange in the place fell on his ear; for a man talked, and his talk was
+not such as one uses who speaks aloud his own musings to himself when he
+is alone (a trick men come by who live solitary), but he seemed to
+question others and to answer them, saying, "Aye," and "No," and "Alas,
+sweet friend!" and so forth, all in a low even voice; and now and again
+he would sigh, and once he laughed bitterly. Then the Count raised his
+voice, "Who is there?" And the other voice answered, "Which of you
+speaks? The tones are not known to me. Yet I know all the Peschetti who
+are here." And Antonio answered, "I am not of the Peschetti save by my
+mother; my name is Antonio of Monte Velluto." On this a cry came from
+the darkness, as of a man greatly troubled and alarmed; and after that
+there was silence for a space. And Antonio said, "There is naught to
+fear; I seek to save myself, not to hurt another. But how do you, a
+living man, come to be in this vault, and with whom do you speak?" Then
+came the sound of steel striking on a flint, and presently a spark, and
+a torch was lighted; and Antonio beheld before him, in the glow of the
+torch, the figure of a man who crouched on the floor of the vault over
+against him; his hair was long and tangled, his beard grew to his waist,
+and he was naked save for a cloth about his loins; and his eyes gleamed
+dark and wild as he gazed on Antonio in seeming fright and bewilderment.
+Then the Count, knowing that a man collects his thoughts while another
+speaks, told the man who he was and how he came there, and (because the
+man's eyes still wondered) how that he was an outlaw these three years
+and more because he would not bow to the Duke's will: and when he had
+told all, he ceased. Then the man came crawling closer to him, and,
+holding the torch to his face, scanned his face, saying, "Surely he is
+alive!" And again he was silent, but after a while he spoke.
+
+"For twenty-and-three years," he said, "I have dwelt here among the
+dead; and to the dead I talk, and they are my friends and companions.
+For I hear their voices, and they come out of their coffins and greet
+me; yet now they are silent and still because you are here."
+
+"But how can you live here?" cried Antonio. "For you must starve for
+lack of food, and come near to suffocation in the air of this vault."
+
+The man set his hand to his brow and frowned, and said sadly, "Indeed I
+have forgotten much, yet I remember a certain night when the Devil came
+into me, and in black fury and jealousy I laid wait by the door of the
+room where my wife was; and we had been wedded but a few months. There
+was a man who was my friend, and he came to my wife secretly, seeking to
+warn her that I was suspected of treason to the Prince: yes, in all
+things he was my friend; for when I stabbed him as he came to the door,
+and, rushing in, stabbed her also, she did not die till she had told me
+all; and then she smiled sweetly at me, saying, "Our friend will
+forgive, dear husband, for you did not know; and I forgive the blow your
+love dealt me: kiss me and let me die here in your arms." And I kissed
+her, and she died. Then I laid her on her bed, and I went forth from my
+home; and I wandered many days. Then I sought to kill myself, but I
+could not, for a voice seemed to say, 'What penitence is there in
+death? Lo, it is sweet, Paolo!' So I did not kill myself; but I took an
+oath to live apart from men till God should in His mercy send me death.
+And coming in my wanderings to the river that runs by Baratesta, I found
+a little hollow in the bank of the river, and I lay down there; and none
+pursued me, for the Duke of Firmola cared not for a crime done in
+Mantivoglia. And for a year I dwelt in my little cave: then it was
+noised about that I dwelt there, and fools began to call me, who was the
+vilest sinner born, a holy hermit, and they came to me to ask prayers.
+So I begged from one a pick, and I worked on the face of the rock, and
+made a passage through it. And I swore to look no more on the light of
+the sun, but abode in the recesses that I had hollowed out. And I go no
+more to the mouth of the cave, save once a day at nightfall, when I
+drink of the water of the river and take the broken meats they leave for
+me."
+
+"But here--how came you here?" cried Antonio.
+
+"I broke through one day by chance, as I worked on the rock; and, seeing
+the vault, I made a passage with much labour; and having done this, I
+hid it with a coffin; and now I dwell here with the dead, expecting the
+time when in God's mercy I also shall be allowed to die. But to-day I
+fled back through the passage, for men came and opened the vault and let
+in the sunshine, which I might not see. Pray for me, sir; I have need of
+prayers."
+
+"Now God comfort you," said Count Antonio softly. "Of a truth, sir, a
+man who knows his sin and grieves for it in his heart hath in God's eyes
+no longer any sin. So is it sweetly taught in the most Holy Scriptures.
+Therefore take comfort; for your friend will forgive even as the gentle
+lady who loved you forgave; and Christ has no less forgiveness than
+they."
+
+"I know not," said the hermit, groaning heavily. "I question the dead
+who lie here concerning these things, but they may not tell me."
+
+"Indeed, poor man, they can tell nothing," said Antonio gently; for he
+perceived that the man was subject to a madness and deluded by fancied
+visions and voices.
+
+"Yet I love to talk to them of the time when I also shall be dead."
+
+"God comfort you," said Count Antonio again.
+
+Now while Antonio and the hermit talked, one of those who guarded the
+vault chanced to lay his ear against the door, listening whether Antonio
+moved, and he heard, to his great dread and consternation, the voice of
+another who talked with Antonio: most of what was said he did not hear,
+but he heard Antonio say, "God comfort you," and the hermit answer
+something and groan heavily. And the legs of the listener shook under
+him, and he cried to his comrades that the dead talked with Antonio, he
+himself being from fright more dead than alive. Then all came and
+listened; and still the voice of another talked with Antonio; so that
+the guards were struck with terror and looked in one another's faces,
+saying, "The dead speak! The Count speaks with the dead! Christ and the
+Blessed Mother of Christ and the Saints protect us!" And they looked
+neither to right nor left, but sat quaking on the ground about the door
+of the vault; and presently one ran and told the Syndic, and he caused
+himself to be carried thither in his chair; and he also heard, and was
+very greatly afraid, saying, "This Antonio of Monte Velluto is a fearful
+man." And the report spread throughout Baratesta that Count Antonio
+talked with the dead in the vault of the Peschetti; whence came, I doubt
+not, the foolish tales of which I have made mention. A seed is enough:
+men's tongues water it and it grows to a great plant. Nor did any man
+think that it was the hermit who talked; for although they knew of his
+cave, they did not know nor imagine of the passage he had made, and his
+voice was utterly strange, seeing that he had spoken no word to any
+living man for twenty years, till he spoke with the Count that night.
+Therefore the whole of Baratesta was in great fear; and they came to a
+certain learned priest, who was priest of the church of St. John, and
+told him. And he arose and came in great haste, and offered prayers
+outside the vault, and bade the unquiet spirits rest; but he did not
+offer to enter, nor did any one of them; but they all said, "We had
+determined even before to await the Duke's Guard, and that is still the
+wiser thing."
+
+For a great while the hermit could not understand what Antonio wanted of
+him; for his thoughts were on his own state and with the dead; but at
+length having understood that Antonio would be guided through the
+passage and brought to the mouth of the cave, in the hope of finding
+means to escape before the Duke's Commissaries came with the Guard, he
+murmured wonderingly, "Do you then desire to live?" and rose, and led
+Antonio where the coffin stood upright against the wall as Antonio had
+seen it; but it was now moved a little to one side, and there was a
+narrow opening, through which the Count had much ado to pass; and in his
+struggles he upset the coffin, and it fell with a great crash; whereat
+all who were outside the vault fled suddenly to a distance of a hundred
+yards or more in panic, expecting now to see the door of the vault open
+and the dead walk forth: nor could they be persuaded to come nearer
+again. But Antonio, with a great effort, made his way through the
+opening, and followed the hermit along a narrow rough-hewn way,
+Antonio's shoulders grazing the rock on either side as he went; and
+having pursued this way for fifteen or twenty paces, they turned to the
+right sharply, and went on another ten paces, and, having passed through
+another narrow opening, were in the cave; and the river glistened before
+their eyes, for it was now dawn. And the hermit, perceiving that it was
+dawn, and fearing to see the sun, turned to flee back to the vault; but
+Antonio, being full of pity for him, detained him, and besought him to
+abandon his manner of life, assuring him that certainly by now his sin
+was purged: and when the hermit would not listen, Antonio followed him
+back to the opening that led into the vault, and, forgetting his own
+peril, reasoned with him for the space of an hour or more, but could not
+prevail. So at last he bade him farewell very sorrowfully, telling him
+that God had made him that day the instrument of saving a man's life,
+which should be to him a sign of favour and forgiveness; but the hermit
+shook his head and passed into the vault, and Antonio heard him again
+talking to the dead Peschetti, and answering questions that his own
+disordered brain invented.
+
+Thus it was full morning when Antonio came again to the little cave by
+the river, and bethought him what he should do for his own safety. And
+suddenly, looking across the river, he beheld a gentleman whom he knew,
+one Lepardo, a Commissary of the Duke's, and with him thirty of the
+Duke's Guard; and they were riding very fast; for, having started at
+midnight to avoid the heat of the sun (it being high summer), so soon as
+they reached the outskirts of Baratesta, they had heard that Antonio was
+in the vault, and were now pressing on to cross the bridge and come upon
+him. And Antonio knew that Lepardo was a man of courage and hardihood,
+and would be prevented by nothing from entering the vault. But on a
+sudden Lepardo checked his horse, uttering a loud cry; for to his great
+amazement he had seen Antonio as Antonio looked forth from the cave,
+and he could not tell how he came to be there: and Antonio at once
+withdrew himself into the shadow of the cave. Now the banks of the
+stream on the side on which Lepardo rode were high and precipitous, and,
+although it was summer, yet the stream was too deep for him to wade, and
+flowed quickly; yet at Lepardo's bidding, six of his stoutest men
+prepared to leap down the bank and go in search of Antonio; and Antonio,
+discerning that they would do this, and blaming himself for his rashness
+in looking out so incautiously, was greatly at a loss what to do; for
+now he was hemmed in on either side; and he saw nothing but to sell his
+life dearly and do some deed that should ornament his death. So he
+retreated again along the passage and passed through the opening into
+the vault; and he summoned the hermit to aid him, and between them they
+set not one only, but a dozen of the coffins of the Peschetti against
+the opening, laying them lengthwise and piling one on the top of the
+other hoping that Lepardo's men would not discover the opening, or
+would at least be delayed some time before they could thrust away the
+coffins and come through. Then Antonio took his place by the gate of the
+vault again, sword in hand, saying grimly to the hermit, "If you seek
+Death, sir, he will be hereabouts before long."
+
+But the Count Antonio was not a man whom his friends would abandon to
+death unaided; and while the Syndic was watching Antonio, the four young
+men who were with the Count made their escape from Cesare's house; and,
+having separated from one another, rode by four different ways towards
+the hills, using much wariness. Yet three of them were caught by the
+Duke's company that watched in the plain, and, having been soundly
+flogged, were set to work as servants in the camp. But the fourth came
+safe to the hills, and found there Tommasino and Bena; and Tommasino,
+hearing of Antonio's state, started with Bena and eighteen more to
+rescue him or die with him. And they fell in with a scouting party of
+the Duke's, and slew every man of them to the number of five, losing two
+of their own number; but thus they escaped, there being none left to
+carry news to the camp; and they rode furiously, and, by the time they
+came near Baratesta, they were not more than a mile behind Lepardo's
+company. But Lepardo, when he had detached the six men to watch Antonio,
+rode on hastily to find the Syndic, and learn from him the meaning of
+what he had seen; and thus Tommasino, coming opposite to the mouth of
+the hermit's cave, saw no more than six horses tethered on the river
+bank, having the Duke's escutcheon wrought on their saddle-cloths. Then
+he leapt down, and, running to the edge of the bank, saw a man
+disappearing into the mouth of the cave, dripping wet; and this man was
+the last of the six who had swum the river, and were now groping their
+way with great caution along the narrow track that the hermit had made.
+Now Tommasino understood no more than Lepardo that there was any opening
+from the cave to the vault, but he thought that the Duke's men did not
+swim the river for their pleasure, and he bade Bena take five and watch
+what should happen, while he rode on with the rest.
+
+"If they come out again immediately," he said, "you will have them at a
+disadvantage; but if they do not come out, go in after them; for I know
+not what they are doing unless they are seeking my cousin or laying some
+trap for him."
+
+Then Tommasino rode after Lepardo; and Bena, having given the Duke's men
+but the briefest space in which to come out again from the cave,
+prepared to go after them. And the Duke's men were now much alarmed; for
+the last man told them of the armed men on the bank opposite, and that
+they did not wear the Duke's badge; so the six retreated up the passage
+very silently, but they could not find any opening, for it grew darker
+at every step, and they became much out of heart. Then Bena's men
+crossed the river and entered the mouth of the cave after them. Thus
+there was fair likelihood of good fighting both in the passage and by
+the gate of the vault.
