Man-at-Arms
 
 ' Was I not the trusted messenger of a great lord ? " Page 54
 
 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 A Romance of the Days of Gian 
 
 Galeazzo Visconti, the 
 
 Great Viper 
 
 By 
 
 Clinton Scollard 
 
 Illustrated by 
 
 E. W. D. Hamilton 
 
 Lamson, Wolffe and Company 
 
 Boston, New York and London 
 M DCCC XCVIII
 
 Copyright, 1898, 
 By Lamson, Wolffe and Company. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 Norwood Press 
 
 J. S. Gushing & Co. Berwick & Smith 
 Noriuood Mass. U.S.A.
 
 To 
 Irving Gilmore Brown
 
 Contents 
 
 Chapter Pa 8 
 
 I. I part Company with my Father I 
 
 II. I encounter Gian Galeazzo Visconri . 
 
 III. I enter the Service of the Lord of Pavia 23 
 
 IV. The Proving of a Guardsman . . 34 
 V. My First Outriding ... 49 
 
 VI. In a Brescia Garden ... 64 
 
 VII. A Night at the Two Falcons . . 82 
 
 VIII. The Mission to Milan . . .103 
 
 IX. The Coup-de- Main . . .127 
 
 X. The Last March of Bernabo . .136 
 
 XI. The Face at the Casement . .148 
 
 XII. At Padua 161 
 
 XIII. The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo . 188 
 
 XIV. I have Some Last Words with my 
 
 Father ..... 204 
 
 XV. The Black Closet . . . .227 
 
 XVI. To the Rescue . . . .242
 
 viii Contents 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 XVII. The Encounter at Como . .259 
 
 XVIII. Up the Lake . . . .272 
 
 XIX. The Tower of Vezio . . .287 
 
 XX. The Flight by Night . . .309 
 
 XXI. The House of the Canari . .323 
 
 XXII. Out of the Viper's Coils . . 343
 
 List of Illustrations 
 
 Opposite Page 
 
 "Was I not the trusted messenger of a great 
 lord ? " . . . Frontispiece 
 
 ' ' For some reason these three men were en- 
 deavoring to draw me out " . . . 63 
 
 The Signorina Angela Canaro . -75 
 
 The Death of the Master of the Hounds . 1 46 
 
 " Bidding one go in search of a reputable 
 
 leech" 196 
 
 " There was no need of words of wooing " . 308 
 ix
 
 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Chapter I 
 I part Company with my Father 
 
 I DESCENDED slowly and with the 
 greatest caution, hugging my sword 
 to my hip so that it might not clash upon 
 the stair. I had no stomach for an en- 
 counter with my father, and hoped to pass 
 the entrance to his room of retirement 
 unobserved, but this was not to be. The 
 door was ajar, and my shadow fell upon 
 the floor. As he looked up from the 
 parchment over which he was bending, 
 his eyes rested first upon my plumed cap, 
 and then ran swiftly over my whole 
 accoutrement, my gay trunks, my slashed 
 doublet, and the taffeta-lined cloak which 
 hung from my shoulder. Gradually his 
 face darkened until it became a hue quite 
 in keeping with the black velvet skull-
 
 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 cap he had recently taken to wearing to 
 protect his sparsely thatched poll from 
 draughts. 
 
 "Whither go you, Luigi?" he asked, 
 in his most incisive way. 
 
 " To the river promenade," I answered. 
 
 " With whom consort you there ? " 
 
 " With my friends, Andrea Campiglione 
 and Paolo Smeraldi," I said ; for I would 
 not deceive him, though I knew that his 
 anger would take flame at my reply. 
 
 "It is with such, then, that you choose 
 to associate despite my wishes!" my father 
 exclaimed. " Bravos, swashbucklers ; nay, 
 for aught I know, worse ! " 
 
 " Hold ! " he continued, rising, and 
 checking the speech that leaped to my 
 lips. " I have something more to say to 
 you, sir, but not in your brother's pres- 
 ence. Leave us, Rinaldo." 
 
 My stripling half-brother, who had 
 been construing his task in Latin, shuffled 
 from the room with ill grace, glowering at 
 my father, whom he strongly resembled 
 and whose favorite he was, and casting at 
 me a look in which I read a gleeful malice.
 
 I part Company with my Father 3 
 
 Truth to say, my home was little to my 
 liking, fine though it was as any in all 
 Pavia. I was heir by birth to my father's 
 house, had just entered upon my twenty- 
 third year, and was but two weeks returned 
 from the completion of my studies at the 
 University of Bologna, yet I was made to 
 feel like a stranger under an alien roof. 
 My stepmother had always looked upon 
 me as a barrier to her own child's advance- 
 ment, and it was owing to her dislike for 
 me, which she was at no pains to conceal, 
 that I was kept much of the time from 
 home. 
 
 Between my father and myself, too, I 
 had discovered when I returned to Pavia 
 year after year, during the long break in 
 the university session, there was a growing 
 lack of sympathy. One day I had turned 
 to him suddenly, and found him regarding 
 me with a curious intentness. In answer 
 to my question as to the reason for his 
 scrutiny he said he was reading my 
 mother's looks in my face, and from his 
 expression I saw that he was little pleased 
 thereat. This fact I pondered upon
 
 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 much, and took occasion, not long after- 
 ward, to entreat him to tell me something 
 of my mother, who had died a year after 
 my birth, and concerning whom I knew 
 almost nothing save that she came of a 
 noble Paduan family. 
 
 I got little satisfaction from him, how- 
 ever, and gradually a suspicion dawned 
 upon me that the memory of my mother 
 was for some reason not pleasant to him, 
 and that the growing resemblance to her 
 which he saw in me made me distasteful 
 in his sight. Then our likings were radi- 
 cally different. I had small fancy for 
 jurisprudence, in which it was his special 
 desire that I should excel, and had ambi- 
 tions of a soldierly character which he per- 
 sistently frowned upon. 
 
 My father said nothing until Rinaldo's 
 footsteps had died away down the wide 
 hall. Then he took from the table a 
 letter which he unfolded and began scan- 
 ning, his brow contracting as he did so. 
 
 " This," he said, shaking the script 
 almost in my face, " has come to me from 
 Bologna to-day."
 
 I part Company with my Father 5 
 
 I strove to look unconcerned, but my 
 effort was a failure, and my father saw 
 my uneasiness. That the writing in some 
 way referred to my bouts at arms I had 
 no doubt, affairs which I had previously 
 succeeded in keeping from his ears. 
 
 " Perhaps you would like to hear what 
 my correspondent, one of your preceptors, 
 has to say ? " he continued. 
 
 I saw that he was working himself into 
 a fury, and remained silent. 
 
 " Listen to this," he cried, and began 
 reading, his voice tremulous with passion : 
 " While your son's scholarly attainments 
 fall, I fear, far short of what you might 
 wish, he being but a poor lover of his 
 books, his skill at arms (an art in these 
 days vastly more to a man's profit than that 
 of the scribe) is, if common rumor may 
 be believed, likely to bring him to great 
 renown. His exploits have been, and are 
 long likely to be, the talk of the Univer- 
 sity." 
 
 " You are doubtless proud of your rec- 
 ord !" exclaimed my father bitterly, as he 
 lifted his eyes from the paper. Then
 
 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 something in my demeanor, in the expres- 
 sion of my features, drew a great oath from 
 him. 
 
 " Body of Christ ! " said he, " don't 
 look at me like that, or I shall take you by 
 the throat. That was the very air your 
 mother wore when I told her she had a 
 lover." 
 
 " What ! " I cried, moved to speech for 
 the first time, and scarcely crediting my 
 ears. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " that accursed mixture 
 of resentment and pride and injured inno- 
 cence." 
 
 " My mother had a lover ! " I exclaimed, 
 not heeding his last words. " Sir, if that 
 be true, why do you, my father, now cast 
 it in my teeth ? " 
 
 " Because you, like her in voice, in feat- 
 ure, in every motion, have, like her, never 
 once during your lifetime carried out my 
 wishes, and have now come back to me a 
 bravo, a brawler, a picker of street quarrels, 
 to disgrace me as she did." 
 
 I know not how I restrained myself at 
 this most unjust and unnatural outburst;
 
 I part Company with my Father 7 
 
 for it seemed to me if man ever deserved 
 to be spitted without remorse it was this 
 creature before me, whom I had always 
 called father ; yet, though my blood surged 
 hot within me, I replied to him evenly. 
 
 " Sir," I said, " I believe you foully 
 slander my mother's memory, and never 
 will I again set foot beneath your roof 
 until you recall those base words. As for 
 what you say in regard to myself, if I now 
 become that which you accuse me of being, 
 it will be your doing and not mine." 
 
 This said, my father almost frothing 
 with rage the while, and yet not daring to 
 lay hands on me, I wheeled about, strode 
 through the hallway, and down the main 
 staircase to the court, taking no pains now 
 to hug my sword to my hip, but letting it 
 clash upon the stones as I went, and glory- 
 ing in the angry echoes that swarmed about 
 my ears.
 
 Chapter II 
 I encounter Gian Galeazzo Visconti 
 
 I FOUND my three companions await- 
 ing me by the river gate, whither 
 I went like one walking in his sleep. 
 They at once saw by my manner that 
 something untoward had taken place, and 
 began to rally me, thinking that the loss 
 of a smile, or the withdrawal of a fond 
 look from a pair of dark eyes, had caused 
 my perturbation. I took no pains to cor- 
 rect this impression, but told them that 
 they would have to go their ways without 
 me that evening, as I was in no mood for 
 gallantries. This gave strength to the 
 notion that I was vexed by an unlucky 
 love affair, and I parted from them amid 
 a chorus of fleers that did not tend to 
 make me any the more amiable. 
 8
 
 I encounter Gian Galeazzo Visconti 9 
 
 Along the Via Ticino I took my way, 
 turning neither to the right nor to the left, 
 going to the wall for no one, much to the 
 wrath of many good citizens who were out 
 for an airing after the employment of the 
 day. Quarrels had there been in plenty 
 had I chosen to accept them, and under 
 ordinary circumstances (I now confess it 
 with shame) I would not have been back- 
 ward. And yet in justice to myself I 
 should say that it was far from my custom 
 to flaunt it so heedlessly through the 
 streets, regardless of the rights of others. 
 
 My wrath against my father mounted 
 as I went on, and I took a resolve that it 
 should be my mission to probe to the bot- 
 tom his accusation against my mother, 
 and force him to retract his foul slander 
 upon her good name, for that she could 
 be guilty of what he had averred never for 
 an instant entered my mind. Before my 
 purpose could be effected, however, I 
 must find a means of livelihood. I cast 
 aside at once all thought of continuing in 
 the course my father had mapped out for 
 me, which was to end in an advocateship
 
 io A Man-at-Arms 
 
 and judgeship, and determined to enter 
 the profession which then offered the 
 quickest means of advancement, and the 
 one for which I well knew I was best 
 fitted, that of arms. 
 
 It was not for naught, I now told myself, 
 that I had given more attention to books 
 on military tactics than to those upon 
 jurisprudence ; that I had frequented the 
 fencing-halls more assiduously than the 
 lecture-rooms ; that I knew the masters of 
 fence (drawn to Bologna from all Europe) 
 more intimately than the learned profes- 
 sors of the University. 
 
 I realized that, with my knowledge of 
 sword-practice, it would not be difficult 
 for me to find a place in one of the many 
 companies maintained by the overlords of 
 the chief Italian cities. But to serve as 
 a common soldier, a mere underling, was 
 far from my ambition. Yet, better that, I 
 said to myself, than the life I had seen 
 opening before me in my father's house. 
 
 To whom should I offer myself? As 
 this question came to my mind for decision 
 I emerged from the Via Ticino, and found
 
 I encounter Gian Galeazzo Visconti 1 1 
 
 myself in the wide open space in front 
 of the Palazzo Visconti. Two German 
 guards in their dark jerkins stood, pikes 
 in hand, at the entrance gateway. I seemed 
 to read in them an answer to my question. 
 And yet for good reasons I hesitated to 
 apply to Gian Galeazzo, the head of the 
 branch of the Visconti who held the over- 
 lordship of Pavia. True, rumor had it 
 that he was anxious for recruits to swell 
 the company he was forming, but there 
 had never been a feeling of great friend- 
 liness between my family and the Visconti 
 because we were allied, although not 
 closely, with the Beccaria, whose rule in 
 Pavia the Visconti had overthrown. 
 
 Could I have had my choice, I would 
 have sought out some of the members of 
 my mother's house in Padua ( for though 
 my mother was an orphan, and reared by 
 an uncle, I felt that there must be some 
 of her kin still living) and there taken 
 service under Francesco da Carrara. But 
 how could I, with only a few florins in my 
 pocket, and with no gear save that upon 
 my back, expect to be able to make so
 
 12 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 extended a journey, and establish my iden- 
 tity among those whom I had never seen ? 
 No, at present Padua could not be thought 
 of, and under Gian Galeazzo's uncle, Ber- 
 nabo, who held sway at Milan, I would 
 not serve, for I knew him to be a cruel 
 and detestable tyrant. I might possibly 
 manage to reach Mantua, where the family 
 of Gonzaga held supremacy, and it was 
 with the idea of deciding whether I should 
 attempt to do this, or should approach 
 Gian Galeazzo, that I crossed the piazza in 
 front of the palace, and passed through the 
 gateway of Santa Maria in Portica into the 
 open country. 
 
 The sun was low on the horizon, and 
 the laborers were plodding homeward 
 from the fields. I doubt not they cast 
 many curious glances at me, for a young 
 gallant in my array was a rare sight on 
 foot upon the highway, and I went along 
 with down-bent head and no eyes for 
 those whom I passed. I had gone some 
 distance between the fields and orchards, 
 and was approaching a small tributary of 
 the Ticino, called the Vernavola, when I
 
 I encounter Gian Galeazzo Visconti 13 
 
 heard the clatter of horses' hoofs. Who 
 the approaching horseman was I could 
 not see, for the thoroughfare curved 
 abruptly just beyond where a bridge 
 spanned the stream, and here was a group 
 of poplars. Moreover, the stream was 
 fringed by a growth of underbrush, and 
 on both sides of it were mulberry 
 orchards. 
 
 Louder grew the sound of the hoof- 
 beats, and ere the horse and rider came 
 into view, I heard the animal's labored 
 breathing. It was evident that some one 
 spurred in haste. Around the bend and 
 across the bridge plunged the steed, head 
 stretched forward and nostrils wide. He 
 who rode held the bridle nervelessly, and 
 was crouching low, clutching the saddle. 
 His cloak had been partly torn loose, and 
 flapped out upon his left like a great 
 wing. His head was uncovered, and his 
 hair blew about his colorless face. I had 
 stepped aside upon the sward to let him 
 pass, and he shot at me an apprehensive 
 glance as he swept by. A stride beyond 
 where I stood the horse stumbled, and
 
 14 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 the uncertain rider was thrown from the 
 saddle and cast heavily on the turf at the 
 road edge. The animal recovered itself, 
 and raced Pavia-ward, riderless. As I 
 hastened to the assistance of the fallen 
 man, I noted for the first time that 
 there were other horsemen approaching, 
 and it flashed upon me that they were in 
 pursuit. 
 
 " Are you much hurt, sir ? " I cried, 
 assisting the unfortunate horseman to his 
 feet. 
 
 " Mother of Christ, is there no escape ? " 
 said he, without heeding my anxious in- 
 quiry, casting about him a glance of terror 
 and despair, as though he would fain dis- 
 cover some place whither he could fly. 
 
 It was then that I recognized him, 
 though I had not set eyes upon him 
 for several years, and he seemed to have 
 changed much in the interval, his face 
 now being thinner and more ascetic. The 
 man before me was none other than the 
 ruler of Pavia, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, 
 and he was in some mortal peril. Was 
 ever youth anxious to win the favor of
 
 I encounter Gian Galeazzo Visconti 15 
 
 one in high place more fortunate in his 
 opportunity ! I realized that Fate had 
 thrown in my path the golden apple of 
 chance, and I was not slow to grasp it. 
 " You are pursued, your life is in 
 danger ! " I exclaimed, the iron hoofs of 
 the nearing horses seeming so to terrify 
 the man before me that he was incapable 
 of action or further speech. " Come ! " 
 I seized him by the arm as I said this, 
 and dragged him toward the stone barrier 
 which separated the highway from the 
 mulberry orchard. I had to assist him 
 in crossing the wall, so stiff and bruised 
 was he, and we had barely time to crouch 
 in the drainage ditch upon the other side 
 when the adjoining bridge rang with the 
 passage of several horsemen. I knew 
 that they would at once discover the 
 riderless steed of Gian Galeazzo, and that 
 they would doubtless rein their animals, 
 and begin to search for the missing fugi- 
 tive. Could we reach the undergrowth 
 skirting the Vernavola before they turned 
 and began their search, I felt that we had a 
 very good chance of escaping unobserved.
 
 1 6 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " Quick ! " I whispered to my compan- 
 ion, forgetting, in the stress of events, to 
 address him by any title of respect; "we 
 must follow this ditch to the stream." 
 
 Exclamations of chagrin and anger, 
 mingled with cries of command to the 
 horses, came to us, as we started, from a 
 short distance down the road. 
 
 I had heard many times that the Lord 
 of Pavia was a coward, and precious little 
 show of bravery did he exhibit in this 
 emergency. I could hear his teeth chat- 
 tering as he crept along behind me, and 
 when we at length reached the cover of 
 the underbrush on the banks of the Ver- 
 navola the perspiration stood in great 
 drops on his forehead, and he sank upon 
 the ground, shaking with fear. I made 
 haste to peer from our concealment and 
 found the horsemen, three in number, had 
 halted their steeds, and were narrowly 
 scanning the adjacent fields and orchards. 
 It was evident that they had no suspicion 
 of the fugitive's whereabouts. 
 
 While I was thus engaged in recon- 
 noitring, the Visconti clutched my arm.
 
 I encounter Gian Galeazzo Visconti 17 
 
 He was still in a tremor, and his breath 
 came in gasps. 
 
 " Have they seen us ? " he whispered 
 apprehensively. 
 
 " No," I returned, " and if we hasten, 
 there is small chance that they will, but 
 we must be cautious not to stir the under- 
 growth so as to attract their attention." 
 
 He let me lead the way, saying as he 
 did so, 
 
 " I am not one who forgets a service 
 such as you have rendered me ! " 
 
 The hunted, terrified look died from his 
 eyes, and a flush of color gave a more 
 agreeable expression to his pasty face. I 
 saw that he was beginning to consider 
 that the danger had passed, as indeed it 
 had, for by the time the three horsemen 
 decided to beat the bushes which fringed 
 the Vernavola we were well out of their 
 clutches. 
 
 At length we reached a sunken laneway 
 which led through the fields in the direc- 
 tion of the high-road. 
 
 " It is perfectly safe to follow this," I said ; 
 "your Lordship is quite out of danger."
 
 1 8 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 He stopped abruptly, and gave me a 
 curious look. 
 
 " You know me, then ! " he exclaimed. 
 " I thought you did not. Your face 
 is not familiar to me. Are you a 
 Pavian ? " 
 
 " I am," I answered, " and am called 
 Luigi della Verria." Then, thinking he 
 might be displeased at the abrupt way in 
 which I had addressed him when he was 
 in peril by the roadway bridge, I added, 
 " I trust your Lordship will pardon my 
 peremptory words a few moments since. 
 I was so anxious for your safety that my 
 manners left me." 
 
 I could see that this pleased him, for he 
 replied with a smile, 
 
 " There is naught to pardon, for assur- 
 edly had it not been for your readiness to 
 command, my carcass might even now be 
 food for prowling curs or the minnows of 
 this very stream." 
 
 He had quite recovered his wonted 
 serenity, and spoke almost gayly as we 
 plodded toward the road, yet I noted that 
 his manner was more that of the scholar,
 
 I encounter Gian Galeazzo Visconti 19 
 
 or even the churchman, than that of the 
 man of affairs. 
 
 " Doubtless I have to thank my excel- 
 lent uncle, Bernabo, for this lively bit of 
 entertainment!" he exclaimed. "By our 
 Lady, young sir," he continued, " I would 
 that I had a fearless spirit like yours in 
 this poor body of mine ! " 
 
 " But I was in no danger," I said, 
 making what excuse I could for his lack 
 of courage. 
 
 " Do you think those villains would 
 have spared you," cried he, " if they had 
 discovered you while assisting me to 
 escape ? They would have hacked us 
 down as they did my poor troopers 
 yonder." 
 
 " There were places by the stream 
 where we might have made a very pretty 
 defence," said I. "Two pitted against 
 three are not at such a grievous disad- 
 vantage." 
 
 " You speak with confidence as though 
 you were accustomed to sword-play." 
 
 I saw him look at me with increasing 
 interest as he said this.
 
 2O A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " I am not without some trifling expe- 
 rience," I replied. 
 
 We were now yery near the high-road, 
 and our conversation was cut short by the 
 appearance of a dozen troopers riding 
 hastily from the direction of the city. 
 Their leader caught sight of Gian Galeazzo, 
 and drew rein abruptly, commanding his 
 men to halt. Then he dismounted, and 
 doffing his cap of steel came toward us. 
 
 " We were much disturbed about your 
 Lordship's safety," he said brokenly, with 
 a strong German accent. " Your steed 
 rushed into the palace court riderless, 
 whereat we immediately mounted and set 
 out to discover what had happened." 
 
 "You did well," the Lord of Pavia 
 answered him, speaking in German. " I 
 was sore beset, and had it not been for 
 the assistance of this young gentleman I 
 should not now be telling of my adventure. 
 I went for my evening ride with three 
 of your comrades, as you know. Just 
 beyond the hamlet of Vernavola we were 
 suddenly attacked by seven mounted men, 
 who spurred upon us from behind a farm-
 
 I encounter Gian Galeazzo Visconti 21 
 
 stead wall. My guard made a gallant 
 defence, enabling me to break away from 
 the press, and although pursued, I feel 
 sure that I should have escaped on horse- 
 back had my animal not stumbled and 
 thrown me. It was then, when my 
 pursuers were close on me, that this 
 young man, who chanced to be at hand, 
 assisted me in eluding the villains." 
 
 " It was little that I did," I said, 
 thinking now to take my leave of him, 
 for one of the troopers had dismounted, 
 and the Visconti had put his hand upon the 
 pommel of the vacant saddle. " But I 
 pray your Lordship to believe that I 
 would do him any service with the same 
 cheerfulness." 
 
 " Ah ! " he exclaimed, as I was about 
 withdrawing, resolved that on the morrow 
 I would present myself to him and ask 
 to be taken into his service, "you under- 
 stand the German tongue ! " 
 
 " Yes," I replied, " I had some ac- 
 quaintances among the Germans at the 
 University of Bologna." 
 
 " Now that you speak of Bologna, I
 
 22 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 recall to have heard that Giovanni della 
 Verria had a son at the University." 
 
 "I am he." 
 