+
+But the Count Antonio, not knowing that any of his band were near, had
+ceased to hope for his life, and he sat calm and ready, sword in hand,
+while the hermit withdrew to a corner of the vault, and crouched there
+muttering his mad answers and questions, and ever and again hailing some
+one of the dead Peschetti by name as though he saw him. Then suddenly a
+coffin fell with a loud crash from the top of the heap on to the floor;
+for the Duke's men had found the opening and were pushing at it with
+hand and shoulder. Antonio sprang to his feet and left the gate and went
+and stood ready by the pile of coffins. But again on a sudden came a
+tumult from beyond the opening; for Bena and his five also were now in
+the passage, and the foremost of them--who indeed was Bena himself--had
+come upon the hindmost of the Duke's men, and the six, finding an enemy
+behind them, pushed yet more fiercely and strenuously against the
+coffins. And no man in the passage saw any man, it being utterly dark;
+and they could not use their swords for lack of space, but drew their
+daggers and thrust fiercely when they felt a man's body near. So in the
+dark they pushed and wrestled and struggled and stabbed, and the sound
+of their tumult filled all the vault and spread beyond, being heard
+outside; and many outside crossed themselves for fear, saying, "Hell is
+broke loose! God save us!" But at that moment came Lepardo and his
+company; and he, having leapt from his horse and heard from the Syndic
+that Antonio was in very truth in the vault, drew his sword and came at
+the head of his men to the door; and hearing the tumult from within, he
+cried in scorn, "These are no ghosts!" and himself with his boldest
+rushed at the door, and they laid hold on the handles of it and wrenched
+it open. But Antonio, perceiving that the door was wrenched open, and
+not yet understanding that any of his friends were near, suddenly flung
+himself prone on the floor by the wall of the vault, behind two of the
+coffins which the efforts of the Duke's men had dislodged; and there he
+lay hidden; so that Lepardo, when he rushed in, saw no man, for the
+corner where the hermit crouched was dark; but the voice of the madman
+came, saying, "Welcome! Do you bring me another of the Peschetti? He is
+welcome!" Then the Duke's men, having pushed aside all the coffins save
+one, came tumbling and scrambling over into the vault, where they found
+Lepardo and his followers; and hot on their heels came Bena and his
+five, so that the vault was full of men. And now from outside also came
+the clatter of hoofs and hoarse cries and the clash of steel; for
+Tommasino had come, and had fallen with great fury on those of Lepardo's
+men who were outside and on the Syndic's levies that watched from afar
+off. And fierce was the battle outside; yet it was fiercer inside, where
+men fought in a half-light, scarcely knowing with whom they fought, and
+tripping hither and thither over the coffins of the Peschetti that were
+strewn about the floor.
+
+Then the Count Antonio arose from where he lay and he cried aloud, "To
+me, to me! To me, Antonio of Monte Velluto!" and he rushed to the
+entrance of the vault. Bena, hailing the Count's voice, and cutting down
+one who barred the way, ran to Antonio in great joy to find him alive
+and whole. And Antonio came at Lepardo, who stood his onset bravely,
+although greatly bewildered to find a party of Antonio's men where he
+had looked for Antonio alone. And he cried to his men to rally round
+him, and, keeping his face and his blade towards the Count, began to
+fall back towards the mouth of the vault, in order to rejoin his men
+outside; for there also he perceived that there was an enemy. Thus
+Lepardo fell back, and Antonio pressed on. But, unnoticed by any, the
+mad hermit now sprang forth from the corner where he had been; and, as
+Antonio was about to thrust at Lepardo, the hermit caught him by the
+arm, and with the strength of frenzy drew him back, and thrust himself
+forward, running even on the point of Lepardo's sword that was ready for
+Count Antonio; and the sword of Lepardo passed through the breast of the
+hermit of the vault, and protruded behind his back between his
+shoulders; and he fell prone on the floor of the vault, crying
+exultantly, "Death! Thanks be to God, death!" And then and there he died
+of the thrust that Lepardo gave him. But Antonio with Bena and three
+more--for two of Bena's five were slain--drove Lepardo and his men back
+before them, and thus won their way to the gate of the vault, where, to
+their joy, they found that Tommasino more than held his own; for he had
+scattered Lepardo's men, and the Syndic's were in full flight, save
+eight or ten of the old soldiers who had served in Free Companies; and
+these stood in a group, their swords in their right hands and daggers in
+the left, determined to die dearly; and the grizzly-haired fellow who
+had killed Antonio's horse had assumed command of them.
+
+"Here are some fellows worth fighting, my lord," said Bena to Tommasino
+joyfully. "Let us meet them, my lord, man for man, an equal number of
+us." For although Bena had killed one man and maimed another in the
+vault, he saw no reason for staying his hand.
+
+"Aye, Bena," laughed Tommasino. "These fellows deserve to die at the
+hands of men like us."
+
+But while they prepared to attack, Antonio cried suddenly, "Let them be!
+There are enough men dead over this matter of Cesare's treasure." And he
+compelled Tommasino and Bena to come with him, although they were very
+reluctant; and they seized horses that had belonged to Lepardo's men;
+and, one of Tommasino's men also being dead, Bena took his horse. Then
+Antonio said to the men of the Free Companies, "What is your quarrel
+with me? I do but take what is mine. Go in peace. This Syndic is no
+master of yours." But the men shook their heads and stood their ground.
+Then Antonio turned and rode to the entrance of the vault where his band
+was now besieging Lepardo, and he cried to Lepardo, "Confer with me,
+sir. You can come forth safely." And Lepardo came out from the vault,
+having lost there no fewer than five men, and having others wounded; and
+he was himself wounded in his right arm and could not hold his sword.
+Then the Count said to him, "Sir, it is no shame for a man to yield when
+fortune is against him. And I trust that I am one to whom a gentleman
+may yield without shame. See, the Syndic's men are fled, and yours are
+scattered, and these men, who stand bravely together, are not enough to
+resist me."
+
+And Lepardo answered sadly--for he was very sorry that he had failed to
+take Antonio--"Indeed, my lord, we are worsted. For we are not ten men
+against one, as I think they should be who seek to overcome my lord
+Antonio."
+
+To this Antonio bowed most courteously, saying, "Nay, it is rather
+fortune, sir."
+
+And Lepardo said, "Yet we can die, in case you put unseemly conditions
+on us, my lord."
+
+"There is no condition save that you fight no more against me to-day,"
+said Antonio.
+
+"So let it be, my lord," said Lepardo; and to this the men of the Free
+Companies also agreed, and they mingled with Antonio's band, and two of
+them joined themselves to Antonio that day, and were with him
+henceforward, one being afterwards slain on Mount Agnino, and the other
+preserving his life through all the perils that beset the Count's
+company.
+
+Then Antonio went back to the house of Cesare, and brought forth the
+body of Cesare, and, having come to the vault, he caused those who had
+been slain to be carried out, and set the coffins again in decent order,
+and laid Cesare, the last of the house, there. But when the corpse of
+the hermit was brought out, all marvelled very greatly, and had much
+compassion for him when they heard from the lips of Count Antonio his
+pitiful story; and Antonio bestowed out of the moneys that he had from
+Cesare a large sum that masses might be said for the soul of the hermit.
+"For of a surety," said the Count, "it was Heaven's will that through
+his misfortune and the strange madness that came upon him my life should
+be saved."
+
+These things done, Antonio gathered his band, and, having taken farewell
+of Lepardo and commended him for the valour of his struggle, prepared to
+ride back to the hills. And his face was grave, for he was considering
+earnestly how he should escape the hundred men who lay watching for him
+in the plain. But while he considered, Tommasino came to him and said,
+"All Baratesta is ours, cousin. Cannot we get a change of coat, and thus
+ride with less notice from the Duke's camp?" And Antonio laughed also,
+and they sent and caught twenty men of Baratesta, grave merchants and
+petty traders, and among them Bena laid hold of the Syndic, and brought
+him in his chair to Antonio; and the Count said to the Syndic, "It is
+ill meddling with the affairs of better men, Master Syndic. Off with
+that gown of yours!"
+
+And they stripped the Syndic of his gown, and Antonio put on the gown.
+Thus the Syndic had need very speedily of the new gown which he had
+contracted to purchase of the lame tailor as the price of the tailor's
+information. And all Antonio's men clothed themselves like merchants and
+traders, Antonio in the Syndic's gown taking his place at their head;
+and thus soberly attired, they rode out soberly from Baratesta, neither
+Lepardo nor any of his men being able to restrain themselves from
+laughter to see them go; and most strange of all was Bena, who wore an
+old man's gown of red cloth trimmed with fur.
+
+It was now noon, and the band rode slowly, for the sun was very hot, and
+several times they paused to take shelter under clumps of trees, so that
+the afternoon waned before they came in sight of the Duke's encampment.
+Soon then they were seen in their turn; and a young officer of the
+Guard with three men came pricking towards them to learn their business;
+and Antonio hunched the Syndic's gown about his neck and pulled his cap
+down over his eyes, and thus received the officer. And the officer was
+deluded and did not know him, but said, "Is there news, Syndic?"
+
+"Yes, there is news," said Antonio. "The hermit of the vault of the
+Peschetti is dead at Baratesta."
+
+"I know naught of him," said the officer.
+
+By this time Antonio's men had all crowded round the officer and his
+companions, hemming them in on every side; and those that watched from
+the Duke's camp saw the merchants and traders flocking round the
+officer, and said to themselves, "They are offering wares to him." But
+Antonio said, "How, sir? You have never heard of the hermit of the
+vault?"
+
+"I have not, Syndic," said the officer.
+
+"He was a man, sir," said Antonio, "who dwelt with the dead in a vault,
+and was so enamoured of death, that he greeted it as a man greets a dear
+friend who has tarried overlong in coming."
+
+"In truth, a strange mood!" cried the officer. "I think this hermit was
+mad."
+
+"I also think so," said Antonio.
+
+"I cannot doubt of it," cried the officer.
+
+"Then, sir, you are not of his mind?" asked Antonio, smiling. "You would
+not sleep this night with the dead, nor hold out your hands to death as
+to a dear friend?"
+
+"By St. Prisian, no," said the young officer with a laugh. "For this
+world is well enough, Syndic, and I have sundry trifling sins that I
+would be quit of, before I face another."
+
+"If that be so, sir," said Antonio, "return to him who sent you, and say
+that the Syndic of Baratesta rides here with a company of friends and
+that his business is lawful and open to no suspicion." And even as
+Antonio spoke, every man drew his dagger, and there were three daggers
+at the heart of the officer and three at the heart of each of the men
+with him. "For by saying this," continued the Count, fixing his eyes on
+the officer, "and by no other means can you escape immediate death."
+
+Then the officer looked to right and left, being very much bewildered;
+but Tommasino touched him on the arm and said, "You have fallen, sir,
+into the hands of the Count Antonio. Take an oath to do as he bids you,
+and save your life." And Antonio took off the Syndic's cap and showed
+his face; and Bena rolled up the sleeve of his old man's gown and showed
+the muscles of his arm.
+
+"The Count Antonio!" cried the officer and his men in great dismay.
+
+"Yes; and we are four to one," said Tommasino. "You have no choice, sir,
+between the oath and immediate death. And it seems to me that you are
+indeed not of the mind of the hermit of the vault."
+
+But the officer cried, "My honour will not suffer this oath, my lord."
+And, hearing this, Bena advanced his dagger.
+
+But Antonio smiled again and said, "Then I will not force it on you,
+sir. But this much I must force on you--to swear to abide here for
+half-an-hour, and during that time to send no word and make no sign to
+your camp."
+
+To this the officer, having no choice between it and death, agreed; and
+Antonio, leaving him, rode forward softly; and, riding softly, he passed
+within half-a-mile of the Duke's encampment. But at this moment the
+officer, seeing Antonio far away, broke his oath, and shouted loudly,
+"It is Antonio of Monte Velluto;" and set spurs to his horse. Then
+Antonio's brow grew dark and he said, "Ride on swiftly, all of you, to
+the hills, and leave me here."
+
+"My lord!" said Tommasino, beseeching him.
+
+"Ride on!" said Antonio sternly. "Ride at a gallop. You will draw them
+off from me."
+
+And they dared not disobey him, but all rode on. And now there was a
+stir in the Duke's camp, men running for their arms and their horses.
+But Antonio's band set themselves to a gallop, making straight for the
+hills; and the commander of the Duke's Guard did not know what to make
+of the matter; for he had heard the officer cry "Antonio," but did not
+understand what he meant; therefore there was a short delay before the
+pursuit after the band was afoot; and the band thus gained an advantage,
+and Antonio turned away, saying, "It is enough. They will come safe to
+the hills."
+
+But he himself drew his sword and set spurs to his horse, and he rode
+towards where the young officer was. And at first the officer came
+boldly to meet him; then he wavered, and his cheek went pale; and he
+said to the men who rode with him, "We are four to one."
+
+But one of them answered, "Four to two, sir."
+
+"What do you mean?" cried the officer. "I see none coming towards us but
+Count Antonio himself."
+
+"Is not God also against oath-breakers?" said the fellow, and he looked
+at his comrades. And they nodded their heads to him; for they were
+afraid to fight by the side of a man who had broken his oath. Moreover
+the figure of the Count was very terrible; and the three turned aside
+and left the young officer alone.
+
+Now by this time the whole of the Duke's encampment was astir; but they
+followed not after Antonio, but after Tommasino and the rest of the
+band; for they did not know Antonio in the Syndic's gown. Thus the
+young officer was left alone to meet Antonio; and when he saw this his
+heart failed him and his courage sank, and he dared not await Antonio,
+but he turned and set spurs to his horse, and fled away from Antonio
+across the plain. And Antonio pursued after him, and was now very near
+upon him; so that the officer saw that he would soon be overtaken, and
+the reins fell from his hand and he sat on his horse like a man smitten
+with a palsy, shaking and trembling: and his horse, being unguided,
+stumbled as it went, and the officer fell off from it; and he lay very
+still on the ground. Then Count Antonio came up where the officer was,
+and sat on his horse, holding his drawn sword in his hand; and in an
+instant the officer began to raise himself; and, when he stood up, he
+saw Antonio with his sword drawn. And Antonio said, "Shall men without
+honour live?"