 I bowed, and made as though I would 
 retire. 
 
 " Stay ! " he said, " I would have some 
 further words with you. Will you not 
 ride back to the city with me ? " 
 
 Here was an invitation which it would 
 have been gross folly to refuse ; another 
 trooper was commanded to dismount, and 
 I who had left Pavia little more than an 
 hour since, a self-elected outcast from my 
 father's house, rode back by the side of 
 the most powerful man within its walls, 
 Gian Galeazzo Visconti.
 
 Chapter III 
 I enter the Service of the Lord of Pavia 
 
 ERE we reached the gateway of Santa 
 Maria in Portica, the red after- 
 glow had faded from the sky. If the 
 Lord of Pavia had in mind any special 
 matter concerning which he desired to 
 speak with me, he certainly did not broach 
 it during the ride, though he talked 
 freely on general topics, and I was not 
 so blind as not to realize that he was 
 drawing me out, for during our conver- 
 sation he put to me several keen and 
 searching questions. 
 
 We rode into the palace courtyard 
 amid a glare of torches, and a buzz of 
 many voices. A tall soldierly figure strode 
 out from a group of men-at-arms and 
 greeted Gian Galeazzo heartily, and after 
 23
 
 24 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 the Lord of Pavia had issued several orders 
 which did not reach my ears, these two 
 went into the palace together. 
 
 Though I had not been dismissed, I 
 took it for granted that his Lordship had 
 nothing more to say to me that evening, 
 and was making my way toward the gate- 
 way through the crowd of troopers who 
 thronged the courtyard, when some one 
 plucked my sleeve. I turned and found 
 that it was the leader of the band who 
 had gone out in search of the Visconti. 
 
 " His Lordship wishes me to tell you," 
 the soldier said, " that if it is your pleas- 
 ure to remain for a little he will speak 
 further with you." 
 
 " My time is at his disposal," I replied. 
 
 " Very good. If you will follow me, 
 I will show you where you are to wait." 
 
 I was conducted along partially finished 
 hallways (the palace being incomplete, as 
 it had been left by Galeazzo, the former 
 Lord of Pavia, he who had married his 
 daughter Violante to Clarence, son of 
 Edward III. of England, and brother of 
 the Black Prince, with such pomp and
 
 I enter Service of the Lord of Pavia 25 
 
 prodigality), and finally ushered into a 
 small, but tastefully appointed waiting- 
 room. For a space I found my own 
 thoughts very agreeable company. Cer- 
 tainly, I told myself, this attention on 
 the part of Gian Galeazzo boded well for 
 me. Then I began to review what I 
 knew in regard to the man into whose 
 service I hoped to enter. I judged him 
 to be approaching forty years of age. 
 He had been twice married, his first wife 
 having been Isabella of Valois, daughter 
 of King John of France. She it was who 
 brought him, as part of her dowry, the 
 county of Virtus in Champagne, from 
 which he was sometimes called Count 
 Virtu. His second wife, with whom he 
 was now living, was Caterina, his cousin, 
 the daughter of Bernabo Visconti, Lord 
 of Milan. He had been overlord of 
 Pavia since his father's death seven years 
 previous, in 1378. He had the reputa- 
 tion of being just and lenient in his rule, 
 and I recalled that I had heard my father, 
 who bore the family no good will, com- 
 mend him for the reforms which he had
 
 26 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 carried into effect. It was common rumor 
 that he was learned, and that he affected 
 to be pious, for he spent much time with 
 the clergy and men of religious orders. 
 He made no secret of his lack of physical 
 strength and bravery, but this was usually 
 set down to his delicate constitution, and 
 was not looked upon as condemnatory 
 of his character. On the whole he was 
 respected, even liked, by the populace, 
 who contrasted with words of praise his 
 mild sway with that of his irascible father, 
 and with that of his cruel uncle in Milan. 
 That Gian Galeazzo was slowly and 
 without ostentation, in fact with as much 
 secrecy as possible, forming a formidable 
 military company was a matter of con- 
 siderable wonder, and not a little discus- 
 sion, among the citizens of Pavia. It had 
 always been the custom for the overlords 
 of the city to keep at call a small yet 
 efficient body of guardsmen, but the num- 
 ber of soldiers that Gian Galeazzo had 
 gathered about him far outnumbered any 
 previous band. That a man of the sup- 
 posed character of the present Lord should
 
 I enter Service of the Lord of Pavia 27 
 
 embark upon any military enterprise ap- 
 peared most unlikely, and it began to be 
 whispered that Bernabo, Galeazzo's uncle, 
 had designs upon Pavia, and that his 
 nephew did not propose to be taken un- 
 aware. The Pavians had no desire to 
 come under the sway of the Milan tyrant, 
 consequently the soldiers were not looked 
 upon with disfavor, despite the fact that 
 most of them were aliens, the largest num- 
 ber being Germans. The command and 
 organization of the company had been 
 given to the noted condittiere^ Jacobo del 
 Verme. 
 
 I had heard these matters talked over 
 in the streets, and though much interested 
 in them, had restrained myself from visit- 
 ing the quarters of the soldiers, and had 
 shunned the vicinity of the palace, where 
 many of them were constantly to be seen, 
 because of the well-known antipathy of 
 my father toward things military. Though 
 he did not wish me to be ignorant of the 
 use of the sword, it was under protest that 
 I carried one, and it was partly because 
 my two most intimate acquaintances were
 
 28 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 youths of spirit, who had been prominent 
 in some affair which had come to his ears, 
 that my father burst upon me in the tirade 
 that led to our parting. 
 
 After a time I grew weary of conjectur- 
 ing what the coming interview might have 
 in store for me, and began to listen im- 
 patiently for the footstep of the one who 
 should summon me into the presence of 
 the Lord of Pavia. But the passages 
 gave forth no sound, and I was constrained 
 to attempt to study out the allegorical 
 fresco upon the walls of the apartment 
 in order to allay my nervous impatience. 
 However, the flickering taper, which was 
 the sole light within the room, shed so 
 uncertain a glow that I finally gave up in 
 disgust, and fell to watching a foolish 
 moth that was hovering perilously near 
 the wavering flame. When I had seen 
 this poor atom fall, singed and twitching, 
 to the floor, and had keyed my ear for 
 the hundredth time for the desired sound 
 in vain, I began to believe that I had 
 been forgotten, and was meditating mak- 
 ing my way back to the courtyard, when
 
 I enter Service of the Lord of Pavia 29 
 
 the door opposite the one by which I had 
 entered swung back, and a page bade me 
 follow him. 
 
 We crossed a stately reception-hall hung 
 with rich tapestries and decorated with bur- 
 nished mirrors, traversed a short passage, 
 at the further end of which we halted where 
 a dark curtain was swung. Upon the 
 panelling behind this my guide tapped, and 
 in response to a reply from within admitted 
 me to a brightly illumined closet where two 
 men were seated. One was the Lord of 
 Pavia, and the other was he of the soldierly 
 figure who had greeted Gian Galeazzo so 
 warmly on his return. 
 
 The Visconti looked at me pleasantly 
 as I made my obeisance. 
 
 " This gentleman," he said, turning 
 to his companion, " is the commander 
 of my guards and troops, Jacopo del 
 Verme." 
 
 I saluted the noted soldier, and ex- 
 pressed the honor I felt in being presented 
 to him. His face was bronzed and seamed 
 with exposure. He had a muscular figure, 
 and his alert eyes and resourceful mien be-
 
 30 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 spoke the commander of men, one accus- 
 tomed to be obeyed. I was far more 
 impressed by him than by the Lord of 
 Pavia, who had changed his stained and 
 torn riding-costume for a sedate garb which 
 suited him well, and yet which gave him 
 the air of an advocate rather than that of 
 a ruler of cities. The countenance of Gian 
 Galeazzo Visconti was not one that inspired 
 trust, although in those days he strove to 
 win the confidence of aH with whom he 
 came in contact. There was a lack of 
 warmth in his nature which showed in the 
 expression of his eyes. Yet he simulated 
 an ease and openness which, at the outset 
 of an acquaintance with him, effectually hid 
 the cunning and calculating depths of his 
 heart. I was not drawn toward him as I 
 was toward the hale and weather-beaten 
 condittiere^ and yet I was disposed to like 
 him notwithstanding the fact that I could 
 not forget his want of manliness in the 
 affair of the high-road. 
 
 When Jacopo del Verme had looked 
 me up and down in his sharp and critical 
 fashion until I began to feel a desire to
 
 I enter Service of the Lord of Pavia 31 
 
 find a corner into which I could crawl and 
 hide myself, he broke out abruptly, 
 
 " His Lordship has taken a fancy to 
 you, my young sir, without consideration 
 of the fact that you have rendered him a 
 notable service, and it would greatly please 
 him if he could in some way attach you to 
 his person." 
 
 He paused as though expecting me to 
 make some reply, but I was too much 
 perturbed by his scrutiny and his abrupt 
 speech to answer at once, so he went on, 
 thinking presumably that I wished to hear 
 just what the Lord of Pavia might pro- 
 pose. 
 
 " There is a lieutenancy vacant in the 
 palace guard which his Lordship thinks 
 you might fill, but before offering you 
 this there are three things to be considered : 
 first, your own desire; second, your father's 
 wish or consent ; and third, your ability to 
 fill the post." 
 
 " I thank his Lordship most heartily," 
 I answered, now quite myself, " for the 
 great honor which his proposal does me, 
 and would say frankly that to serve him
 
 32 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 is my first wish. My father need not be 
 taken into account in the matter, since he 
 and I have parted company, and his desire 
 would not weigh with me. As regards 
 my ability to meet the requirements of 
 the position in question, I hope to be able 
 to prove both to his Lordship's satisfaction, 
 and yours, that I am fully capable of doing 
 so. I trust," I said, " that a lieutenant in 
 the palace guard is not compelled to re- 
 main behind, if, by any chance, there is 
 active service in the field." 
 
 Del Verme broke into a loud chuckle 
 at this. 
 
 " I like your spirit ! " cried he, " but 
 you need have no fear of inactivity if you 
 can satisfactorily show you are capable of 
 filling the place for which his Lordship 
 intends you." 
 
 " We will talk further of this on the 
 morrow," said Gian Galeazzo. " I hope 
 until that time, and indeed until this 
 matter can be decided, that you will be 
 my guest. I infer that such an arrange- 
 ment will not be unacceptable to you, for 
 I take it for granted from your reference
 
 I enter Service of the Lord of Pavia 33 
 
 to your father that you are no longer living 
 at home." 
 
 I assented with expressions of gratitude 
 to his Lordship's proposal that I abide at 
 the palace, and having bidden him and Del 
 Verme good night, followed the page, who 
 was now summoned, to a sleeping-apart- 
 ment in another portion of the great build- 
 ing. Here a serving-man brought me a 
 light refreshment of spiced cakes and wine, 
 and here, after the exciting scenes of the 
 evening had slipped by slow degrees from 
 my brain, I passed a restful night, although 
 companioned by many dreams.
 
 Chapter IV 
 The Proving of a Guardsman 
 
 I WAS awakened the next morning 
 by a stir in the courtyard upon 
 which the single window of my apartment 
 looked, and rose hurriedly to see what was 
 taking place. I found several groups of 
 men-at-arms had gathered, many lackeys 
 were hurrying to and fro, and in and out 
 through the palace gateway was passing 
 a stream of soldiers of all conditions. 
 Ashamed that I had so overslept, I hast- 
 ened to dress myself. Before I had finished, 
 the serving-man who had waited upon me 
 the night before entered, bearing my break- 
 fast. He announced that his Lordship 
 would see me sometime late in the morn- 
 ing, and that in the meanwhile he hoped 
 I would amuse myself among the soldiers 
 in the courtyard. 
 
 34
 
 The Proving of a Guardsman 35 
 
 When I had eaten, I made way, although 
 not without considerable perplexity, owing 
 to the deviousness of the hallways, to the 
 open air. A bustling scene met my eyes 
 as I halted a moment in the doorway be- 
 fore mingling with the soldiery. The ap- 
 pearance of the place was that of a camp 
 before battle, rather than that of the court- 
 yard of a Signer supposedly at peace with 
 his neighbors. Some of the men were bur- 
 nishing their steel headpieces, others their 
 body armor ; some were sharpening their 
 lances or pikes, others were putting a 
 keener edge on their swords. Laughter and 
 jests and oaths added to the noise of 
 weapons and armor. The guttural Ger- 
 man, the vivacious French, and our own 
 mellow speech blended in a curious and 
 bewildering medley. 
 
 I was peering about among the various 
 groups, endeavoring to catch a glimpse of 
 the German officer whose acquaintance I 
 had made on the previous evening, when 
 my presence was noticed by half a dozen 
 troopers who were lounging quite near, 
 seemingly more idle than the rest.
 
 36 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " Good morrow, Sir Pretty Clothes ! " 
 called one of them, his accent betraying 
 his northland birth. 
 
 Though I had been thoughtful enough 
 to leave my gay cloak behind, and to put 
 off some of my other finery, I realized 
 that my fashionable attire was inappropri- 
 ate for the hour and place, and so an- 
 swered this greeting with perfect good 
 nature. 
 
 " See him smile ! " cried another of the 
 troopers, speaking in Germa-n. " Is he 
 not like a puppet in a booth ? You pull 
 a string, and he rolls his eyes to heaven ; 
 you pull another, and he smirks for you 
 most maiden-like." 
 
 "By St. Christopher!" a third ex- 
 claimed, in the same tongue, "it is maid- 
 en-like he is. Look at those cheeks. 
 Apricots have not a lovelier flush, and as 
 for the hair, many a maid would be envi- 
 ous of that gold." 
 
 " Gold ! " shouted he who had spoken 
 first, moving toward me, followed by the 
 others ; " sheep's tallow is the hue to 
 match it."
 
 The Proving of a Guardsman 37 
 
 This fellow, an under-officer, as I saw 
 by his attire, in spite of his good looks 
 ( he had regular features and keen eyes ), 
 contrived to assume a most insulting man- 
 ner. He stopped in front of me, spread 
 his legs wide apart, puffed out his lips, and 
 stared at my hair, cocking his head first 
 upon one side and then upon the other, 
 muttering the while, 
 
 " Tallow ! tallow ! by every saint in the 
 calendar, or my name is not Otto von 
 Ettergarde^ I'll lay you a florin," he 
 cried, addressing one of his companions, 
 "it's nearer to tallow than gold." 
 
 I was quite at a loss what to do. To 
 stand there and be further the butt of the 
 German troopers was as far from my lik- 
 ing as it was from my intention, but how 
 to avoid them puzzled me. Retreat into 
 the palace I would not, and yet if I 
 attempted to pass through the courtyard, 
 I felt that they were likely to follow. 
 This last, however, appeared to be my 
 only choice. I had no wish to pick a 
 quarrel with any of them, for fear of 
 incurring Gian Galeazzo's displeasure, so
 
 38 A Man- at- Arms 
 
 springing swiftly to one side, I had eluded 
 them before they were aware of my inten- 
 tion, and began threading my way between 
 the other groups toward the gateway that 
 led into the piazza. For an instant I 
 thought I had done with them, but ere- 
 long I heard several of them hot at my 
 heels. 
 
 " Stay, my sweet maid-face ! " cried he 
 who had declared himself to be Otto 
 von Ettergarde, breaking out in Italian. 
 " Tarry, my fair candle-locks. ! By my 
 faith, you are well named, for you run as 
 nimbly as your same stinking tallow in 
 hot weather." 
 
 " Assuredly," I said to myself, " this 
 pestilent fellow is growing to be most 
 offensive ! " but I still kept to my resolve 
 to pay no heed to him. 
 
 He, having evidently determined to see 
 to what lengths he could push me, now 
 overstepped the mark, for he slipped for- 
 ward, caught my lifted foot in his, and all 
 but tripped me upon my face. In fact, I 
 only saved myself from sprawling at full 
 length upon the stones of the courtyard
 
 The Proving of a Guardsman 39 
 
 by clutching hold of a big trooper near at 
 hand who was burnishing his breastplate, 
 causing him to drop this with a great clat- 
 ter upon the pavement. 
 
 " God's wounds ! " cried he, drawing 
 back as though he would fetch me a buf- 
 fet ; "what do you mean ? " 
 
 I saw his good nature in his counte- 
 nance, and felt sure that I could pacify 
 him ; as for the others, I cared not now 
 what I said. 
 
 " I crave your pardon most earnestly," 
 I began, " and beg you to believe that I 
 had no intention of making you drop your 
 armor. These insolent fellows," I ex- 
 claimed, turning on von Ettergarde and 
 his companions, who stood by, grinning at 
 my discomfiture, " were the cause of the 
 accident. Because, forsooth, I have the 
 misfortune to possess but one suit of 
 clothes, they needs must mock at me, and 
 because the color of my hair is not to 
 their taste, they needs must fleer at me, 
 dog my steps, and try the scurvy trick of 
 tripping me." 
 
 All this I said in the troopers' own
 
 40 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 tongue, and blank-faced most of them 
 looked on a sudden. As for the big 
 soldier against whom I had been 
 thrown, he immediately espoused my 
 cause. 
 
 " Give over, von Ettergarde," said he. 
 " Why do you pester the youngster ? " 
 
 A malicious look crossed the trooper's 
 handsome features as he saw he was likely 
 to be deprived of his sport. 
 
 " What's that to you ? " he cried. " I 
 thought Rupert Hartzheim made it his 
 boast that he always minded his own affairs. 
 Hereafter we shall look to find him acting 
 as sponsor for every young popinjay in 
 Pavia." 
 
 I was now so thoroughly incensed that 
 I doubt if I should have been able to re- 
 strain myself had the whole line of the 
 Visconti, from the or.iginal Matteo down, 
 been ranged before me. I strode forward 
 and faced von Ettergarde. 
 
 " While I thank Rupert Hartzheim, as 
 you call him, for his kindly interest in me," 
 I said, " I am quite able to stand up for 
 my own rights against such a mannerless
 
 The Proving of a Guardsman 41 
 
 knave as you, even though you do wear 
 his Lordship's insignia." 
 
 Hartzheim clutched me by the arm, 
 and pulled me away, but von Ettergarde, 
 flushed and fierce, and growing more angry 
 each instant owing to the outcries of those 
 who had gathered about us, rushed at me 
 with drawn blade. 
 
 " Softly ! softly ! " said Hartzheim, in- 
 terposing his stalwart bulk between us. 
 " You are but getting a repayment in 
 your own coin." 
 
 " He called me a mannerless knave ! " 
 sputtered my whilom tormentor. 
 
 " I spoke only the truth," cried I. 
 " You had best let us have it out," I said 
 to Hartzheim. 
 
 " There seems to be no other way," the 
 latter answered, looking from one of us to 
 the other. " But mark you, von Etter- 
 garde," he said sternly, " if you hurt the 
 youngling fatally, you have me to deal with. 
 Choose your second, since it must be so, 
 and let the affair be conducted as quietly 
 as may be. The garden will serve for the 
 place of meeting. The morning is hardly
 
 42 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 old yet, and her little ladyship will not be 
 abroad. Give back there ! " he called to 
 those who were clustering about us. 
 
 I saw by the way the troopers respected 
 his authority that he was one of some rank 
 among them, though what I could not dis- 
 cover from his dress. He strode toward 
 the entrance by which I had emerged into 
 the courtyard, and I followed, with von 
 Ettergarde and his second hard after. 
 At the doorway he halted, and bade 
 von Ettergarde and his companion lead 
 on. 
 
 " I would speak with the young man," 
 he said, "and I doubt not that you will 
 conduct us to the spot straight enough," 
 this last with a meaning look which told 
 me that my antagonist was no stranger to 
 these encounters. 
 
 As we moved along the passage a few 
 paces in the rear of the other two, Hartz- 
 heim said, lowering his voice, 
 
 " It is too late now to withdraw, but 
 you had best not endeavor to stand long 
 against him. He is a most expert swords- 
 man. Let him disarm you after you have
 
 The Proving of a Guardsman 43 
 
 made a show of resistance, and then I will 
 interfere." 
 
 " Would you counsel me to act the 
 coward ? " said I. 
 
 " I would save you from harm. It is a 
 sin to pit such as you against such as he." 
 
 " But I have met my man more than 
 once ere this ! " 
 
 " That may be, but he was never Otto 
 von Ettergarde." 
 
 My mind flew back several months to 
 the time when I had last drawn blade in 
 the duello, and I saw before me the great 
 square of San Petronio in Bologna, and 
 the swaggering bravo whom I had encoun- 
 tered as I strolled back to my lodgings 
 through the moonlight from the rooms 
 of a friend. The lout had been offering 
 some insult to a defenceless wench whose 
 cries arrested my steps. Was I likely, I 
 asked myself, to be harder pressed now 
 than then when I needed all the finesse 
 taught me by the best masters to preserve 
 a whole skin, for my antagonist proved to 
 be one of the most skilful men-at-arms 
 employed by the Bentigvoli ?
 
 44 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 As I was turning this over in my mind, 
 never for a second thinking to follow 
 Hartzheim's advice, we passed from the 
 dusk of the corridor into a sunny pleasance 
 where there were flowers in bloom, and 
 fruit trees casting plots of cool shade, and 
 at the bottom of which, near to the 
 enclosing wall, stood a vine-embowered 
 summer-house. It was here, as I afterward 
 learned, that Gian Galeazzo's daughter, 
 Valentina, she who was afterward wedded 
 to the Duke of Orleans, came to frolic 
 with her maids. Now to all appearances 
 the place was deserted, save that the birds 
 were making a tremulous little twitter in 
 the boughs. 
 
 As we walked down the privet-bordered 
 path toward the summer-house I espied 
 a clove-pink, my favorite flower, growing 
 within reach, so I leaned over and plucked 
 it, and having inhaled two or three whiffs 
 of its fragrance, thrust the stem into one 
 of the eyelets of my doublet. When I 
 looked up from arranging the blossom I 
 was* aware that Hartzheim was regarding 
 me curiously.
 
 The Proving of a Guardsman 45 
 
 " By the mass ! " said he, " but you are 
 the coolest youngster I ever fell in with." 
 Then he continued to eye me to discover 
 if my action were bravado, but he soon saw 
 that it was not, and so he was quite chirk 
 when we passed to the rear of the summer- 
 house, where we found a swarded open 
 space used by the maids for buffet-ball. 
 There were marks upon the turf which 
 told of the recent presence of heavier feet, 
 and I came to the conclusion that the play 
 here practised was not all of it the innocent 
 amusement of maids. 
 
 " Look out for him ! he is a devil if 
 you oppose him too long, and he may have 
 no mercy," was Hartzheim's last injunc- 
 tion, and I knew he hoped to prevail upon 
 me to yield to his advice and make the 
 encounter little short of a farce. 
 