+
+Then the officer gazed into the eyes of the Count Antonio; and the sweat
+burst forth on his forehead. A sudden strange choking cry came from him;
+he dropped his sword from his hand, and with both hands he suddenly
+clasped his heart, uttering now a great cry of pain and having his face
+wrung with agony. Thus he stood for an instant, clutching his heart with
+both his hands, his mouth twisted fearfully, and then he dropped on to
+the ground and lay still. And the Count Antonio sheathed his sword, and
+bared his head, saying, "It is not my sword, but God's."
+
+And he turned and put his horse to a gallop and rode away, not seeking
+to pass the Duke's encampment, but directing his way towards the village
+of Rilano; and there he found shelter in the house of a friend for some
+hours, and when night fell, made his way safely back to the hills, and
+found that the Duke's men had abandoned the pursuit of his company and
+that all of them were alive and safe.
+
+But when they came to take up the young officer who had been false to
+his oath, he was dead; whether from fright at the aspect of Count
+Antonio and the imminent doom with which he was threatened, or by some
+immediate judgment of Heaven, I know not. For very various are the
+dealings of God with man. For one crime He will slay and tarry not, and
+so, perchance, was it meted out to that officer; but with another man
+His way is different, and He suffers him to live long days, mindful of
+his sin, in self-hatred and self-scorn, and will not send him the relief
+of death, how much soever the wretch may pray for it. Thus it was that
+God dealt with the hermit of the vault of the Peschetti, who did not
+find death till he had sought it for twenty-and-three years. I doubt not
+that in all there is purpose; even as was shown in the manner wherein
+the hermit, being himself bound and tied to a miserable life, was an
+instrument in saving the life of Count Antonio.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+COUNT ANTONIO AND THE LADY OF RILANO.
+
+
+From the lips of Tommasino himself, who was cousin to Count Antonio,
+greatly loved by him, and partaker of all his enterprises during the
+time of his sojourn as an outlaw in the hills, this, the story of the
+Lady of Rilano, came to my venerable brother in Christ, Niccolo; and the
+same Niccolo, being a very old man, told it to me, so that I know that
+the story is true and every part of it, and tread here not on the
+doubtful ground of legend, but on the firm rock of the word of honest
+men. There is indeed one thing doubtful, Tommasino himself being unable
+to know the verity of it; yet that one thing is of small moment, for it
+is no more than whether the lady came first to Duke Valentine, offering
+her aid, or whether the Duke, who since the affair of the sacred bones
+had been ever active in laying schemes against Antonio, cast his eyes on
+the lady, and, perceiving that she was very fair and likely to serve his
+turn, sent for her, and persuaded her by gifts and by the promise of a
+great marriage to take the task in hand.
+
+Be that as it may, it is certain that in the fourth year of Count
+Antonio's outlawry, the Lady Venusta came from Rilano, where she dwelt,
+and talked alone with the Duke in his cabinet; so that men (and women
+with greater urgency) asked what His Highness did to take such a one
+into his counsels; for he had himself forbidden her to live in the city
+and constrained her to abide in her house at Rilano, by reason of
+reports touching her fair fame. Nor did she then stay in Firmola, but,
+having had audience of the Duke, returned straightway to Rilano, and for
+the space of three weeks rested there; and the Duke told nothing to his
+lords of what had passed between him and the lady, while the Count
+Antonio and his friends knew not so much as that the Duke had held
+conference with the lady; for great penalties had been decreed against
+any man who sent word to Antonio of what passed in Firmola, and the
+pikemen kept strict guard on all who left or entered the city, so that
+it was rather like a town besieged than the chief place of a peaceful
+realm.
+
+Now at this time, considering that his hiding-place was too well known
+to the Lord Lorenzo and certain of the Duke's Guard, Count Antonio
+descended from the hills by night, and, having crossed the plain,
+carrying all his equipment with him, mounted again into the heights of
+Mount Agnino and pitched his camp in and about a certain cave, which is
+protected on two sides by high rocks and on the third by the steep banks
+of a river, and can be approached by one path only. This cave was known
+to the Duke, but he could not force it without great loss, so that
+Antonio was well nigh as safe as when his hiding-place had been unknown;
+and yet he was nearer by half to the city, and but seven miles as a bird
+flies from the village of Rilano where the Lady Venusta dwelt; although
+to one who travelled by the only path that a man could go upright on
+his feet the distance was hard on eleven miles. But no other place was
+so near, and from Rilano Antonio drew the better part of the provisions
+and stores of which he had need, procuring them secretly from the
+people, who were very strictly enjoined by the Duke to furnish him with
+nothing under pain of forfeiture of all their goods.
+
+Yet one day, when the man they called Bena and a dozen more rode in the
+evening through Rilano, returning towards the cave, the maid-servant of
+Venusta met them, and, with her, men bearing a great cask of fine wine,
+and the maid-servant said to Bena, "My mistress bids you drink; for good
+men should not suffer thirst."
+
+But Bena answered her, asking, "Do you know who we are?"
+
+"Aye, I know, and my lady knows," said the girl. "But my lady says that
+if she must live at Rilano, then she will do what she pleases in
+Rilano."
+
+Bena and his men looked at one another, for they knew of His Highness's
+proclamation, but the day having been hot, they being weary, the wine
+seeming good, and a woman knowing her own business best, at last they
+drank heartily, and, rendering much thanks, rode on and told Tommasino
+what had been done. And Tommasino having told Antonio, the Count was
+angry with Bena, saying that his gluttony would bring trouble on the
+Lady Venusta.
+
+"She should not tempt a man," said Bena sullenly.
+
+All these things happened on the second day of the week; and on the
+fourth, towards evening, as Antonio and Tommasino sat in front of the
+cave, they saw coming towards them one of the band named Luigi, a big
+fellow who had done good service and was also a merry jovial man that
+took the lead in good-fellowship. And in his arms Luigi bore the Lady
+Venusta. Her gown was dishevelled and torn, and the velvet shoes on
+her feet were cut almost to shreds, and she lay back in Luigi's
+arms, pale and exhausted. Luigi came and set her down gently before
+Antonio, saying, "My lord, three miles from here, in the steepest and
+roughest part of the way, I found this lady sunk on the ground and
+half-swooning: when I raised her and asked how she came where she was,
+and in such a plight, she could answer nothing save, 'Count Antonio!
+Carry me to Count Antonio!' So I have brought her in obedience to her
+request."
+
+As Luigi ended, Venusta opened her eyes, and, rising to her knees, held
+out her hands in supplication, saying, "Protect me, my lord, protect me.
+For the Duke has sent me word that to-morrow night he will burn my house
+and all that it holds, and will take me and lodge me in prison, and so
+use me there that I may know what befalls those who give aid to
+traitors. And all this comes upon me, my lord, because I gave a draught
+of wine to your men when they were thirsty."
+
+"I feared this thing," said Antonio, "and deeply I grieve at it. But I
+am loth to go in open war against the Duke; moreover in the plain he
+would be too strong for me. What then can I do? For here is no place in
+which a lady, the more if she be alone and unattended, can be lodged
+with seemliness."
+
+"If the choice be between this and a prison----" said Venusta with a
+faint sorrowful smile.
+
+"Yet it might be that I could convey you beyond His Highness's power,"
+pursued Antonio. "But I fear you could not travel far to-night."
+
+"Indeed I am weary even to death," moaned Venusta.
+
+"There is nothing for it but that to-night at least she rest here," said
+Antonio to Tommasino.
+
+Tommasino frowned. "When woman comes in," said he behind the screen of
+his hand, "safety flies out."
+
+"Better fly safety than courtesy and kindness, cousin," said Count
+Antonio, and Tommasino ceased to dissuade him, although he was uneasy
+concerning the coming of Venusta.
+
+That night, therefore, all made their camp outside, and gave the cave to
+Venusta for her use, having made a curtain of green boughs across its
+mouth. But again the next day Venusta was too sick for travel; nay, she
+seemed very sick, and she prayed Luigi to go to Rilano and seek a
+physician; and Luigi, Antonio having granted him permission, went, and
+returned saying that no physician dared come in face of His Highness's
+proclamation; but the truth was that Luigi was in the pay of Venusta and
+of the Duke, and had sought by his journey not a physician, but means of
+informing the Duke how Venusta had sped, and of seeking counsel from him
+as to what should next be done. And that day and for four days more
+Venusta abode in the cave, protesting that she could not travel; and
+Antonio used her with great courtesy, above all when he heard that the
+Duke, having stayed to muster all his force for fear of Antonio, had at
+length appointed the next day for the burning of her house at Rilano and
+the carrying off of all her goods. These tidings he gave her, and though
+he spoke gently, she fell at once into great distress, declaring that
+she had not believed the Duke would carry out his purpose, and weeping
+for her jewels and prized possessions which were in the house.
+
+Now Count Antonio, though no true man could call him fool, had yet a
+simplicity nobler it may be than the suspicious wisdom of those who,
+reading other hearts by their own, count all men rogues and all women
+wanton: and when he saw the lady weeping for the trinkets and her loved
+toys and trifles, he said, "Nay, though I cannot meet the Duke face to
+face, yet I will ride now and come there before him, and bring what you
+value most from the house."
+
+"You will be taken," said she, and she gazed at him with timid admiring
+eyes. "I had rather a thousand times lose the jewels than that you
+should run into danger, my lord. For I owe to you liberty, and perhaps
+life."
+
+"I will leave Tommasino to guard you and ride at once," and Antonio rose
+to his feet, smiling at her for her foolish fears.
+
+Then a thing that seemed strange happened. For Antonio gave a sudden cry
+of pain. And behold, he had set his foot on the point of a dagger that
+was on the ground near to the Lady Venusta; and the dagger ran deep into
+his foot, for it was resting on a stone and the point sloped upwards, so
+that he trod full and with all his weight on the point; and he sank back
+on the ground with the dagger in his foot. How came the dagger there?
+How came it to rest against the stone? None could tell then, though it
+seems plain to him that considers now. None then thought that the lady
+who fled to Antonio as though he were her lover, and lavished tears and
+sighs on him, had placed it there. Nor that honest Luigi, who made such
+moan of his carelessness in dropping his poniard, had taken more pains
+over the losing of his weapon than most men over the preservation of
+theirs. Luigi cursed himself, and the lady cried out on fate; and Count
+Antonio consoled both of them, saying that the wound would soon be well,
+and that it was too light a matter for a lady to dim her bright eyes for
+the sake of it.
+
+Yet light as the matter was, it was enough for Venusta's purpose and for
+the scheme of Duke Valentine. For Count Antonio could neither mount his
+horse nor go afoot to Venusta's house in Rilano; and, if the jewels were
+to be saved and the lady's tears dried (mightily, she declared with
+pretty self-reproach, was she ashamed to think of the jewels beside
+Antonio's hurt, but yet they were dear to her), then Tommasino must go
+in his place to Rilano.
+
+"And take all save Bena and two more," said Antonio. "For the Duke will
+not come here if he goes to Rilano."
+
+"I," said Bena, "am neither nurse nor physician nor woman. Let Martolo
+stay; he says there is already too much blood on his conscience; and let
+me go, for there is not so much as I could bear on mine, and maybe we
+shall have a chance of an encounter with the foreguard of the Duke."
+
+But Venusta said to Antonio, "Let both of these men go, and let Luigi
+stay. For he is a clever fellow, and will aid me in tending your wound."
+
+"So be it," said Antonio. "Let Luigi and the two youngest stay; and do
+the rest of you go, and return as speedily as you may. And the Lady
+Venusta shall, of her great goodness, dress my wound, which pains me
+more than such a trifle should."
+
+Thus the whole band, saving Luigi and two youths, rode off early in the
+morning with Tommasino, their intent being to reach Rilano and get clear
+of it again before the Duke came thither from the city: and Venusta
+sent no message to the Duke, seeing that all had fallen out most
+prosperously and as had been arranged between them. For the Duke was not
+in truth minded to go at all to Rilano; but at earliest dawn, before
+Tommasino had set forth, the Lord Lorenzo left the city with a hundred
+pikemen; more he would not take, fearing to be delayed if his troop were
+too large; and he made a great circuit, avoiding Rilano and the country
+adjacent to it. So that by mid-day Tommasino was come with
+thirty-and-four men (the whole strength of the band except the three
+with Antonio) to Rilano, and, meeting with no resistance, entered
+Venusta's house, and took all that was precious in it, and loaded their
+horses with the rich tapestries and the choicest of the furnishings; and
+then, having regaled themselves with good cheer, started in the
+afternoon to ride back to the cave, Tommasino and Bena grumbling to one
+another because they had chanced on no fighting, but not daring to tarry
+by reason of Antonio's orders.
+
+But their lamentations were without need; for when they came to the pass
+of Mount Agnino, there at the entrance of the road which led up to the
+cave, by the side of the river, was encamped a force of eighty pikemen
+under the Lieutenant of the Guard. Thus skilfully had the Lord Lorenzo
+performed his duty, and cut off Tommasino and his company from all
+access to the cave; and now he himself was gone with twenty men up the
+mountain path, to take Antonio according to the scheme of the Duke and
+the Lady Venusta. But Bena and Tommasino were sore aghast, and said to
+one another, "There is treachery. What are we to do?" For the eighty of
+the Duke's men were posted strongly, and it was a great hazard to attack
+them. Yet this risk they would have run, for they were ready rather to
+die than to sit there idle while Antonio was taken; and in all
+likelihood they would have died, had the Lieutenant obeyed the orders
+which Lorenzo had given him and rested where he was, covered by the hill
+and the river. But the Lieutenant was a young man, of hot temper and
+impetuous, and to his mistaken pride it seemed as though it were
+cowardice for eighty men to shrink from attacking thirty-and-five, and
+for the Duke's Guards to play for advantage in a contest with a band of
+robbers. Moreover Tommasino's men taunted his men, crying to them to
+come down and fight like men in the open. Therefore, counting on a sure
+victory and the pardon it would gain, about three o'clock in the
+afternoon he cried, "Let us have at these rascals!" and to Tommasino's
+great joy, his troop remounted their horses and made ready to charge
+from their position. Then Tommasino said, "We are all ready to face the
+enemy for my lord and cousin's sake. But I have need now of those who
+will run away for his sake."