 That Hartzheim's words were true, and 
 my adversary was a devil, I speedily dis- 
 covered when our weapons crossed ; for 
 there came a deadly gleam, a cruel exulta- 
 tion, into his handsome eyes. Blood- 
 letting was evidently the man's delight, 
 and he thought me but another mouse to
 
 46 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 be toyed with, and then maimed or crushed 
 at will. I had never encountered just his 
 like, yet I was in no whit put out. 
 
 " Jesu, a pretty counter ! " I heard 
 Hartzheim cry, as I turned aside a vicious 
 thrust at my left shoulder, and that was 
 the last of his exclamations I can re- 
 call, though I was conscious from time to 
 time that he gave vent to some enthu- 
 siastic expression. How the affair would 
 have ended I cannot say, for we were 
 most evenly matched, had it not been 
 brought to a close by a most unlooked- 
 for interruption. We were plying at one 
 another with all our energies, every nerve 
 alert, anticipating sudden changes of fence, 
 meeting each subtle attack, when a sharp 
 " hold ! " startled us. A third sword struck 
 ours in air, and between us stood Jacobo 
 del Verme, scowling, fierce, like an aveng- 
 ing fate. As we started back in amaze- 
 ment, letting the points of our weapons 
 drop simultaneously on the sward, a voice 
 that cut me to the very marrow fell upon 
 my ears from the direction of the summer- 
 house. As I swung about, I caught the
 
 The Proving of a Guardsman 47 
 
 ferret eyes of the Lord of Pavia full upon 
 me. 
 
 " Very pretty play, gentlemen, very 
 pretty play, upon my word," said he, and 
 he laughed with a glee which I could not 
 fathom. 
 
 I was expecting that he would dismiss 
 me with scathing words for allowing my- 
 self to be drawn into a quarrel on the 
 very morning when he had bidden me to 
 another interview with him, but he came 
 forward and clapped me upon the arm. 
 
 "Bravo!" he cried. "I am proud to 
 appoint you to the lieutenancy in the 
 palace guard. Von Ettergarde," he con- 
 tinued, " you played your part bravely, 
 and shall not be forgotten. Give your 
 hand to Luigi della Verria." 
 
 The German could scarce do otherwise 
 than obey ; and though I now realized that 
 the quarrel had been put upon me by 
 previous arrangement, and should have 
 borne the man no ill-will for acting under 
 orders, it was with an inward protest that 
 I took his hand, while in his eyes I read 
 that he would have fallen to sword-play
 
 48 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 again with far greater liking than to hand- 
 shaking. 
 
 In this strange manner was my fitness 
 for a guardsman's office proved. 
 
 "A deep one, his Lordship, though he 
 may not look it," said Rupert Hartzheim 
 to me, as we walked side by side out of 
 the pleasance.
 
 Chapter V 
 
 My First Outriding 
 
 MY duties as lieutenant of the 
 palace guard were not arduous. 
 Most of my orders came directly from 
 Gian Galeazzo himself, rather than from 
 the captain under whose nominal author- 
 ity I acted. Little by little, as the 
 weeks lapsed, I found myself becom- 
 ing the confidential messenger of the 
 Lord of Pavia, the one through whom 
 he issued his commands, the one to 
 whom he entrusted various communica- 
 tions. 
 
 As if by tacit agreement von Etter- 
 garde and I avoided one another. We 
 were both aware that any renewal of our 
 quarrel would draw upon us the wrath of 
 the Visconti, in whose favor we both de- 
 
 E 49
 
 50 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 sired to sun ourselves, for it began to 
 be patent that there was some unusual 
 undertaking towards. Of Rupert Hartz- 
 heim, however, I saw much. He was my 
 senior by fully twenty years, and a kind- 
 lier nature God never planted in his great 
 human garden. This good friend taught 
 me horsemanship, in which I was sadly 
 deficient, and instructed me in the use 
 of the lance. 
 
 I came in daily contact with the Lord 
 of Pavia, and yet I never seemed to get 
 nearer to him than at first. His was an 
 inscrutable mind. Strive as I would to 
 grasp his motives, I was ever eluded. 
 Now he would appear immersed in chari- 
 ties, in the talk of the schools, and the 
 next time I encountered him he would 
 be in close consultation with Del Verme 
 over some matter that I knew had to do 
 with things military. I soon discovered, 
 too, that he kept a keen watch over the 
 condition of affairs in neighboring princi- 
 palities. He had agents in Milan, in 
 Mantua, in Verona. His treatment of 
 me was in every respect gracious. He
 
 My First Outriding 51 
 
 went so far as to interest himself in 
 attempting to bring about a reconcilia- 
 tion between my father and myself, in 
 which, however, he was far from success- 
 ful, my enraged parent assuring him that 
 he was glad to be rid of a son who 
 deported himself with such obstinacy and 
 ingratitude. 
 
 One morning, a month after my meet- 
 ing with von Ettergarde, I was sum- 
 moned into Gian Galeazzo's presence. I 
 found him in the small closet where he 
 had received me the night I had first 
 visited the palace, and, as on the previous 
 occasion, Del Verme was with him. 
 
 When I appeared he scarcely gave me 
 time to make my greetings, but broached 
 the subject he had in his thought at 
 once. 
 
 " I have not been disappointed in you, 
 Delia Verria," he said, " and I am now 
 going to try you further in an affair where 
 you will be obliged to use your head as 
 well as your hands. If you carry this 
 through creditably, and Del Verme agrees 
 with me that you will, I shall store it
 
 52 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 up in my remembrance as a debt to be 
 one day balanced. What you are to do 
 is this. In the employ of the Marquis 
 of Mantua is a captain named Gerino 
 Ardotti. This soldier I wish to enlist 
 under my banner. You are to seek him 
 out wherever he may be. Should you 
 find he is not in Mantua, discover whither 
 he has gone, follow him, and submit to 
 him my proposal ; namely, that if he will 
 join my company, his pay shall be five 
 florins per month more than whatever 
 he may now be receiving. Indeed, I 
 would double that offer rather than not 
 secure his services. In conducting this 
 negotiation your adroitness will be put 
 to a test, for you have a grasping old 
 war-dog to deal with. I would impress 
 upon you the necessity of the greatest 
 caution should you by any chance be 
 questioned in regard to affairs here at 
 Pavia. See that you sustain my reputa- 
 tion, which is that of a man devoted to 
 studies, reforms, and charities. Bear in 
 mind, too, that it is often convenient to 
 have the plea of ignorance ready if an
 
 My First Outriding 53 
 
 awkward query be put to you. Now go. 
 Del Verme will tell you that a trusty 
 messenger is one who rides in haste." 
 
 I saluted the two men gravely, and 
 strode toward the door. 
 
 "One moment," said his Lordship. 
 " The horse you have been recently using 
 is from this time yours. I would that you 
 should go well mounted." 
 
 My delight showed upon my face. 
 Hawkwood, as I had christened the fine 
 bay I had been riding, from my admira- 
 tion of the noted English captain, was a 
 splendid animal, one which any soldier 
 might be proud to possess. 
 
 " You are most gracious ! " I ex- 
 claimed. " Neither horse nor rider shall 
 fail you." 
 
 Within half an hour I was in the sad- 
 dle. As I passed through the piazza I 
 encountered von Ettergarde, and could 
 not resist casting upon him a scornful and 
 exultant look. I had a feeling that he 
 followed my progress through the square 
 with jealous and resentful eyes, and en- 
 joyed what I considered to be my tri-
 
 54 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 umph. Such is ever the foolish spirit of 
 youth. 
 
 I cannot recall that any ride taken in 
 after years afforded me quite the fine 
 pleasure that did this first day's outgoing 
 upon my quest. Was I not the trusted 
 messenger of a great lord, one who, 
 though not thus looked upon by his 
 neighbors, was in reality great, or at least 
 so I told myself? Had I not a spirited 
 animal beneath me, one that obeyed 
 every turn of the rein, and responded to 
 every pressure of the knee ? For the 
 time being I wholly forgot my family 
 troubles, and lost myself in the sunshine, 
 in the enjoyment of the fresh green of 
 growing things, and in dreams of the 
 career that seemed to be so auspiciously 
 opening before me. 
 
 I slept that night at Cremona, and late 
 the afternoon of the following day rode 
 through the landward gate of Mantua, 
 which is over against the former city. 
 Having sought out a quiet inn and seen 
 to Hawkwood's comfort, I hastened to 
 remove the dust from my garments ; and
 
 My First Outriding 55 
 
 then, after having refreshed myself with a 
 bottle of wine and a small pasty, inquired 
 the way to the house of a friend whom I 
 had known at the University. By good 
 fortune he was within- and gave me a most 
 cordial welcome, insisting that I bring my 
 few belongings from the public house and 
 bide for the night beneath his father's 
 roof. This I was pleased to do, after 
 having charged the innkeeper that my 
 steed have the best of care. 
 
 As my master had not given me the 
 address of his Mantuan agent, I con- 
 cluded that it was his desire that I should 
 not enter into communication with him, 
 and resolved to ascertain through my 
 friend if the man who was the object of 
 my journey were in the city, and provided 
 he were, where he might that evening be 
 found. I did not wish, if I could avoid 
 it, to seek him personally at the palace of 
 the Marquis. 
 
 I revealed to my former University 
 comrade no more than suited my purpose 
 in regard to my change of fortune. He, 
 however, not knowing my father's senti-
 
 56 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 ments, was in no way surprised that I had 
 abandoned jurisprudence for the profes- 
 sion of arms ; and, since I had, he ap- 
 peared to take it as perfectly natural that 
 I should have a mission with Gerino 
 Ardotti, whom he knew as a captain of 
 note, and whose whereabouts he readily 
 agreed to ascertain. It was doubtless fort- 
 unate for me that my friend was neither 
 inquisitive nor suspicious, else he might 
 have wondered what I, confessedly in 
 the service of the Lord of Pavia, could 
 have for the ear of one of the officers of 
 Francesco da Gonzaga. 
 
 Dinner over, my friend left me to the 
 tender mercies of his father, a wealthy 
 burgher whose soul was wrapt up in his 
 mercantile ventures, while he sallied out 
 to do my errand. I was beginning to be 
 consumed with ennui at the discourse of 
 the worthy Mantuan when my friend re- 
 turned, and bore me off with him to a 
 promenade on the Lago di Mezzo. 
 
 "Your warrior is abroad on business 
 for the Marquis," said he, as we emerged 
 into the street. " I learned the fact from
 
 My First Outriding 57 
 
 one of my acquaintances among the sol- 
 diers at the Castello. The man was sure 
 he had gone to Brescia, and might not 
 return for a number of days." 
 
 "To Brescia!" said I, with no little 
 disappointment in my tone, for I had 
 hoped to find Ardotti without further 
 search. 
 
 " Yes," answered my friend ; " but why 
 should you be down-hearted ? You know 
 that it will give me the greatest pleasure 
 to have you with me until the captain 
 returns. I think I can promise you that 
 the time will not be dull." 
 
 My mind reverted, I acknowledge it 
 to my shame, to my late conversation with 
 my comrade's father. That assuredly had 
 not been exciting. 
 
 " You know," I said, " how pleased I 
 should be to tarry with you, but unfortu- 
 nately my orders are imperative. I must 
 be off on the track of Messer Ardotti 
 on the morrow. Your informant did not 
 by any chance let fall where the worthy 
 captain is likely to be found in Brescia ? " 
 
 "Ah, but he did! At the house of
 
 58 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Vincenzo Canaro. That, it seems, is why 
 the bold man of war is likely to linger. 
 His host keeps a generous larder, and 
 the Signor Capitano loves a stuffed capon 
 better than he loves a quarrel." 
 
 " Canaro ! Canaro ! " I repeated. The 
 name sounded familiar, and yet I could 
 not for the instant recall in what connec- 
 tion I had heard it. 
 