+
+Then he laid his plans that when the Lieutenant's troop charged, his men
+should not stand their ground. And five men he placed on one extremity
+of his line, Bena at their head; and four others with himself he posted
+at the other extremity; also he spread out his line very wide, so that
+it stretched on either side beyond the line of the Lieutenant. And he
+bade the twenty-and-five in the centre not abide the onset, but turn and
+flee at a gallop, trusting to the speed of their horses for escape. And
+he made them fling away all that they had brought from the Lady
+Venusta's house, that they might ride the lighter.
+
+"And I pray God," said he, "that you will escape alive; but if you do
+not, it is only what your oath to my lord constrains you to. But you and
+I, Bena, with our men, will ride, not back towards the plain, but on
+towards the hills, and it may be that we shall thus get ahead of the
+Lieutenant; and once we are ahead of him in the hilly ground, he will
+not catch us before we come to the cave."
+
+"Unless," began Bena, "there be another party----"
+
+"Hist!" said Tommasino, and he whispered to Bena, "They will fear if
+they hear all."
+
+Then the Duke's men came forth, and it fell out as Tommasino had
+planned; for the body of the Duke's men, when they saw Tommasino's rank
+broken and his band flying, set up a great shout of scorn and triumph,
+and dug spurs into their horses and pursued the runaways. And the
+runaways rode at their top speed, and, having come nearly to Rilano
+without being caught, they were three of them overtaken and captured by
+the well at the entrance to the village; but the rest, wheeling to the
+right, dashed across the plain, making for Antonio's old hiding-place;
+and, having lost two more of their number whose horses failed, and
+having slain four of the Guard who pursued incautiously ahead of the
+rest, they reached the spurs of the hills, and there scattered, every
+man by himself, and found refuge, some in the woods, some in shepherds'
+huts; so they came off with their lives. But the men with Tommasino and
+Bena had ridden straight for the hill-road, and had passed the
+Lieutenant before he apprehended Tommasino's scheme. Then he cried aloud
+to his men, and eight of them, hearing him, checked their horses, but
+could not understand what he desired of them till he cried aloud again,
+and pointed with his hand towards where the ten, Tommasino leading and
+Bena in the rear, had gained the hill-road and were riding up it as
+swiftly as their horses could mount. Then the Lieutenant, cursing his
+own folly, gathered them, and they rode after Tommasino and Bena.
+
+"Be of good heart," said the Lieutenant. "They are between us and the
+company of my Lord Lorenzo."
+
+Yet though he said this, his mind was not at ease; for the horses of his
+men, being unaccustomed to the hills, could not mount the road as did
+the sure-footed mountain-horses ridden by Tommasino's company, and the
+space widened between them; and at last Tommasino's company disappeared
+from sight, at the point where the track turned sharp to the left, round
+a great jutting rock that stood across the way and left room for but
+three men to ride abreast between river and rock. Then the Lieutenant
+drew rein and took counsel with his men, for he feared that Tommasino
+would wait for him behind the jutting rock and dash out on his flank as
+he rode round. Therefore for a while he considered, and a while longer
+he allowed for the breathing of the horses; and then with great caution
+rode on towards the jutting rock, which lay about the half of a mile
+from him. And when he came near it, he and his men heard a voice cry,
+"Quiet, quiet! They are close now!"
+
+"They will dash at us as we go round," said the Lieutenant.
+
+"And we can go no more than three together," said one of the guards.
+
+"Are you all ready?" said the voice behind the cliff, in accents that
+but just reached round the rock. "Not a sound, for your lives!" Yet a
+sound there was, as of a jingling bit, and then again an angry, "Curse
+you, you clumsy fool, be still." And then all was still.
+
+"They are ready for us now," whispered a guard, with an uneasy smile.
+
+"I will go," said the Lieutenant. "Which two of you will lead the way
+with me?"
+
+But the men grumbled, saying, "It is the way to death that you ask us to
+lead, sir."
+
+Then the Lieutenant drew his men back, and as they retreated they made a
+noise great hoping to make Tommasino think they were gone. And, having
+thus withdrawn some five hundred paces, they rested in utter quiet for
+half an hour. And it was then late afternoon. And the Lieutenant said,
+"I will go first alone, and in all likelihood I shall be slain; but do
+you follow immediately after me and avenge my death." And this they,
+being ashamed for their first refusal, promised to do. Then the
+Lieutenant rode softly forward till he came within twenty yards of the
+rock, and he clapped spurs to his horse and shouted, and, followed close
+by his men crying, "For God and our Duke!" charged round the jutting
+rock.
+
+And behold, on the other side of it was not a man! And of Tommasino and
+his company naught was to be seen--for they had used the last hour to
+put a great distance between them and their pursuers--save that away,
+far up the road, in the waning light of the sun, was to be dimly
+perceived the figure of a man on horseback, who waved his hat to them
+and, turning, was in an instant lost to view. And this man was Bena,
+who, by himself and without a blow, had held the passage of the jutting
+rock for hard on an hour, and thus given time to Tommasino to ride on
+and come upon the rear of Lorenzo's company before the Lieutenant and
+his men could hem them in on the other side.
+
+Thus had the day worn to evening, and long had the day seemed to
+Antonio, who sat before the mouth of the cave, with Venusta by his side.
+All day they had sat thus alone, for Luigi and the two youths had gone
+to set snares in the wood behind the cave--or such was the pretext Luigi
+made; and Antonio had let them go, charging them to keep in earshot. As
+the long day passed, Antonio, seeking to entertain the lady and find
+amusement for her through the hours, began to recount to her all that he
+had done, how he had seized the Sacred Bones, the manner of his
+difference with the Abbot of St. Prisian, and much else. But of the
+killing of Duke Paul he would not speak; nor did he speak of his love
+for Lucia till Venusta pressed him, making parade of great sympathy for
+him. But when he had set his tongue to the task, he grew eloquent, his
+eyes gleamed and his cheek flushed, and he spoke in the low reverent
+voice that a true lover uses when he speaks of his mistress, as though
+his wonted accents were too common and mean for her name. And Venusta
+sat listening, casting now and again a look at him out of her deep
+eyes, and finding his eyes never on hers but filled with the fancied
+vision of Lucia. And at last, growing impatient with him, she broke out
+petulantly, "Is this girl, then, different from all others, that you
+speak of her as though she were a goddess?"
+
+"I would not have spoken of her but that you pressed me," laughed
+Antonio. "Yet in my eyes she is a goddess, as every maid should be to
+her lover."
+
+Venusta caught a twig from the ground and broke it sharp across. "Boys'
+talk!" said she, and flung the broken twig away.
+
+Antonio laughed gently, and leant back, resting on the rock. "May be,"
+said he. "Yet is there none who talks boys' talk for you?"
+
+"I love men," said she, "not boys. And if I were a man I think I would
+love a woman, not a goddess."
+
+"It is Heaven's chance, I doubt not," said Antonio, laughing again. "Had
+you and I chanced to love, we should not have quarrelled with the boys'
+talk nor at the name of goddess."
+
+She flushed suddenly and bit her lip, but she answered in raillery,
+"Indeed had it been so, a marvel of a lover I should have had! For you
+have not seen your mistress for many, many months, and yet you are
+faithful to her. Are you not, my lord?"
+
+"Small credit not to wander where you love to rest," said Antonio.
+
+"And yet youth goes in waiting, and delights missed come not again,"
+said she, leaning towards him with a light in her eyes, and scanning his
+fair hair and bronzed cheek, his broad shoulders and the sinewy hands
+that nursed his knee.
+
+"It may well be that they will not come to me," he said. "For the Duke
+has a halter ready for my throat, if by force or guile he can take me."
+
+She started at these words, searching his face; but he was calm and
+innocent of any hidden meaning. She forced a laugh as she said, twisting
+a curl of her hair round her finger, "The more reason to waste no time,
+my Lord Antonio."
+
+Antonio shook his head and said lightly, "But I think he cannot take me
+by force, and I know of no man in all the Duchy that would betray me to
+a shameful death."
+
+"And of no woman?" she asked, glancing at him from under drooping
+lashes.
+
+"No, for I have wronged none; and women are not cruel."
+
+"Yet there may be some, my lord, who call you cruel and therefore would
+be cruel in vengeance. A lover faithful as you can have but one friend
+among women."
+
+"I know of none such," he laughed. "And surely the vengeance would be
+too great for the offence, if there were such."
+
+"Nay, I know not that," said Venusta, frowning.
+
+"I would trust myself to any woman, even though the Duke offered her
+great rewards, aye, as readily as I put faith in Lucia herself, or in
+you."
+
+"You couple me with her?"
+
+"In that matter most readily," said Antonio.
+
+"But in nothing else?" she asked, flushing again in anger, for still his
+eyes were distant, and he turned them never on her.
+
+"You must pardon me," he said. "My eyes are blinded."
+
+For a moment she sat silent; then she said in a low voice, "But blind
+eyes have learned to see before now, my lord."
+
+Then Antonio set his eyes on her; and now she could not meet them, but
+turned her burning face away. For her soul was in tumult, and she knew
+not now whether she loved or hated him, nor whether she would save or
+still betray him. And the trust he had in her gnawed her guilty heart.
+So that a sudden passion seized her, and she caught Antonio by the arm,
+crying, "But if a woman held your life in her hand and asked your love
+as its price, Antonio?"
+
+"Such a thing could not be," said he, wondering.
+
+"Nay, but it might. And if it were?"
+
+And Antonio, marvelling more and more at her vehemence, answered, "Love
+is dear, and honour is dear; but we of Monte Velluto hold life of no
+great price."
+
+"Yet it is a fearful and shameful thing to hang from the city wall."
+
+"There are worse things," said he. "But indeed I count not to do it;"
+and he laughed again.
+
+Venusta sprang to her feet and paced the space between the cave and the
+river bank with restless steps. Once she flung her hands above her head
+and clasped them; then, holding them clasped in front of her, she stood
+by Antonio and bent over him, till her hair, falling forward as she
+stooped, brushed his forehead and mingled with his fair locks; and she
+breathed softly his name, "Antonio, Antonio!" At this he looked up with
+a great start, stretching up his hand as though to check her; but he
+said nothing. And she, suddenly sobbing, fell on her knees by him; yet,
+as suddenly, she ceased to sob, and a smile came on her lips, and she
+leant towards him, saying again, "Antonio."
+
+"I pray you, I pray you," said he, seeking to stay her courteously.
+
+Then, careless of her secret, she flashed out in wrath, "Ah, you scorn
+me, my lord! You care nothing for me. I am dirt to you. Yet I hold your
+life in my hand!" And then in an instant she grew again softened,
+beseeching, "Am I so hideous, dear lord, that death is better than my
+love? For if you will love me, I will save you."
+
+"I know not how my life is in your hands," said he, glad to catch at
+that and leave the rest of what Venusta said.
+
+"Is there any path that leads higher up into the mountains?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, there is one," said he; "but if need came now, I could not climb
+it with this wounded foot of mine."
+
+"Luigi and the young men could carry you?"
+
+"Yes; but what need? Tommasino and the band will return soon."
+
+But she caught him by the hand, crying, "Rise, rise; call the men and
+let them carry you. Come, there is no time for lingering. And if I save
+you, my Lord Antonio----?" And a yearning question sounded in her voice.
+
+"If you save me a thousand times, I can do nothing else than pray you
+spare me what is more painful than death to me," said he, looking away
+from her and being himself in great confusion.
+
+"Come, come," she cried. "Call them! Perhaps some day----! Call them,
+Antonio."
+
+But as she spoke, before Antonio could call, there came a loud cry from
+the wood behind the cave, the cry of a man in some great strait.
+Antonio's hand flew to his sword, and he rose to his feet, and stood
+leaning on his sword. Then he cried aloud to Luigi. And in a moment
+Luigi and one of the youths came running; and Luigi, casting one glance
+at Venusta, said breathlessly, "My lord, Jacopo's foot slipped, and the
+poor fellow has fallen down a precipice thirty feet deep on to the rocks
+below, and we fear that he is sore hurt."
+
+Venusta sprang a step forward, for she suspected (what the truth was)
+that Luigi himself had aided the slipping of Jacopo's foot by a sudden
+lurch against him; but she said nothing, and Antonio bade Luigi go quick
+and look after Jacopo, and take the other youth with him.
+
+"But we shall leave you unguarded, my lord," said Luigi with a cunning
+show of solicitude.
+
+"I am in no present danger, and the youth may be dying. Go speedily,"
+said Antonio.
+
+Luigi turned, and with the other youth (Tommasino told Niccolo his name,
+but Niccolo had forgotten it) rushed off; and even as he went, Venusta
+cried, "It is a lie! You yourself brought it about!" But Luigi did not
+hear her, and Antonio, left again alone, asked her, "What mean you?"
+
+"Nay, I mean naught," said she, affrighted, and, when faced by his
+inquiring eyes, not daring to confess her treachery.
+
+"I hope the lad is not killed," said Antonio.