 "Yes," returned my friend. "This 
 was one of the richest and most power- 
 ful families in Brescia before the Brusati, 
 whose allies they were, were dispossessed 
 of the lordship of the city by the Visconti. 
 Vincenzo is the last male descendant of 
 the house." 
 
 What mission can Ardotti, a captain 
 in the employ of the Marquis of Mantua, 
 have with the last of the house of Canaro 
 who owes allegiance to Bernabo Visconti, 
 Lord of Milan ? thought I. It was evi- 
 dent that some sort of an intrigue was 
 on foot, whether for good or ill I was 
 unable to conjecture, though it seemed 
 likely the former, since I had come to 
 regard any combination which tended
 
 My First Outriding 59 
 
 toward the defeat of the schemes of the 
 detestable uncle of my master not only 
 righteous but just. 
 
 I fear my friend found me but a stupid 
 companion that evening, for his informa- 
 tion had started a distracting train of 
 queries in my mind, and made me indif- 
 ferent to the gayeties of Mantua's most 
 fashionable promenade. 
 
 I was up betimes the next morning, 
 on the plea of haste, and was bidding 
 my friend adieu at the door of the inn 
 whither he had accompanied me just as 
 the good folk of the city were beginning 
 to stir abroad. 
 
 When I passed into Brescia there were 
 yet fully three hours of the afternoon 
 remaining, and I resolved to seek out 
 the residence of Vincenzo Canaro without 
 delay. As I progressed toward the centre 
 of the town, I began to see indications of 
 a great bustle in the streets. Houses and 
 shops were decorated with gay streamers, 
 and on inquiring the reason for the stir 
 and the display I learned that it was the 
 fete-day of our Lady of Brescia. When
 
 60 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 I came to seek for accommodations for 
 myself and Hawkwood, I discovered, to 
 my chagrin, that the best inns were filled 
 to overflowing, and it was only after a 
 protracted search that I hit upon a little 
 hostelry just off the Piazza Vecchia, where, 
 for an exorbitant sum, I secured for my- 
 self a tiny room high up under the roof, 
 and for my steed a dark corner in an ill- 
 kept stable. It was useless to grumble, 
 so I determined to make the best of the 
 situation. 
 
 I had descended the stairs, and was 
 about entering the street, not choosing 
 to inquire the whereabouts of the Canaro 
 house at the inn, when I encountered the 
 landlord, a suave, obsequious person, ab- 
 normally spare, with hands that made me 
 think of a hawk's talons. He had just 
 come from the small wine-room, which I 
 saw was crowded with customers. He 
 renewed his regrets that he was not able 
 to see me better bestowed, and asked if 
 there were anything further he could do 
 which would add to my comfort. I as- 
 sured him that there was nothing, and
 
 My First Outriding 61 
 
 started to pass on, when he a second time 
 arrested my steps, in this instance with 
 a request that I try his wine, which he 
 boasted to be from a choice vintage. 
 Thirsty from my long ride, and telling 
 myself that it was always well to be on 
 good terms with " mine host," I assented, 
 and followed him into the room from 
 which he had emerged. The company, 
 though oddly assorted, was perfectly or- 
 derly. Most of the men were seated 
 upon rude benches about rough tables, 
 though a few were leaning against the 
 smoke-blackened walls. There chanced 
 to be a vacant place at a small table in 
 one corner, and this the landlord pressed 
 me to take. 
 
 " These gentlemen will not mind, I'm 
 sure," he said, addressing two men who 
 were here seated, looking indifferently 
 about them, keeping constantly a tight 
 grip upon two huge beakers as though 
 they feared these objects, unless thus re- 
 strained, might take unto themselves legs 
 and walk away. They assented civilly 
 enough, and the landlord left to go him-
 
 62 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 self in pursuit of the wine, his assistants 
 being occupied. 
 
 That the two men at the table were 
 not civilians I saw at a glance, although 
 this was what their dress, with the excep- 
 tion of their swords, would have led one 
 to infer. Both had hard, shrewd, unscru- 
 pulous faces, and I noticed their hands as 
 they clasped their drinking-cups were large 
 and muscular. 
 
 "You have had a long ride," said one 
 of them, as I leaned back and stretched 
 my limbs, endeavoring to find an easy po- 
 sition, for the bench was anything but a 
 comfortable seat. " I noticed your horse 
 as you halted at the door." 
 
 "Yes, something of a ride," I replied, 
 not liking the manner of the men. 
 
 " So had we but yesterday," the other 
 remarked. 
 
 " Perhaps the young Signore is, like us, 
 a stranger at the fete of our Lady of Bres- 
 cia ? " said the first speaker. 
 
 Both looked at me questioningly, and I 
 was compelled to confess that I was. 
 
 " Doubtless you have a similar gala
 
 " For some reason these three men were endeavoring to 
 draw me out." Page 63
 
 My First Outriding 63 
 
 day at your home in honor of some patron 
 saint," the other said. 
 
 To this observation I did not feel com- 
 pelled to reply, as I saw the landlord ap- 
 proaching with my draught. When he 
 had set it before me, instead of retiring, he 
 stood by and joined in the conversation, 
 which took a turn that very speedily 
 aroused my suspicions. For some reason 
 these three men, the landlord and the two 
 who had declared themselves to be strang- 
 ers in Brescia, were endeavoring to draw 
 me out, to discover from whence I 
 came. I had been cautious in my replies 
 before I arrived at this conclusion, but I 
 was doubly so afterward, and I flatter my- 
 self for one unschooled in the art of eva- 
 sion I acquitted myself well. Finally, 
 having finished my wine, I bade the two 
 men a polite " good day," and without any 
 undue haste, glad though I was to be out 
 of their company, sought the street.
 
 Chapter VI 
 In a Brescia Garden 
 
 ONCE out of sight of the inn, I 
 lost no time in quickening my 
 pace, and was soon mingling with the 
 gay crowd that thronged the Piazza 
 Vecchia. I had a feeling that I might be 
 followed, though why any one should wish 
 to dog my footsteps I could not conject- 
 ure. My recent experience was an enigma 
 to me. Had I stumbled into a den of 
 cutpurses where the landlord was in 
 league with the plunderers, or were these 
 men of the inn the political agents of 
 Bernabo Visconti, watchful in his interest, 
 and on the lookout for messengers from 
 some rival lord to those in Brescia who 
 might be conspiring against the Milan 
 tyrant ? The latter was by far the more 
 6 4
 
 In a Brescia Garden 65 
 
 likely solution to the riddle, and I deter- 
 mined if I found Ardotti, whether I was 
 successful in bringing to pass my master's 
 wishes or not, I would relate to him my 
 experience. He might be able to shed 
 some light upon the matter. 
 
 Under most circumstances I should 
 have taken a hearty pleasure in the pictu- 
 resque scene which the piazza presented. 
 At one end of the square a party of mum- 
 mers were acting, in a sort of dumb show, 
 various scenes from the life of the blessed 
 lady in whose memory the fete was given. 
 The booths of the confetti-sellers were 
 plentifully dotted about, and masquers 
 and buffoons were at their mad pranks 
 wherever the throng was densest. There 
 was an infinite variety of costume, and no 
 garb, however eccentric, appeared to at- 
 tract special notice. 
 
 As I threaded my way through this 
 motley gathering, I began to wonder to 
 whom I had best apply for information in 
 regard to the location of the house of 
 Vincenzo Canaro. After reflecting for a 
 little, it occurred to me that probably any
 
 66 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 of the larger tradesmen would be able to 
 tell me what I wished to know, and I 
 directed my steps toward that side of the 
 square where the more imposing shops 
 were situated. I had just made up my 
 mind to enter one, that of a fruiterer and 
 general provision merchant, when, on 
 turning to glance about me, I found 
 myself face to face with the two men of 
 the inn. 
 
 " Ah, we meet again ! " cried one of 
 them, with an attempt at affability. " A 
 gay sight, is it not ? " and he waved his 
 hand toward the human mass now pushing 
 excitedly toward a tumbler who was giving 
 an exhibition of his skill in the centre of 
 the piazza. 
 
 Perturbed and annoyed as I was by this 
 encounter, I restrained my inclination to 
 answer rudely, and made reply that I 
 found it most interesting. With that I 
 sauntered on, wondering if it were to be 
 my fate to encounter these individuals at 
 every turn. I had no further doubt in 
 regard to the profession of the men. 
 They were bravos. They could not
 
 In a Brescia Garden 67 
 
 conceal their swaggering martial carriage 
 under the garb of men of peace. 
 
 Noting a thoroughfare of considerable 
 width from which quite a stream of pleas- 
 urers was debouching into the square, I 
 made my way toward it, not venturing to 
 glance behind me until I had reached the 
 corner. My single look revealed to me 
 no sign that I had been followed, and not 
 thinking it advisable to seem suspicious 
 and watchful in case I had been, without 
 hesitation I plunged into the stream of 
 passers, won through them, and entered 
 the first door I came to, that of a little 
 shop which proved to be the stall of a 
 bookseller. I could not have been more 
 fortunate, for when I mentioned the 
 name of Vincenzo Canaro, the proprie- 
 tor's wizened face lighted up with evident 
 pleasure. 
 
 " The Signore is a most excellent cus- 
 tomer of mine," he said. " His house ? 
 certainly ! It is quite near." Then he 
 proceeded to give me careful instructions 
 as to how I might most quickly reach it. 
 In five minutes I was at the door.
 
 68 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 The palace for palace it was at that 
 time occupied by the last of the Canari, 
 was situated in a quiet street where the 
 noise of the fete penetrated but faintly. 
 While I stood contemplating the family 
 arms above the entrance, the porter ap- 
 peared. 
 
 " Is the Captain Gerino Ardotti stop- 
 ping here ? " I asked. 
 
 " He is," was the answer. 
 
 " May I see him for a few moments ? 
 Say to him, that I come from a distance, 
 on a mission of much importance." ^ 
 
 " I will inquire if the captain will see 
 you. Step within." 
 
 Before I had passed into the courtyard 
 I cast my eyes up and down the street. 
 No one was standing near, but in the dis- 
 tance, at the corner of a crossing thorough- 
 fare, several loiterers were visible. It was 
 impossible, however, to say if the men of 
 the inn were of the number. 
 
 In a large reception-room on the second 
 floor of the palace I awaited the return of 
 the servant. I was not kept long, for 
 presently he appeared, saying that the
 
 In a Brescia Garden 69 
 
 captain would be with me at once. Hardly 
 had he delivered his message when there 
 were heavy steps without, and a man of 
 florid countenance and well-rounded build 
 entered the room. From what I had 
 heard of him at Mantua I judged Ardotti 
 to be one of self-indulgent disposition, a 
 lover of the good things of life, and his 
 appearance told me I was not mistaken. 
 Yet back of his jovial air and love of ease 
 there was, as I was presently to discover, 
 a vast deal of shrewdness and much real 
 feeling. I arrived at an agreement with 
 him more readily than I anticipated ; still, 
 on the whole, he acted in accordance with 
 the grasping reputation my master had 
 given him. 
 
 " I must look out for myself," he said. 
 " If I do not, who will ? Now I have no 
 fault to find with my present employer, 
 save that he is afraid of using his money. 
 I believe I have served him well, and am 
 persuaded that he would tell you as much 
 should you ask him. But why am I bound 
 to continue in his service when I can mate- 
 rially better myself elsewhere ? I shall, of
 
 yo A Man-at-Arms 
 
 course, endeavor, to the best of my ability, 
 to execute his present commission ; that 
 accomplished, I am at your master's dis- 
 posal, and I can promise him that I will 
 be as faithful to him as I have been to the 
 Marquis of Mantua until " here he 
 paused and looked at me shrewdly 
 " some one values my sword more highly 
 than he." 
 