+
+"I care not for a thousand lads. Think of yourself, my lord!" And
+planning to rouse Antonio without betraying herself, she said, "I
+distrust this man Luigi. Is he faithful? The Duke can offer great
+rewards."
+
+"He has served me well. I have no reason to mistrust him," said Antonio.
+
+"Ah, you trust every one!" she cried in passion and in scorn of his
+simplicity. "You trust Luigi! You trust me!"
+
+"Why not?" said he. "But indeed now I have no choice. For they cannot
+carry both Jacopo and me up the path."
+
+"Jacopo! You would stay for Jacopo?" she flashed out fiercely.
+
+"If nothing else, yet my oath would bind me not to leave him while he
+lives. For we of the band are all bound to one another as brethren by an
+oath, and it would look ill if I, for whom they all have given much,
+were the first to break the oath. So here I am, and here I must stay,"
+and Antonio ended smiling, and, his foot hurting him while he stood, sat
+down again and rested against the rock.
+
+It was now late, and evening fell; and Venusta knew that the Duke's men
+should soon be upon them. And she sat down near Antonio and buried her
+face in her hands, and she wept. For Antonio had so won on her by his
+honour and his gentleness, and most of all by his loyal clinging to the
+poor boy Jacopo, that she could not think of her treachery without
+loathing and horror. Yet she dared not tell him; that now seemed worse
+to her than death. And while they sat thus, Luigi came and told Antonio
+that the youth was sore hurt and that they could not lift him.
+
+"Then stay by him," said Antonio. "I need nothing."
+
+And Luigi bowed, and, turning, went back to the other youth, and bade
+him stay by Jacopo, while he went by Antonio's orders to seek for some
+one to aid in carrying him. "I may chance," said he, "to find some
+shepherds." So he went, not to seek shepherds, but to seek the Duke's
+men, and tell them that they might safely come upon Antonio, for he had
+now none to guard him.
+
+Then Antonio said to Venusta, "Why do you sit and weep?"
+
+For he thought that she wept because he had scorned the love in which
+her words declared her to hold him, and he was sorry. But she made no
+answer.
+
+And he went on, "I pray you, do not weep. For think not that I am blind
+to your beauty or to the sweet kindness which you have bestowed upon me.
+And in all things that I may, I will truly and faithfully serve you to
+my death."
+
+Then she raised her head and she said, "That will not be long, Antonio."
+
+"I know not, but for so long as it may be," said he.
+
+"It will not be long," she said again, and burst into quick passionate
+sobs, that shook her and left her at last breathless and exhausted.
+
+Antonio looked at her for a while and said, "There is something that you
+do not tell me. Yet if it be anything that causes you pain or shame, you
+may tell me as readily as you would any man. For I am not a hard man,
+and I have many things on my own conscience that forbid me to judge
+harshly of another."
+
+She raised her head and she lifted her hand into the air. The stillness
+of evening had fallen, and a light wind blew up from the plain. There
+seemed no sound save from the flowing of the river and the gentle
+rustle of the trees.
+
+"Hark!" said she. "Hark! hark!" and with every repetition of the word
+her voice rose till it ended in a cry of terror.
+
+Antonio set his hand to his ear and listened intently. "It is the sound
+of men's feet on the rocky path," said he, smiling. "Tommasino returns,
+and I doubt not that he brings your jewels with him. Will you not give
+him a smiling welcome? Aye, and to me also your smiles would be welcome.
+For your weeping melts my heart, and the dimness of your eyes is like a
+cloud across the sun."
+
+Venusta's sobs had ceased, and she looked at Antonio with a face calm,
+white, and set. "It is not the Lord Tommasino," she said. "The men you
+hear are the Duke's men;" and then and there she told him the whole. Yet
+she spoke as though neither he nor any other were there, but as though
+she rehearsed for her own ear some lesson that she had learnt; so
+lifeless and monotonous was her voice as it related the shameful thing.
+And at last she ended saying, "Thus in an hour you will be dead, or
+captured and held for a worse death. It is I who have done it." And she
+bent her head again to meet her hands; yet she did not cover her face,
+but rested her chin on her hands, and her eyes were fixed immovably on
+Count Antonio.
+
+For the space of a minute or two he sat silent. Then he said, "I fear,
+then, that Tommasino and the rest have had a fight against great odds.
+But they are stout fellows, Tommasino, and old Bena, and the rest. I
+hope it is well with them." Then, after a pause, he went on, "Yes, the
+sound of the steps comes nearer. They will be here before long now. But
+I had not thought it of Luigi. The rogue! I trust they will not find the
+two lads."
+
+Venusta sat silent, waiting for him to reproach her. He read her thought
+on her face, and he smiled at her, and said to her, "Go and meet them;
+or go, if you will, away up the path. For you should not be here when
+the end comes."
+
+Then she flung herself at his feet, asking forgiveness, but finding no
+word for her prayer. "Aye, aye," said he gently. "But of God you must
+ask it in prayers and good deeds." And he dragged himself to the cave
+and set himself with his back against the rock and his face towards the
+path along which the Duke's men must come. And he called again to
+Venusta, saying, "I pray you, do not stay here." But she heeded him not,
+but sat again on the ground, her chin resting on her hands and her eyes
+on his.
+
+"Hark, they are near now!" said he. And he looked round at sky and
+trees, and at the rippling swift river, and at the long dark shadows of
+the hills; and he listened to the faint sounds of the birds and living
+creatures in the wood. And a great lust of life came over him, and for a
+moment his lip quivered and his head fell; he was very loth to die. Yet
+soon he smiled again and raised his head, and so leant easily against
+the rock.
+
+Now the Lord Lorenzo and his twenty men, conceiving that the Lieutenant
+of the Guard could without difficulty hold Tommasino, had come along
+leisurely, desiring to be in good order and not weary when they met
+Antonio; for they feared him. And thus it was evening when they came
+near the cave and halted a moment to make their plans; and here Luigi
+met them and told them how Antonio was alone and unguarded. But Lorenzo
+desired, if it were possible, to take Antonio alive and carry him alive
+to the Duke, knowing that thus he would win His Highness's greatest
+thanks. And while they talked of how this might best be effected, they
+in their turn heard the sound of men coming up the road, this sound
+being made by Tommasino, Bena, and their party, who had ridden as fast
+as the weariness of their horses let them. But because they had ridden
+fast, their horses were foundered, and they had dismounted, and were now
+coming on foot; and Lorenzo heard them coming just as he also had
+decided to go forward on foot, and had caused the horses to be led into
+the wood and tethered there. And he asked, "Who are these?"
+
+Then one of his men, a skilled woodsman and hunter, listening, answered,
+"They are short of a dozen, my lord. They must be come with tidings from
+the Lieutenant of the Guard. For they would be more if the Lieutenant
+came himself, or if by chance Tommasino's band had eluded him."
+
+"Come," said Lorenzo. "The capture of the Count must be ours, not
+theirs. Let us go forward without delay."
+
+Thus Lorenzo and his men pushed on; and but the half of a mile behind
+came Tommasino and his; and again, three or four miles behind them, came
+the Lieutenant and his; and all these companies were pressing on towards
+the cave where Antonio and Venusta were. But Tommasino's men still
+marched the quicker, and they gained on Lorenzo, while the Lieutenant
+did not gain on them; yet by reason of the unceasing windings of the
+way, as it twisted round rocks and skirted precipices, they did not come
+in sight of Lorenzo, nor did he see them; indeed he thought now of
+nothing but of coming first on Antonio, and of securing the glory of
+taking him before the Lieutenant came up. And Tommasino, drawing near
+the cave, gave his men orders to walk very silently; for he hoped to
+surprise Lorenzo unawares. Thus, as the sun sank out of sight, Lorenzo
+came to the cave and to the open space between it and the river, and
+beheld Antonio standing with his back against the rock and his drawn
+sword in his hand, and Venusta crouched on the ground some paces away.
+When Venusta saw Lorenzo, she gave a sharp stifled cry, but did not
+move: Antonio smiled, and drew himself to his full height.
+
+"Your tricks have served you well, my lord," he said. "Here I am alone
+and crippled."
+
+"Then yield yourself," said Lorenzo. "We are twenty to one."
+
+"I will not yield," said Antonio. "I can die here as well as at Firmola,
+and a thrust is better than a noose."
+
+Then Lorenzo, being a gentleman of high spirit and courage, waved his
+men back; and they stood still ten paces off, watching intently as
+Lorenzo advanced towards Antonio, for, though Antonio was lamed, yet
+they looked to see fine fighting. And Lorenzo advanced towards Antonio,
+and said again, "Yield yourself, my lord."
+
+"I will not yield," said Antonio again.
+
+At this instant the woodsman who was with Lorenzo raised his hand to his
+ear and listened for a moment; but Tommasino came softly, and the
+woodsman was deceived. "It is but leaves," he said, and turned again to
+watch Lorenzo. And that lord now sprang fiercely on Antonio and the
+swords crossed. And as they crossed, Venusta crawled on her knees
+nearer, and as the swords played, nearer still she came, none noticing
+her, till at length she was within three yards of Lorenzo. He now was
+pressing Antonio hard, for the Count was in great pain from his foot,
+and as often as he was compelled to rest his weight on it, it came near
+to failing him, nor could he follow up any advantage he might gain
+against Lorenzo. Thus passed three or four minutes in the encounter. And
+the woodsman cried, "Hark! Here comes the Lieutenant. Quick, my lord, or
+you lose half the glory!" Then Lorenzo sprang afresh on Antonio. Yet as
+he sprang, another sprang also; and as that other sprang there rose a
+shout from Lorenzo's men; yet they did not rush to aid in the capture of
+Antonio, but turned themselves round. For Bena, with Tommasino at his
+heels, had shot among them like a stone hurled from a catapult; and this
+man Bena was a great fighter; and now he was all aflame with love and
+fear for Count Antonio. And he crashed through their ranks, and split
+the head of the woodsman with the heavy sword he carried; and thus he
+came to Lorenzo. But there in amazement he stood still. For Antonio and
+Lorenzo had dropped their points and fought no more; but both stood with
+their eyes on the slim figure of a girl that lay on the ground between
+them; and blood was pouring from a wound in her breast, and she moaned
+softly. And while the rest fought fiercely, these three stood looking on
+the girl; and Lorenzo looked also on his sword, which was dyed three
+inches up the blade. For as he thrust most fiercely at Antonio, Venusta
+had sprung at him with the spring of a young tiger, a dagger flashing in
+her hand, and in the instinct that sudden danger brings he had turned
+his blade against her; and the point of it was deep in her breast before
+he drew it back with horror and a cry of "Heavens! I have killed her!"
+And she fell full on the ground at the feet of Count Antonio, who had
+stood motionless in astonishment, with his sword in rest.
+
+Now the stillness and secrecy of Tommasino's approach had served him
+well, for he had come upon Lorenzo's men when they had no thought of an
+enemy, but stood crowded together, shoulder to shoulder; and several of
+them were slain and more hurt before they could use their swords to any
+purpose; but Tommasino's men had fallen on them with great fury, and had
+broken through them even as Bena had, and, getting above them, were now,
+step by step, driving them down the path, and formed a rampart between
+them and the three who stood by the dying lady. And when Bena perceived
+this advantage, wasting little thought on Venusta (he was a hard man,
+this Bena), he cried to Antonio, "Leave him to me, my lord. We have him
+sure!" and in an instant he would have sprung at Lorenzo, who, finding
+himself between two enemies, knew that his state was perilous, but was
+yet minded to defend himself. But Antonio suddenly cried in a loud
+voice, "Stay!" and arrested by his voice, all stood still, Lorenzo
+where he was, Tommasino and his men at the top of the path, and the
+Guards just below them. And Antonio, leaning on his sword, stepped a
+pace forward and said to Lorenzo, "My lord, the dice have fallen against
+you. But I would not fight over this lady's body. The truth of all she
+did I know, yet she has at the last died that I might live. See, my men
+are between you and your men."
+
+"It is the hazard of war," said Lorenzo.
+
+"Aye," said Bena. "He had killed you, my Lord Antonio, had we not come."
+
+But Antonio pointed to the body of Venusta. And she, at the instant,
+moaned again, and turned on her back, and gasped, and died: yet just
+before she died, her eyes sought Antonio's eyes, and he dropped suddenly
+on his knees beside her, and took her hand and kissed her brow. And they
+saw that she smiled in dying.
+
+Then Lorenzo brushed a hand across his eyes and said to Antonio, "Suffer
+me to go back with my men, and for a week there shall be a truce between
+us."
+
+"Let it be so," said Antonio.
+
+And Bena smiled, for he knew that the Lieutenant of the Guard must now
+be near at hand. But this he did not tell Antonio, fearing that Antonio
+would tell Lorenzo. Then Lorenzo, with uncovered head, passed through
+the rank of Tommasino's men; and he took up his dead, and with them went
+down the path, leaving Venusta where she lay. And when he had gone two
+miles, he met the Lieutenant and his party, pressing on. Yet when the
+two companies had joined, they were no more than seventeen whole and
+sound men, so many of Lorenzo's had Tommasino's party slain or hurt.
+Therefore Lorenzo in his heart was not much grieved at the truce, for it
+had been hard with seventeen to force the path to the cave against ten,
+all unhurt and sound. And, having sorely chidden the Lieutenant of the
+Guard, he rode back, and rested that night in Venusta's house at Rilano,
+and the next day rode on to Firmola, and told Duke Valentine how the
+expedition had sped.
+
+Then said Duke Valentine, "Force I have tried, and guile I have tried,
+and yet this man is delivered from my hand. Fortune fights for him;"
+and in chagrin and displeasure he went into his cabinet, and spoke to no
+man, and showed himself nowhere in the city, for the space of three
+days. But the townsmen, though they dared make no display, rejoiced that
+Antonio was safe, and the more because the Duke had laid so cunning and
+treacherous a snare for him.
+
+Now Antonio, Tommasino, and the rest, when they were left alone, stood
+round the corpse of Venusta, and Antonio told them briefly all the story
+of her treachery as she herself had told it to him.
+
+And when he had finished the tale, Bena cried, "She has deserved her
+death."
+
+But Tommasino stooped down and composed her limbs and her raiment gently
+with his hand, and when he rose up his eyes were dim, and he said, "Yes;"
+but at the last she gave her life for Antonio. And though she deserved
+death, it grieves me that she is gone to her account thus, without
+confession, pardon, or the rites of Holy Church.
+
+Then Antonio said, "Behold, her death is her confession, and the same
+should be her pardon. And for the rites----"
+
+He bent over her, and he dipped the tip of his finger in the lady's
+blood that had flowed from her wounded breast; and lightly with his
+finger-tip he signed the Cross in her own blood on her brow. "That,"
+said he, "shall be her Unction; and I think, Tommasino, it will serve."
+
+Thus the Lady Venusta died, and they carried her body down to Rilano and
+buried it there. And in after-days a tomb was raised over her, which may
+still be seen. But Count Antonio, being rejoined by such of his company
+as had escaped by flight from the pursuit of the Duke's troop, abode
+still in the hills, and albeit that his force was less, yet by the dread
+of his name and of the deeds that he had done he still defied the power
+of the Duke, and was not brought to submission.
+
+And whether the poor youth whom Luigi pushed over the precipice lived or
+died, Niccolo knew not. But Luigi, having entered the service of the
+Duke, played false to him also, and, being convicted on sure evidence of
+taking to himself certain moneys that the Duke had charged him to
+distribute to the poor, was hanged in the great square a year to the
+very day after Venusta died; whereat let him grieve who will; I grieve
+not.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE MANNER OF COUNT ANTONIO'S RETURN.
+
+
+In all that I have written concerning Count Antonio, I have striven to
+say that only which is surely based on truth and attested by credible
+witness, and have left on one side the more marvellous tales such as the
+credulity of ignorance and the fond licence of legend are wont to weave.
+But as to the manner of his return there is no room for uncertainty, for
+the whole account of it was recorded in the archives of the city by
+order of Duke Valentine the Good, son and successor to that Duke who
+outlawed Antonio; to which archives I, Ambrose, have had full access;
+and I have now free permission to make known so much of them as may
+serve for the proper understanding of the matter. And this same task is
+one to which I set my pen willingly, conceiving that the story is
+worthy of being known to every man in the Duchy; for while many may
+censure the things that Antonio did in the days of his sojourn in the
+hills, there can, I think, be none that will not look with approval on
+his bearing in this last hap of fortune. Indeed he was a gallant
+gentleman; and if, for that, I forgive him his sins too readily, in like
+manner may our good St. Prisian intercede that my sins be forgiven me.
+
+Five years had the Count dwelt in the hills; five years had the Lady
+Lucia mourned in the city; five years had Duke Valentine laid plans and
+schemes. Then it fell out that a sickness came upon the city and the
+country round it; many died, and more were sore stricken but by the
+mercy of God narrowly escaped. Among those that suffered were the Duke
+himself, and at the same time a certain gentleman, by name Count Philip
+of Garda, a friend of Antonio's, and yet an obedient servant to the
+Duke. Now when Antonio heard that Philip lay sick, he sent to him a rich
+gift of choice meats and fruits by the hand of Tommasino. And Tommasino
+came with six of the band and delivered the gift, and might have ridden
+back in all safety, as did the six who came with him. But Philip had a
+fair daughter, and Tommasino, caught by her charms, made bold to linger
+at Philip's house, trusting that his presence there would not be known
+to the Duke, and venturing his own neck for the smiles of red lips and
+the glances of bright eyes, as young men have since this old world
+began. But one of the Duke's spies, of whom he maintained many, brought
+word to him of Tommasino's rashness; and as Tommasino at last rode forth
+privily in the evening, singing a love-song and hugging in his bosom a
+glove that the lady had suffered him to carry off, he came suddenly into
+an ambush of the Duke's Guard, was pulled violently from his horse, and
+before he could so much as draw his sword, behold, his arms were seized,
+and the Lord Lorenzo stood before him, with doffed cap and mocking
+smile!
+
+"My glove is like to cost me dear," said Tommasino.
+
+"Indeed, my lord," answered Lorenzo, "I fear there will be a reckoning
+for it." Then he gave the word, and they set Tommasino bound on his
+horse, and rode without drawing rein to the city. And when the Duke
+heard the next morning of Tommasino's capture, he raised himself on his
+couch, where he lay in the shade by the fish-pond under the wall of his
+garden. "This is sweet medicine for my sickness," said he. "On the third
+day from now, at noon, he shall die. Bid them raise a great gibbet in
+front of my palace, so high that it shall be seen from every part of the
+city and from beyond the walls; and on that gibbet Tommasino shall hang,
+that all men may know that I, Valentine, am Duke and Lord of Firmola."
+And he lay back again, pale and faint.
+
+But when word came to Antonio that Tommasino was taken, he withdrew
+himself from the rest of the band who were lamenting the untoward
+chance, and walked by himself to and fro for a long while. And he gazed
+once on the picture of the Lady Lucia which was always round his neck.
+Then he sat down and wrote a letter to the Duke, saying, "My gracious
+lord, I am here with fifty men, stout and brave fellows; and if my
+cousin dies, there shall be no peace in the Duchy. But my heart is heavy
+already for those that have died in my quarrel, and I may not endure
+Tommasino's death. Therefore let Tommasino go, and grant full pardon and
+oblivion to him and to all who are here with me, and swear to do this
+with a binding oath; and then I will come and deliver myself to you, and
+suffer such doom as seems good to Your Highness. May Almighty God
+assuage Your Highness's sickness and keep you in all things.--ANTONIO of
+Monte Velluto." And this letter he sent to the Duke Valentine, who,
+having received it, pondered long, but at last said to Lorenzo, "I do
+not love to let Tommasino go, nor to pardon these lawless knaves; yet
+for five years I have pursued Antonio and have not taken him. And I am
+weary, and the country is racked and troubled by our strife."
+
+"With Antonio dead, all would be quiet, my lord," said Lorenzo.
+
+Then the Duke's eyes flashed and he said, "It shall be so. And bid them
+strengthen the gibbet, for Antonio is a large man; and he shall surely
+hang on it."
+
+Now Lorenzo was somewhat grieved, for he esteemed Antonio; yet he obeyed
+the Duke's commands, and took from the Duke a letter for Antonio,
+wherein His Highness swore to all that Antonio asked, and bade him come
+alone or with one companion only into the city on the day that had been
+before appointed for the hanging of Tommasino. And, further, the Lord
+Lorenzo gathered together all the pikemen and every man that served the
+Duke, and placed them all on guard, and proclaimed that any man besides
+found carrying arms in the city should be held as the Duke's enemy. For
+he feared that the townsmen who loved Antonio would attempt something on
+his behalf. But when the townsmen saw the great force that Lorenzo had
+gathered, they dared attempt nothing, although they were sore grieved
+and lamented bitterly. And the Lady Lucia, looking from the window of
+her house, beheld those who were erecting the gibbet, and wept for her
+lover. As for Tommasino, when he heard that he was not to be hanged,
+but to be set free, and Antonio to suffer death in his stead, he was
+like a man mad, and his rage and grief could not be restrained; for he
+declared that he would not live if Antonio died, and did not cease to
+reproach himself bitterly. Therefore the Lord Lorenzo held him confined
+in his own house, lest he should do himself some harm, or endeavour by
+some desperate device to prevent Antonio from fulfilling his purpose;
+but he treated him with all courtesy, for he was sorry for his plight.
+
+Now Count Antonio feared his companions and did not dare to tell them of
+what he had done, lest their obedience should fail under a strain so
+great, and they should by force prevent his going to the city. Therefore
+he told them to rest quiet in their camp, while he, with Bena, went
+about certain necessary business; and he bade them farewell, enjoining
+them most strictly to do nothing against the Duke.
+
+"For," said he, "although I may not tell you fully what the business is
+on which I go, yet I have good hope that His Highness is favourably
+inclined to you, and that in a short space you will receive from him
+pardon for all your offences. And that pardon I charge you to accept
+with gratitude, and, having accepted it, be thenceforward loyal servants
+to His Highness."
+
+"But will the Duke pardon you also, my lord, and the Lord Tommasino?"
+asked Martolo.
+
+"He will pardon Tommasino also," answered Antonio. "And be assured that
+I shall suffer nothing." And having said this, he shook every man by the
+hand, thanking them for the love and service they had shown him; and he
+and Bena were accompanied by all of them to the foot of Mount Agnino;
+and there, in the early morning of the appointed day, Antonio mounted
+his horse and rode with Bena into the plain. And as they rode, Bena said
+to him, "My lord, why does the Duke grant this pardon?"
+
+"Because I give him what he asks as the price of it, Bena," answered
+Antonio; and they rode on for a while. But when Bena saw that Antonio
+turned his horse not towards Rilano, but directly across the plain
+towards Firmola, he said, "My lord, whither are we riding?"
+
+"We are riding to the city, Bena," answered Antonio. "There is no cause
+for fear; we go by leave and on the invitation of His Highness."
+
+"But will he let us go again?" asked Bena.
+
+"You will be free to go when you will," answered Antonio, "and me the
+Duke will himself send forth from the city when I am ready to go." For
+Lorenzo had promised in the Duke's name that Antonio's body, after it
+had hung three days on the gibbet, should be carried from the city to
+the church of St. Prisian at Rilano, and there interred with fitting
+ceremony.
+
+"Yet I do not like this ride of ours," grumbled Bena.
+
+"Nay, I like it not myself," said Antonio, smiling. "But for the good of
+my cousin and of all our company, we must go forward." And he stopped
+for a moment and added, "Swear to me, Bena, by St. Prisian, to obey in
+all I bid you in the city to-day, and not to draw your sword unless I
+draw mine."
+
+"Do I not always obey you, my lord?" asked Bena.
+
+"But swear to me."
+
+"Well, then, I swear," said Bena, "though in truth, my lord, your word
+is full as strong to me as any oath, whether by Prisian or another." For
+this man whom they called Bena was a godless man, and one that held holy
+things in light esteem. But he was a fine fighter and a loyal servant,
+and God's mercy is infinite. It may be his heart was turned at last;
+though indeed I have found no record of it.
+
+"My lord, will you see my Lady Lucia in the city?" asked Bena.
+
+"I trust at the least to see her face at her window," answered Antonio.
+
+"Will you have speech with her, my lord?"
+
+"If His Highness will grant me that favour, Bena."
+
+"Ah, I know now why you smiled, my lord, as you rode, just now. It will
+be a bright day for you." And Bena laughed.
+
+"Indeed," said Antonio, "I trust that the day may be bright for me. Yes,
+bright as the light of heaven."
+
+"There is no light brighter than the eyes of the girl a man loves," said
+Bena.
+
+"Yes, there is one," said Antonio. But Bena did not understand his
+meaning.
+
+Thus they rode till it wanted only two hours of noon; and then they were
+within five miles of the city, and Bena, looking, beheld the great
+gibbet rising above the walls of the city and standing forth grim and
+black in front of the marble face of the Cathedral.
+
+"What is that, my lord," he cried, "which towers above the walls of the
+city?"
+
+"Is it not enough to know when we come there?" answered Antonio.
+
+Then Bena sighed, and said to Antonio, "I find it in my heart, my lord,
+to be half sorry that the Duke pardons us; for we lived a fine merry
+life in the hills. Yet it will be pleasant to live at ease: and we have
+adventures enough to tell our sweethearts, aye, and our children too,
+when we grow old, and they come round us and ask us for stories of our
+youth. I hope my boys will be good at a fight, my lord, and serve your
+sons as I have served you."
+
+"It may be God's will that I leave no sons to bear my name, Bena."
+
+"I do not think that," said Bena with a laugh.
+
+They were now passing the hill on which stood the blackened walls of
+Antonio's house, which Duke Valentine had burnt.
+
+Bena cried out at the sight. "You will need to spend much in rebuilding
+it," said he.
+
+"Perhaps His Highness has provided another dwelling for me," said
+Antonio.
+
+"To-night he will surely lodge you, my lord, in his own palace, or, may
+be, with my Lord Lorenzo."
+
+"Wherever it may be, I shall sleep soundly," said Antonio.
+
+Now they were come near to the city, and they saw a body of pikemen
+coming out to meet them, the Lieutenant of the Guard at the head. And
+when they met, the Lieutenant bowed to Antonio, who greeted him most
+courteously; and the pikemen spread themselves in front and behind and
+on both sides of Antonio and Bena, and thus they went on towards the
+bridge and the city gate. But Bena eyed the pikemen with no love, and
+moved restlessly in his saddle. "These fellows," said he to Antonio,
+"hem us in, my lord. Shall I make my horse threaten their toes a little,
+so that they may give us more room?"
+
+"Let them be," said Antonio. "It is not for long, Bena."