 All this was said after we had come to 
 an understanding, and I liked Ardotti the 
 better for his perfect frankness. 
 
 His attitude was that of many soldiers 
 of fortune. In a time of tranquillity he 
 was perfectly willing to transfer his al- 
 legiance from one lord to another, pro- 
 vided he could advance his interests by so 
 doing. If, however, there had been open 
 hostility between Gian Galeazzo and the 
 house of Gonzaga, Ardotti would have 
 been the last man in the world to listen to 
 such a proposal as I had made. 
 
 " How is it," said Ardotti suddenly, as 
 though it were an afterthought with him, 
 " that my Lord of Pavia is so anxious to 
 add another captain to his retainers ? His
 
 In a Brescia Garden 71 
 
 reputation is that of a man of peace and 
 piety, and then he has Del Verme, has he 
 not ? " 
 
 " Yes, he has Del Verme," I answered ; 
 " but it would seem that even as a man 
 of peace he must have some need of at 
 least one other, else had I not been told 
 to seek out Gerino Ardotti wherever he 
 might be." 
 
 The soldier smiled at my evasion, and 
 the implied compliment. 
 
 " The Visconti of Pavia has an uncle 
 who is not only cruel, but ambitious, 
 ambitious, it is rumored, to extend his 
 power," said he, casting a swift look at me. 
 
 " Is it so ? " said I, with seeming sur- 
 prise and interest ; for, although I was 
 perfectly sure of my man, we were not 
 talking together in Pavia, and I had kept 
 constantly in mind my master's advice in 
 regard to caution. " I am but recently 
 come from my studies at Bologna, and 
 there these rumors you speak of do not 
 come to one's ears." 
 
 Ardotti took no offence at my second 
 evasion, but cried, as he chuckled a little,
 
 72 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " There must be some clever teachers 
 of discretion at Bologna ! " 
 
 "And there are doubtless those at 
 Pavia," said I, rising, " who will speak 
 more frankly than I have done." 
 
 " Stay ! " exclaimed he, " where are you 
 lodging ? The city is so full of folk 
 come to the fete that I am surprised if 
 you have found a place to lay your head." 
 
 " I am at the Two Falcons. The 
 other inns were full." 
 
 As I said this, it came to me that here 
 was my opportunity to relate to him my 
 experience on my arrival, but he cut in, 
 before I could begin, with, 
 
 " Diavolo ! I know the place ! The 
 landlord is a grasping wretch, and he 
 keeps a most pestilent cook." 
 
 Then a sudden idea seemed to strike 
 him. 
 
 " Sit down, sit down again ! " he ex- 
 claimed, and out of the room he went 
 with all the impetuosity of his sanguine 
 temperament, leaving me in a state bor- 
 dering upon amazement. I could get no 
 clew in regard to what his extraordinary
 
 In a Brescia Garden 73 
 
 behavior might mean, and was still trying 
 to find one, when I heard his heavy tread 
 upon the stairs. Presently he came puff- 
 ing in. 
 
 " Signer Canaro, my host, hopes you 
 will tarry and dine with us," he said. 
 Then, in explanation, " I could not let 
 you go back to a vile dinner at that 
 wretched inn." 
 
 " It is most kind of Signer Canaro, 
 and of you," I answered. " I shall be 
 delighted to stay if my travel-stained garb 
 will be pardoned." 
 
 " You won't think so much about your 
 trunks and your doublet after you have 
 ridden twenty-five years to the wars," 
 laughed he. "Signor Canaro won't mind, 
 and if" here he broke off. "Come!" 
 he continued, moving toward the door. 
 " He is awaiting us in the garden." 
 
 As I followed Ardotti, a trifle surprised 
 at the perfect freedom he seemed to feel 
 in the stately house, I began to wonder 
 what manner of man I was about to meet. 
 He must be of a careless, jovial type, I 
 told myself, in explanation of the appar-
 
 74 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 ent intimacy between him and the cap- 
 tain. There was little time for this sort 
 of conjecture, however ; for, after reaching 
 the palace courtyard, a few steps brought 
 us to a short passage beyond which lay a 
 small but perfectly kept bower of green- 
 ery. As we emerged into this enclosure 
 my conductor started as if surprised, and 
 for an instant seemed about to stop. 
 Then he went on. 
 
 " Madonna ! " I heard him mutter 
 under his breath, " the Signorina ! " 
 
 Where one of the paths expanded at 
 the centre of the garden I caught the 
 flutter of a woman's garment. Thither 
 the captain led me. We found the last 
 male scion of the house of Canaro seated 
 upon a rustic bench, a book open upon 
 his knee, and near him a girl whose 
 flower-like beauty impressed me strangely 
 the moment I looked upon her. I was 
 presented in turn to father and daughter. 
 Vincenzo Canaro was past middle life, a 
 slender man with a face in which refine- 
 ment was the dominant characteristic. I 
 fancied I detected a certain hesitancy
 
 The Signorina Angela Canaro. Page 75
 
 In a Brescia Garden 75 
 
 about his eyes, although the lower part 
 of his countenance showed considerable 
 force. The expression of his mouth 
 when he spoke was winning in the ex- 
 treme, and his whole air was that of 
 courtesy and fine breeding. He was in 
 every respect Ardotti's opposite, and I 
 marvelled what the two could have in 
 common. 
 
 I fear should I attempt fully to describe 
 Angela Canaro as she appeared to me that 
 day I should be led into hyperbole, a dan- 
 ger by no means common with me. She 
 impressed me as maiden never had done 
 before, and I had seen many both in 
 Pavia and Bologna. What it was about 
 her that appealed to me most it would be 
 difficult to say. She was one of those 
 persons whose charm lay not in one or 
 two attractive features, the voice, the 
 eyes, but in the atmosphere which radi- 
 ated from her whole personality. When 
 she moved I could but think of the grace 
 of the swaying osier ; when she laughed it 
 was like but stay! my pen is already 
 playing pranks with me.
 
 76 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " My friend, the captain, tells me you 
 are a Pavian," said Signer Canaro, after 
 we had exchanged greetings, and were all 
 seated. " I think I must know your 
 father by repute. Has he not written 
 upon jurisprudence ? " 
 
 I answered that he had. 
 
 " You, I judge, are not inclined to fol- 
 low his example, in the matter of a pro- 
 fession," said the Brescian, smilingly. 
 "Well, we must have upholders of law as 
 well as law-makers." 
 
 The conversation for a time was gen- 
 eral, and I shortly learned that Signorina 
 Canaro had but that afternoon returned 
 from a visit to some of her kinsfolk in 
 Verona, which accounted for Ardotti's 
 start of surprise on beholding her. After 
 a little, one of the reasons for the friendli- 
 ness between the captain and his host was 
 explained. Near where Signer Canaro 
 was seated I saw a small table upon which 
 some chessmen lay as though a game had 
 recently been in progress. This led me 
 to remark that my father was an enthu- 
 siastic chess-player.
 
 In a Brescia Garden 77 
 
 " Doubtless the captain and I would 
 find in him a worthy foe," said Signor 
 Canaro. " We are very fierce enemies 
 ourselves that is, at chess. If the cap- 
 tain is as shrewd on the battle-field as he 
 is at the chess-board, he is a clever strate- 
 gist who outwits him. We had just fin- 
 ished a game when you called." 
 
 Soon they fell to discussing a certain 
 point of play with great vehemence, and I 
 was left to address my entire conversation 
 to the Signorina, whereat I was nothing 
 loath. She had such a frank, unaffected, 
 and winning way that I found myself, 
 before I was aware of it, confiding to her 
 my hopes and my ambitions. Something 
 in her dark eyes ah! what eyes they 
 were ! told me that she was interested, 
 and there are few men, I care not who 
 they may be, that can resist when beauty 
 bids them speak about themselves. She, 
 on her part, revealed to me but little of 
 her life, yet there was one thing which she 
 could not conceal, and this was her innate 
 loveliness of character. I seemed to look 
 into her mind and see only what was fair
 
 78 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 and pure. One thing about her surprised 
 me. It was a fleeting sadness which at 
 times crossed her face, a look that had in 
 it something like fear. By the time din- 
 ner was announced we were upon quite 
 a friendly footing, and it was not until 
 toward the close of the meal that anything 
 occurred to mar an experience which to me 
 had in it both the reality and unreality of 
 a dream. Something that I myself inad- 
 vertently said caused the cloud to gather. 
 The talk had been upon the fete, and the 
 number of persons attracted thereby to the 
 city. This led me to say, 
 
 " I trust all strangers do not arouse the 
 same suspicion and curiosity which I seem 
 to excite." 
 
 " How so ? " said Ardotti quickly. 
 
 Thereupon I began relating my experi- 
 ence at the inn. As I proceeded, I saw 
 that Ardotti was listening with an intent- 
 ness of manner I had not marked in him 
 before. Signor Canaro leaned back, one 
 hand upon the arm of his chair, the other 
 clutching his wine-glass. On the face of 
 the Signorina was the look I had already
 
 In a Brescia Garden 79 
 
 beheld with wonder, now fixed and inten- 
 sified. What did it all mean ? I tried 
 to appear not to notice the change which 
 had come over the three, and continued 
 with my narration. When I had finished, 
 Ardotti said, 
 
 " And the men ; tell us more fully what 
 they were like." 
 
 I described them as clearly as I could. 
 
 " You think they did not follow you 
 here ? " 
 
 " I cannot be absolutely sure, but I be- 
 lieve not." 
 
 No more was said upon the matter, but 
 after that a decided constraint fell upon 
 us. As we were walking back to the gar- 
 den, Ardotti left us, and I saw him hurry- 
 ing toward the entrance into the street. 
 He speedily joined us again, however, and 
 as he did so he exchanged a grave nod 
 with Signor Canaro. 
 
 As soon as was consistent with courtesy 
 I rose to make my adieus, for I felt that 
 my presence was an embarrassment to 
 both father and daughter. Whatever 
 trouble or danger my story had revealed
 
 8o A Man-at-Arms 
 
 to them as being imminent could better 
 be met alone than with a stranger pres- 
 ent. However, Ardotti stopped me. 
 
 "If you will wait until it grows a trifle 
 darker," he said, " I will go a part of the 
 way to your inn with you." 
 
 It was then dusk, and as soon as the 
 stars began to spangle the sky the captain 
 went for his cloak and sword. 
 
 " We will try the laneway," he re- 
 marked to Signor Canaro. 
 
 " I feel that we owe you an apology," 
 said that gentleman, as he offered me his 
 hand, " for our perturbation and exhibi- 
 tion of anxiety. I trust that you may 
 one day give us the pleasure of seeing 
 you in Brescia again, for I assure you 
 we are not in the habit of thus disturbing 
 our guests." 
 
 I expressed my pleasure at his invita- 
 tion, and my regret that I should have 
 been the one to cause the distress of mind 
 which he and his daughter were experi- 
 encing. To Angela Canaro I said, as I 
 bade her farewell, 
 
 " While I know, Signorina, that you
 
 In a Brescia Garden 81 
 
 have two valiant protectors in your father 
 and Captain Ardotti, should the time ever 
 come when you need a third, I beg you to 
 believe that my sword is entirely at your 
 service." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, Signore," she cried, 
 " though I pray Heaven there may never 
 be such a dire necessity." 
 
 So I went out into the dark laneway 
 with Ardotti, dreaming that her eyes had 
 said to me more than her lips, as I caught 
 her parting look in the spring starlight.
 