+
+At the entrance of the gate stood Lorenzo, awaiting the Count, and there
+they dismounted, and Antonio passed through the gate with Lorenzo, Bena
+being close to him on the other side. And when Bena saw the great force
+of pikemen, and, behind their ranks, a mighty throng of people, and when
+he saw the tall gibbet and understood what it was, suddenly his face
+went red and his hand flew to his sword.
+
+But Antonio caught his arm, saying, "My sword is not drawn, Bena."
+
+"My lord, what does it mean?" cried Bena in a loud voice, so that
+Lorenzo heard and stayed his steps and looked at Bena. "Does he not
+know?" he asked of Antonio.
+
+"He does not know yet," said Antonio. And to Bena he said, "I have need
+of your sword, Bena. Give it me."
+
+"My sword, my lord?"
+
+"Yes, your sword."
+
+Bena looked at him with wondering frightened eyes; but slowly he
+unbuckled his sword from his belt and gave it to Antonio. And Antonio
+unbuckled his own sword also and gave them both to the Lieutenant of the
+Guard, saying, "Sir, I pray you to restore Bena's to him in the evening,
+and mine to me when I go forth to Rilano."
+
+But Bena clutched at Antonio's arm, crying again, "What does it mean, my
+lord?"
+
+Then Antonio took him by the hand and said, "Are we to be afraid now of
+what we have often faced together with light hearts, Bena?"
+
+"Are we to die?" asked Bena.
+
+"You are to live and beget those brave boys, Bena. But it is otherwise
+with me," said Antonio.
+
+Then the Lord Lorenzo, who had looked in Bena's eyes, signed to four
+pikemen to come near, and they came and stood near Bena; for Lorenzo
+feared that he would not suffer Antonio to die without seeking to save
+him or to die with him.
+
+"Nay, let him alone," said Antonio. "You will obey me of your free-will,
+Bena?"
+
+"Yes, my lord," said Bena; and he looked up at the gibbet; and then he
+caught Antonio's hand and kissed it a score of times; and he began to
+sob as a child sobs. And the Guard, among whom were some that had felt
+his arm, marvelled to see him thus moved.
+
+"Let us go on," said Antonio. "It is hard on noon, and I must keep my
+tryst with His Highness."
+
+"His Highness awaits my lord by the fish-pond in the garden," said
+Lorenzo; and he led Antonio to the palace and brought him through the
+great hall and so to the fish-pond; and by it the Duke lay propped on
+pillows, yet very richly arrayed; and his little son sat by him. Now
+Lorenzo stood aloof, but Antonio came, and, kneeling, kissed the Duke's
+hand, and then rose and stood before the Duke. But the boy cried, "Why,
+it is my Lord Antonio! Have you come back to live in the city, my Lord
+Antonio? Ah, I am glad of it!"
+
+"Nay, I have not come to live in the city, my little lord," said
+Antonio.
+
+"Whither do you go then?" asked the boy.
+
+"His Highness sends me on a journey," said Antonio.
+
+"Is it far?"
+
+"Yes, it is far," said Antonio with a smile.
+
+"I wish he would send another and let you stay; then we could play at
+robbers again in the great hall," said the little Duke. "Father, can you
+find no other lord to go in Antonio's place?"
+
+The Duke turned his face, pale and wasted with sickness, and his eyes,
+that seemed larger and deeper than they had been before, upon his son.
+"I can send none but Antonio," said he. And calling to Lorenzo, he bade
+him take the boy. But the boy went reluctantly, telling Antonio that he
+must return speedily. "For you promised," said he, "to teach me how to
+use my sword." And the Duke signed with his hand to Lorenzo, who lifted
+the boy and carried him away, leaving Antonio alone with the Duke.
+
+"I have set my seal to the pardons as I swore," said the Duke; "and
+Tommasino shall be free this evening; and all that he and the rest have
+done against me shall be forgotten from this hour. Have you any cause of
+complaint against me?"
+
+"None, my lord," said Count Antonio.
+
+"Is there anything that you ask of me?"
+
+"Nothing, my lord. Yet if it be Your Highness's pleasure that I should
+have speech with the Lady Lucia and with my cousin, I should be well
+pleased."
+
+"You will see them yonder in the square," said the Duke. "But otherwise
+you shall not see them."
+
+Then Lorenzo returned, and he led Antonio to a chamber and gave him meat
+and wine; and while Antonio ate, the Lord Archbishop, having heard that
+he was come, came in great haste; and the venerable man was very urgent
+with Antonio that he should make his peace with Heaven, so that, having
+confessed his sins and sought absolution, he might be relieved of the
+sentence of excommunication under which he lay, and be comforted with
+the rites of the Church before he died.
+
+"For there are many wild and wicked deeds on your conscience," said the
+Archbishop, "and above all, the things that you did touching the Abbot
+of St. Prisian, and yet more impiously touching the Sacred Bones."
+
+"Indeed I have many sins to confess," said Antonio; "but, my Lord
+Archbishop, concerning the Abbot and concerning the Sacred Bones I have
+nothing to confess. For even now, when I stand on the threshold of
+death, I can perceive nothing that I did save what I could not leave
+undone."
+
+Then the Archbishop besought him very earnestly, and even with tears;
+but Antonio would own no sin in these matters, and therefore the
+Archbishop could not relieve him from his sentence nor give him the holy
+comforts, but left him and returned to his own house in great distress
+of spirit.
+
+The Lord Lorenzo now came again to Antonio and said to him, "My lord,
+it wants but a few moments of noon." Therefore Antonio rose and went
+with him; and they came through the great hall, and, a strong escort
+being about them, took their stand at the foot of the palace steps. Then
+the Duke was borne out on his couch, high on the shoulders of his
+lackeys, and was set down on the topmost step: and silence having been
+proclaimed, the Duke spoke to Antonio; but so weak was his voice that
+none heard save those who were very near. "Antonio of Monte Velluto,"
+said he, "it may be that in God's purposes I myself have not long to
+live. Yet it is long enough for me to uphold and vindicate that princely
+power which the same God has committed to my hands. That power you have
+outraged; many of my faithful friends you have slain; against both me
+and the Church you have lifted your hand. Go then to your death, that
+men may know the fate of traitors and of rebels."
+
+Antonio bowed low to His Highness; but, not being invited by the Duke to
+speak, he said naught, but suffered Lorenzo to lead him across the
+square; and as he went, he passed where four pikemen stood by Bena,
+ready to lay hold on him if he moved; and Bena fell on his knees and
+again kissed Antonio's hand. And Antonio, passing on, saw two young
+lords, followers of Lorenzo. And between them stood Tommasino; their
+arms were through Tommasino's arms and they held him, though lovingly,
+yet firmly; and he had no sword.
+
+"May I speak with Tommasino?" asked Antonio.
+
+"His Highness has forbidden it," said Lorenzo; but Antonio paused for a
+moment before Tommasino; and Tommasino, greatly moved, cried piteously
+to him that he might die with him. And Antonio kissed him, and, with a
+shake of his head, passed on. Thus then he came to the gibbet, and
+mounted with Lorenzo on to the scaffold that was underneath the gibbet.
+And when he was seen there, a great groan went up from the people, and
+the apprenticed lads, who were all gathered together on the left side of
+the gibbet, murmured so fiercely and stirred so restlessly that the
+pikemen faced round, turning their backs towards the scaffold, and laid
+their pikes in rest.
+
+Then the hour of noon struck from the clock in the tower of the
+Cathedral; and the Master of the Duke's Household, who stood by the
+couch of his master, turned his eyes to the Duke's face, seeking the
+signal for Antonio's death; which when he received, he would sign to the
+executioner to set the rope round the Count's neck; for the man stood by
+Antonio with the rope in his hand, and Antonio was already in his shirt.
+But when the Master of the Household looked at the Duke, the Duke made
+him no signal; yet the Duke had not fainted from his sickness, for he
+was propped on his elbow, his face was eager, and his gaze was set
+intently across the square; and his physician, who was near, spoke to
+him softly, saying, "My lord, they await the signal."
+
+But the Duke waved him aside impatiently, and gazed still across the
+square. And, seeing His Highness thus gazing intently, the Master of the
+Household and the physician and all the rest who were about the Duke's
+person looked also; and they saw the Lady Lucia coming forth from her
+house, clad all in white. Antonio also saw her from where he stood on
+the scaffold, for the people made a way for her, and the pikemen let her
+pass through their ranks; so that she walked alone across the middle of
+the great square; and the eyes of all, leaving Antonio, were fixed upon
+her. Her face was very pale, and her hair fell on her shoulders; but she
+walked firmly and swiftly, and she turned neither to right nor left, but
+made straight for the spot where the Duke lay. And he, seeing her
+coming, moaned once, and passed his hand thrice across his eyes, and
+raised himself yet higher on his arm, leaning towards her over the side
+of the couch. Again he passed his hand across his brow; and the
+physician regarded him very intently, yet dared not again seek to rouse
+his attention, and imposed silence on the Master of the Household, who
+had asked in low tones, "What ails His Highness?" Then the Lady Lucia,
+having reached the foot of the steps, stood still there, her eyes on the
+Duke. Very fair was she, and sad, and she seemed rather some beautiful
+unsubstantial vision than a living maiden; and though she strove to
+form words with her lips, yet no words came; therefore it was by her
+muteness that she besought pity for herself and pardon for her lover.
+But the Duke, leaning yet further towards her, had fallen, but that the
+physician, kneeling, passed his arm round his body and held him up; and
+he said in low hoarse tones and like a man that is amazed and full of
+awe, and yet moved with a gladness so great that he cannot believe in
+it, "Who is it? Who is it?"
+
+And the Lady Lucia still could not answer him. And he, craning towards
+her, spoke to her in entreaty, "Margherita, Margherita!"
+
+Then indeed all marvelled; for the name that the Duke spoke was the name
+by which that Princess who had been his wife and was dead had been
+called; and they perceived that His Highness, overcome by his sickness,
+had lost discernment, and conceived the Lady Lucia to be not herself but
+the spirit of his dead love come to him from heaven, to which delusion
+her white robes and her death-like pallor might well incline him. And
+now the wonder and fear left his face, and there came in place of them a
+great joy and rapture, so that his sunk eyes gleamed, his lips quivered,
+and he beckoned with his hand, murmuring, "I am ready, I am ready,
+Margherita!" And while this passed, all who were too distant to hear the
+Duke's words wondered that the signal came not, but supposed that the
+Lady Lucia had interceded for Count Antonio, and that His Highness was
+now answering her prayer: and they hoped that he would grant it. And
+Antonio stood on the scaffold between the Lord Lorenzo and the
+executioner; and his eyes were set on Lucia.
+
+Then the Duke spoke again to the Lady Lucia, saying, "I have been
+lonely, very lonely. How pale your face is, my sweet! Come to me. I
+cannot come to you, for I am very sick." And he held out his hand
+towards her again.
+
+But she was now sore bewildered, for she could not understand the words
+which His Highness used to her, and she looked round, seeking some one
+who might tell her what they meant, but none moved from his place or
+came near to her; and at last she found voice enough to say in soft
+tones, "Antonio, my lord, the Count Antonio!"
+
+"Aye, I know that you loved him," said the Duke. "But since then he has
+done great crimes, and he must die. Yet speak not of him now, but come
+here to me, Margherita."
+
+Then, with wavering tread, she came towards him, mounting the first of
+the steps, and she said, "I know not what you would, my lord, nor why
+you call me by the name of Margherita. I am Lucia, and I come to ask
+Antonio's life."
+
+"Lucia, Lucia?" said he, and his face grew doubtful. "Nay, but you are
+my Margherita," he said.
+
+"No, my lord," she answered, as with trembling uncertain feet she
+mounted, till she stood but one step below where his couch was placed;
+and then she fell on her knees on the highest step and clasped her
+hands, crying, "Have mercy, my lord, have mercy! Think, my dear lord,
+how I love him; for if he dies, I must die also, my lord. Ah, my lord,
+you have known love. You loved our sweet Lady Margherita; was not her
+name now on your lips? So I love Antonio, so he loves me. Ah, my lord,
+Christ Jesus teaches pity!" And she buried her face in her hands and
+sobbed.
+
+Then the Duke, his physician and now the Master of the Household also
+supporting him, stretched himself over the edge of his couch, and,
+putting out his hand with feverish strength, plucked the Lady Lucia's
+hands away from her face and gazed at her face. And when he had gazed a
+moment, he gave a great cry, "Ah, God!" and flung his arms up above his
+head and fell back into the arms of his physician, who laid him down on
+his couch, where he lay motionless, his eyes shut and his chin resting
+on his breast. And all looked at the physician, but he answered, "Nay,
+he is not dead yet."
+
+"Why tarries the signal?" asked Antonio of Lorenzo on the scaffold.
+
+"It must be that the Lady Lucia beseeches him for your life, my lord,"
+answered Lorenzo. "Indeed heartily do I wish the Duke would hearken to
+her prayer."
+
+"He will not turn for her," said Antonio.
+
+But presently the report of what had passed spread from those round the
+Duke to the pikemen, and they, loving a marvel as most men do, must
+needs tell it to the people, and a murmur of wonder arose, and the
+report reached the guards at the scaffold, who came and told Lorenzo, in
+the hearing of Antonio, of the strange delusion that had come upon the
+Duke.
+
+"He must be sick to death," said Lorenzo.
+
+"I pray not," said Count Antonio. "For though he is a stern man, yet he
+is an able and just prince, and this fancy of his is very pitiful."
+
+"Do you spare pity for him?" asked Lorenzo.
+
+"Shall I not pity all who have lost their loves?" answered Antonio with
+a smile, and his eye rested on the form of the Lady Lucia kneeling by
+the Duke's couch.
+
+For hard on half an hour the Duke lay as he had fallen, but at last, his
+physician having used all his skill to rouse him, he opened his eyes;
+and he clutched his physician's hand and pointed to Lucia, asking, "Who
+is she?"
+
+"It is the Lady Lucia, my lord," answered the physician.
+
+"And there was none else?" asked the Duke in a low tremulous whisper.
+
+"I saw no other, my lord."
+
+"But I saw her," said the Duke. "I saw her even as I saw her last, when
+she lay on her bed and they took the child out of her dead arms."
+
+"It was the weakness of your malady, my lord, that made the vision
+before your eyes."
+
+"Alas, was it no more?" moaned the Duke. "Indeed, I am very weak; there
+is a blur before my eyes. I cannot see who this lady is that kneels
+before me. Who is she, and what ails her?" And having said this in
+fretful weary tones, he lay back on his pillow gasping.
+
+Then the Master of the Household came forward and said to him, "My lord,
+this is the Lady Lucia, and she kneels before your Highness praying for
+the life of Count Antonio, because she loves him."
+
+Now the name of Count Antonio, when spoken to him, moved the Duke more
+than all the ministrations of his physician; he roused himself once
+again, crying, "Antonio! I had forgotten Antonio. Does he still live?"
+
+"Your Highness has not given the signal for his death."
+
+"Have I not? Then here----"
+
+He moved his hand, but with a great cry the Lady Lucia sprang forward
+and seized his hand before he could raise it, kneeling to him and
+crying, "No, no, my lord, no, no, no!" And the Duke had no strength to
+fling her off, but he gasped, "Free me from her!" And the Master of the
+Household, terrified lest in her passion she should do violence to His
+Highness, roughly tore her hands from the Duke's hand, and the Duke,
+released, sat up on his couch, and he said, in a strange hard voice that
+was heard of all, even to the scaffold, and yet seemed not the voice
+that they knew as his, "Let Antonio----" But then he stopped; he choked
+in his throat, and, catching at his shirt, tore it loose from him. "Let
+Antonio!"----he cried again. "Let Antonio!"----And he sat there for an
+instant; and his eyes grew dim, the intelligence departing from them;
+once again he opened his lips, but nothing came from them save a gasp;
+and with a thud he fell back on his pillows, and, having rolled once on
+his side, turned again on his back and lay still. And a great hush fell
+on every man in the square, and they looked in one another's faces, but
+found no answer.
+
+For Valentine, Duke and Lord of Firmola, was dead of his sickness at the
+moment when he had sought to send Antonio to death. Thus marvellously
+did Heaven in its high purposes deal with him.
+
+"His Highness is dead," said the physician. And the Master of the
+Household, as his duty was, came to the front of the Duke's couch, and,
+standing there before all the people, broke the wand of his office, and
+let the broken fragments fall upon the marble steps; and he cried aloud,
+"Hear all of you! It hath pleased Almighty God to take unto Himself the
+soul of the noble and illustrious Prince, Valentine, Duke and Lord of
+Firmola. May his soul find peace!"
+
+But there came from the people no answering cry of "Amen," as, according
+to the custom of the Duchy, should have come. For they were amazed at
+the manner of this death; and many crossed themselves in fear, and women
+sobbed. And Lorenzo, standing on the scaffold by Antonio, was struck
+with wonder and fear, and clutched Antonio's arm, crying, "Can it be
+that the Duke is dead?" And Antonio bowed his head, answering, "May
+Christ receive his soul!"
+
+Then the Master of the Household came forward again and cried, "Hear all
+of you! According to the high pleasure and appointment of Almighty God,
+the noble and illustrious Prince, Valentine, Second of that Name, is
+from this hour Duke and Lord of Firmola; whom obey, serve, and honour,
+all of you. May his rule be prosperous!"
+
+And this time there came a low murmur of "Amen" from the people. But
+before more could pass, there was a sudden commotion in the square
+before the scaffold. For Bena, seeing what was done, and knowing that
+the Duke was dead, had glanced at the pikemen who stood near; and when
+he saw that they looked not at him but towards where the Master of the
+Household stood, he sprang forward and ran like a deer to the scaffold;
+and he leapt up to the scaffold before any could hinder him, and he
+cried in a mighty loud voice, saying, "By what warrant do you hold my
+lord a prisoner?"
+
+Then the apprentices raised a great cheer and with one accord pressed
+upon the pikemen, who, amazed by all that had passed, gave way before
+them; and the apprentices broke their bounds and surged like a billow of
+the sea up to the foot of the scaffold, shouting Antonio's name; and the
+young lords who held Tommasino came with him and broke through and
+reached the scaffold; for they feared for Lorenzo, and yet would not let
+Tommasino go: and Lorenzo was sore at a loss, but he drew his sword and
+cried that he would slay any man that touched Antonio, until the right
+of the matter should be known.
+
+"Indeed, if you will give me a sword, I will slay him myself," said
+Antonio. "For I stand here by my own will, and according to the promise
+I gave to the Duke; and if there be lawful authority to hang me, hang
+me; but if not, dispose of me as the laws of the Duchy bid."
+
+"I have no authority," said Lorenzo, "save what the Duke gave; and now
+he is dead."
+
+Then the Count Antonio fastened his shirt again about his neck and put
+on his doublet; and he signed to Bena to stand on one side of him, and
+he bade the young lords loose Tommasino. And he said to Lorenzo, "Let us
+go together to the palace." And now he was smiling. Then they came down
+from the scaffold and passed across the square, a great multitude
+following them. And when they came to the steps of the palace, the
+Duke's body was covered with a rich brocaded cloth that some hand had
+brought from his cabinet; and the little Duke stood there with his hand
+in the Master of the Household's hand; and the child was weeping
+bitterly, for he was very frightened; and over against him stood the
+Lady Lucia, motionless as though she had been turned to stone; for the
+strange thing that had come about through her approaching of the Duke
+had bewildered her brain. But when the boy saw Antonio he let go the
+hand he held and ran to Antonio and leapt into his arms. Then Antonio
+lifted him and showed him to the people, who hailed him for Duke; and
+Antonio set him down and knelt before him and kissed his hand. And the
+child cried, "Now that my father is dead, Antonio, you must not go on
+your journey, but you must stay with me. For if I am Duke, I must learn
+to use my sword without delay, and no man but you shall teach me."
+
+"Shall I not go on my journey, my lord?" asked Antonio.
+
+"No, you shall not go," said the little Duke.
+
+Then Antonio turned to the lords who stood round and said, "Behold, my
+lords, His Highness pardons me."
+
+But the lords doubted; and they said to Antonio, "Nay, but he does not
+know what he does in pardoning you."
+
+"He understands as well, I think," said Antonio, "as his father
+understood when he sent me to death. Indeed, my lords, it is not
+children only who know not what they do." And at this speech Tommasino
+smiled and Bena laughed gruffly. But the lords, bidding Antonio rest
+where he was till they returned, retired with the little Duke into the
+palace, and sent word hastily to the Archbishop that he should join
+them there and deliberate with them as to what it might be best to do.
+And when they were thus gone in, Antonio said, "I may not move, but the
+Lady Lucia is free to move."
+
+Then Tommasino went to the lady and spoke to her softly, telling her
+that Antonio desired to speak with her; and she gave Tommasino her hand,
+and he led her to Antonio, who stood within the portico, screened from
+the sight of the people. And there they were left alone.
+
+But meanwhile the whole body of the townsmen and the apprentices had
+gathered before the palace, and their one cry was for Antonio. For the
+fear of the Duke being no longer upon them, and the pikemen not knowing
+whom to obey and being therefore disordered, the people became very
+bold, and they had stormed the palace, had not one come to Antonio and
+implored him so show himself, that the people might know that he was
+safe. Therefore he came forward with the Lady Lucia, who was now no more
+bewildered, nor petrified with fear or astonishment, but was weeping
+with her eyes and smiling with her lips and clinging to Antonio's arm.
+And when the people saw them thus, they set up a great shout, that was
+heard far beyond the city walls; and the apprenticed lads turned and ran
+in a body across the square, and swarmed on to the scaffold. And then
+and there they plucked down the gibbet and worked so fiercely that in
+the space of half an hour there was none of it left.
+
+And now the Archbishop with the lords came forth from the council
+chamber, and the little Duke with them. And they caused the servants to
+remove the body of the dead Duke, and they set his son on a high seat,
+and put a sceptre in his hand. And the Archbishop offered up a prayer
+before the people; and, having done this, he turned to Antonio and said,
+"My Lord Antonio, most anxiously have His Highness and we of his Council
+considered of this matter; and it has seemed to us all--my own in truth
+was the sole reluctant voice, and now I also am brought to the same
+mind--that whereas the virtuous purposes of princes are meet to be
+remembered and made perpetual by faithful fulfilment after their death,
+yet the errors of which they, being mortal, are guilty should not
+overlive them nor be suffered to endure when they have passed away. And
+though we are not blind to your offences, yet we judge that in the
+beginning the fault was not yours. Therefore His Highness decrees your
+pardon for all offences against his civil state and power. And I myself,
+who hold authority higher than any earthly might, seeing in what this
+day has witnessed the finger of God Himself, do not fight against it,
+but will pray you, so soon as you may fit yourself thereunto by prayer
+and meditation, to come in a humble mind and seek again the blessing of
+the Church. For in what you did right and in what you outstepped right,
+God Himself must one day judge, and I will seek to judge of it no more."
+
+"My lord," said Antonio, "I have done much wrong. Yet I will own no
+wrong in the matter of the Abbot nor in that of the Sacred Bones."
+
+But the lord Archbishop smiled at Antonio, and Antonio bent and kissed
+the ring that was on his finger; and the old man laid his hand for a
+moment on Antonio's head, saying, "It may be that God works sometimes in
+ways that I may not see."
+
+Thus then it was that the Count Antonio was restored to his place, and
+came again to Firmola; and, having been relieved of the sentence of
+excommunication that had been laid upon him, he was wedded in the
+Cathedral to the Lady Lucia as soon as the days of mourning for the Duke
+had passed. And great was the joy in the city at their wedding; for
+every maid and every man saw in the triumph of Antonio's love a sign of
+the favour of Heaven to those who love with a pure and abiding passion.
+So they made great feasts, and were marvellously merry; and Bena let not
+the day go by without plighting his troth to a comely damsel, saying
+with a twinkle in his eye that the Count Antonio would have need of his
+sons, whose services he had promised to him as they rode together across
+the plain on the morning when Antonio had supposed that he was to die.
+Nor would Bena give any other reason whatsoever for the marriage.
+Nevertheless it is likely that there were others. But whether Bena
+fulfilled his promise I know not; for, as I have said, so little is
+known concerning him that his true name does not survive, and it has
+proved an impossible thing to discover whether any of his descendants
+yet live in Firmola. If it chance that they do, I trust that they fight
+as well, and serve as loyally, and pray better than he. But Martolo has
+left those that bear his name, and a great-grandson of his is at this
+very time huntsman to the Monastery of St. Prisian, where I have seen
+and talked with him many times.
+
+The task which I laid upon myself thus finds its end. For there is no
+need for me to tell of the after-deeds of Count Antonio of Monte
+Velluto, nor how, in the space of a few months, he was chosen by all the
+lords to be Ruler and Protector of the State during the infancy of the
+Duke; in which high office he did many notable deeds, both of war and
+peace, and raised the Duchy to a great height of power, and conferred
+many favours on the townsmen of Firmola, whom he loved and cherished
+because they had not forsaken him nor ceased to love him during all the
+years that he dwelt an outlaw in the hills. And he built again his house
+on the hill which Duke Valentine had burnt, and dwelt there with Lucia,
+and with Tommasino also, until Tommasino took to wife that same lady for
+whose sake he had lingered and thus fallen into the hands of the lord
+Lorenzo, and went and dwelt at Rilano, where those of his house still
+dwell. But when the young Duke came of an age to reign, the Count
+Antonio delivered his charge into his hand, yet continued to counsel
+him, and was very high in authority. And neighbouring princes also
+sought his aid and his counsel, and he was greatly honoured of all men.
+Thus if there were aught in his youth that merits censure, it may be
+held that he blotted out the shame of it by his after-life, for his
+later days were filled with honourable service to his Prince and to his
+country.
+
+Yet the heart of man is a vain thing; for when I, who am known to have
+learnt all that can be recovered from the mists of past times concerning
+Count Antonio, am asked--and whether it be by men or women, by boys or
+girls, aye, or by toddling infants--to tell them a tale of the great
+Count Antonio, it is not of the prudent ruler, nor of the wise
+counsellor, nay, nor even of the leader of the Duke's army, that they
+would hear, but always of Antonio when he was an outlaw, banned by his
+Prince and by the Church, living by the light of his own heart and by
+the strength of his own hand, secured only by the love and duty of the
+lawless men who followed him, and risking his life every day and every
+hour for the sake of the bright eyes of that lady who waited for him in
+the city. And when I, thinking to check this perversity, bid them look
+rather on his more worthy and sober days, they answer with a laugh, "But
+why, father, do you not write the story of those more worthy and sober
+days?" Nor will they believe when I say that it is but because the deeds
+of those days are elsewhere recorded. In good truth, I believe that in
+our hearts we love a lawless man! Here, then, ye perverse children, are
+the stories; they are all that you shall have from me. Read them; may
+they teach you to be true comrades, faithful lovers of one maid, and,
+since strife must needs come until God's pleasure bring peace to reign
+on earth, able, when occasion calls, to give and take good blows. Aye,
+never laugh. I have said it. A Churchman is a man.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40570 ***