 Chapter VII 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 
 
 " A" I AHE street in front of the palace 
 JL is watched," said Ardotti, as we 
 entered the lane. 
 
 " I fancied as much," I answered. 
 
 " Doubtless you are puzzling over the 
 why and wherefore of all this," he went 
 on. " I have accompanied you that I 
 may explain the situation at least in part, 
 for an explanation and warning are due 
 you, since by entering the house of Vin- 
 cenzo Canaro you have made yourself 
 an object of suspicion, and I believe are 
 likely to be assaulted at any moment as 
 long as you remain in Brescia." 
 
 He led the way rapidly, turning ab- 
 ruptly into another lane before we had 
 gone far. 
 
 82
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 83 
 
 " There is a little wine-house here," he 
 said, " where we can talk and not be 
 molested." 
 
 Presently we came to a small building 
 whose lower windows showed a glimmer 
 of light. Ardotti entered without hesita- 
 tion. There was no one within save the 
 proprietor, who greeted us with marked 
 respect. 
 
 " A room, Bruno, and some wine, and 
 see that we are not disturbed ! " exclaimed 
 Ardotti. 
 
 " There is no danger that the Signori 
 will be disturbed," was the reply. " The 
 whole city is viewing the illumination in 
 the piazza." 
 
 " I shall not keep you long," said 
 Ardotti when we were seated with a 
 flagon of the wine of Asti before us, " for 
 you had best be back at your inn as soon 
 as may be, and I at the palace. Though 
 you did not see fit to trust me this after- 
 noon, for which I do not in the least 
 blame you, I am going to trust you now, 
 since something tells me that you are 
 worthy of being trusted, and a time may
 
 84 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 perhaps come when the information which 
 I am about to give you will enable you 
 to aid those whom I am trying to assist. 
 Now do you follow me closely, for I shall 
 not waste words. When the Brusati were 
 deposed from the overlordship of Brescia 
 by the Visconti, the Canari fell with them, 
 and lost a greater part of their posses- 
 sions. Latterly, however, they prospered, 
 and Vincenzo's inheritance was princely. 
 Bernabo Visconti has, for a number of 
 years, been scheming to get this wealth 
 into his hands. He dare not seize it 
 openly, that would be too gross a piece 
 of injustice to be practised even by a 
 tyrant such as he, but he has conceived 
 a plan of marrying one of his sons to 
 Signorina Canaro, and thus obtaining his 
 wish. I scarcely need tell you how his 
 proposals have been met both by father 
 and daughter. Bernabo, however, will 
 not be put off. He is constant in his 
 importuning, and Signor Canaro fears 
 that he may finally resort to force. 
 Hearing by chance a few months since 
 how matters stood, the Marquis of Man-
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 85 
 
 tua, formerly a friend of Signor Canaro, 
 despatched me to Brescia to try to arrange 
 an alliance between the Signorina and his 
 nephew, and thus frustrate the schemes 
 of the Lord of Milan. Being a Brescian 
 by birth, and my father having been in 
 the employ of the house of Canaro in 
 its more favored days, I was received as 
 a friend, and all seemed to be progressing 
 happily, when something displeasing came 
 to my lady's ears in regard to my master's 
 nephew. This caused a hitch in the nego- 
 tiations. I am now on my third visit to 
 Brescia, and still no definite decision has 
 been reached. Signor Canaro is favorably 
 inclined toward the proposal of the Mar- 
 quis, yet he fears to accept, even should 
 his daughter overcome her compunctions, 
 lest Bernabo declare all his possessions for- 
 feited. The story of your experience con- 
 firmed me in what I had already suspected 
 that through unknown and treacherous 
 means Bernabo has ascertained that some 
 sort of negotiations are in progress between 
 the Marquis and Signor Canaro, and that 
 he intends to discover what they are and
 
 86 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 thwart them. Several times since my 
 arrival I have fancied I was spied upon. 
 It will be no easy matter for me to get 
 back to Mantua with a whole skin, for I 
 doubt not Bernabo's hirelings and there 
 are more than the two you encountered 
 have orders to find out at all hazards 
 what is going on." 
 
 "Have you not then risked the safety 
 of the Signorina and her father by telling 
 me ? " said I. 
 
 " No," he replied, " for I feel sure I 
 have not misjudged you ; and now let me 
 show you your own danger. Chance led 
 you to the Two Falcons, and your late 
 arrival indicated to the watchful agents of 
 Bernabo that you had no special interest 
 in the fete. Your horse gave signs of 
 having been ridden far, and on being 
 questioned you carefully avoided reveal- 
 ing whence you came. You aroused sus- 
 picion, and I feel positive that you were 
 followed to the Canaro palace. In the 
 minds of those entrusted with this affair 
 you are connected with the Marquis of 
 Mantua, and are doubtless put down as
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 87 
 
 being an emissary from him either to Sig- 
 nor Canaro or to me. It will be thought 
 that you are returning with some sort of 
 a message, either written or verbal. I am 
 positive that an attempt will be made to 
 discover what that message is, and those 
 interested will pause at nothing. Had 
 I not revealed to you the real situation, 
 your danger would still have been the 
 same ; for had you been captured you 
 would not have been able to convince 
 your captors of your ignorance. Now 
 that you know the truth you will act with 
 greater energy and caution." 
 
 " I shall certainly not betray your con- 
 fidence." 
 
 " I knew you would not." 
 
 " What would you advise me to do ? " 
 
 " Barricade your door to-night, and get 
 off, if you can manage it, before any 
 one is stirring in the morning. Once 
 outside the city, spare neither whip nor 
 spur." 
 
 " Do you see no way out of this terrible 
 dilemma for Signor Canaro and his daugh- 
 ter ? " said I, the image of the lovely Sig-
 
 88 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 norina in all her distress and beauty rising 
 appealingly before me. 
 
 Ardotti shook his head. 
 
 " Should they accept the proposal of the 
 Marquis now, I fear it would avail little. 
 They have hesitated too long. I doubt 
 not that the agents of Bernabo would 
 forcibly interfere should Signor Canaro 
 and his daughter attempt to leave Brescia." 
 
 " But the Signorina has just been in 
 Verona. Why did she not remain ? Her 
 father might have joined her there." 
 
 " And might not. It is highly probable 
 that an accident would have happened to 
 him on the way. The case, I fear, is 
 hopeless unless " Ardotti paused. 
 
 " Unless ? " cried I, eagerly. 
 
 " Unless they can temporize, and, in 
 the meanwhile, something occurs to divert 
 the attention of Bernabo. Did you not 
 think I was remarkably willing to enter 
 the service of your master ? No ? Well, 
 it would not do to seem too eager ; there 
 was really a reason other than personal 
 advantage. I would do anything to help 
 Signor Canaro and the Signorina, and the
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 89 
 
 moment I heard your proposal it flashed 
 upon me that there was something back 
 of it. Here, I said to myself, is perhaps 
 the chance. Jacopo del Verme is in com- 
 mand at Pavia. Where he is there is 
 likely to be shrewd counsel and decisive 
 movement. Against whom would that 
 movement be unless against Bernabo, who, 
 it is known, has designs upon his nephew's 
 possessions ? " 
 
 "You reason well," said I. 
 
 " I have had my eyes and ears open," 
 said he. " But come, we must tarry here 
 no longer. I will show you the most 
 desirable route to the Two Falcons, one 
 which will enable you to avoid the piazza. 
 Then we must part, but I hope within a 
 week that you will see me in Pavia. That 
 is my message to Gian Galeazzo." 
 
 We went quickly out into the night. 
 Ardotti guided me through several streets, 
 and then pointed out to me how to con- 
 tinue on my way. 
 
 " May good luck go with you," he said, 
 gripping my hand. " Be watchful, and do 
 not cease to be bold."
 
 9<D A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Soon the darkness swallowed him, and I 
 was hurrying toward the inn. Did Ardotti 
 himself love Angela Canaro ? Was this the 
 explanation of his eagerness to aid father 
 and daughter ? Clearly something beyond 
 his desire faithfully to serve the Marquis 
 of Mantua actuated him. Though at first 
 I had not been especially attracted toward 
 this blunt and jovial soldier, it would have 
 caused me genuine regret had I known I 
 was never to set eyes upon him again, and 
 that in less than a week's time he would 
 lie in a nameless grave, foully done to 
 death by the hirelings of Bernabo Vis- 
 conti. 
 
 I succeeded in slipping past the inn and 
 reaching the stable unobserved. As I 
 stood in the background, waiting for an 
 opportunity to get a word with the hostler 
 who was saddling the horses of three bois- 
 terous fellows from Renato, it occurred to 
 me that it might be well to attempt leav- 
 ing Brescia that night. The uncertainty 
 of the situation was not without its effect 
 on me, and I longed to be beyond the 
 walls, upon Hawkwood's back. Then,
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 91 
 
 even though I might go astray in the 
 darkness, I should feel safe and free, but 
 here, not knowing what man might prove 
 to be a spy, there could be no sense of 
 security, even though I slept behind bolted 
 doors. 
 
 Finally the three comrades rode noisily 
 away. I slipped a gold florin from my 
 pocket and approached the hostler. His 
 manner was not encouraging, but I was 
 not deterred thereby. I twirled the coin 
 between my thumb and forefinger, and as 
 it gave back the dull light of the lantern I 
 saw a gleam come into the man's eyes, and 
 a gradual relaxing of his furrowed brow. 
 A bit of gold like that was something 
 more rare to him than was a brimming 
 casket of the same yellow discs to the rich 
 merchant or lord. 
 
 " You may saddle my horse," I said, as 
 the man's fingers closed convulsively upon 
 the coin. " I may wish to leave to-night. 
 Do you know how long the city gates will 
 be open ?" 
 
 " Till midnight, Signore, but " he 
 paused and looked about him as though
 
 92 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 the shadows might conceal a listener, then 
 drawing a step nearer and dropping his 
 voice, he continued " would it not be 
 better to wait till early morning five 
 o'clock, say ? The horse will be ready 
 then, and the door of the stable unfast- 
 ened. I shall sleep in the loft on the 
 hay to-night, for there is no room within ; 
 just at the head of these stairs, Signore," 
 and he pointed to a dark corner where I 
 could dimly distinguish a flight of steps 
 leading upward. 
 
 I looked at the man several seconds 
 without speaking. 
 
 " You see, Signore," he said still in an 
 undertone, " there are likely to be few 
 folk abroad at five in the morning." 
 
 " But the city gates ?" 
 
 "The Signore could rouse the gate- 
 keeper." 
 
 " And the inn ? " 
 
 " The Signore will not find the fasten- 
 ings of the outer door difficult to undo, 
 and it is a time when most people sleep 
 soundly." 
 
 I saw the fellow was advising me hon-
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 93 
 
 estly and wisely. He had said enough 
 to tell me that an attempt to leave Brescia 
 that night would be fraught with danger. 
 His manner in itself was a warning. No 
 doubt the two approaches to the inn were 
 watched, and while I might slip by on foot 
 unnoticed, as I had already done, such a 
 thing would be impossible on horseback. 
 
 I did not think it desirable to press the 
 hostler for more information than he had 
 volunteered. I had no wish to get him 
 into trouble, and what I had already 
 learned was quite sufficient to lead me to 
 a decision. 
 
 " I will take your advice," I said, 
 " and if it prove good, you shall not be 
 forgotten." 
 
 " May the Virgin guard the Signore ! " 
 cried the man. 
 
 As I passed through the doorway of 
 the inn I encountered the landlord. 
 
 " You did not dine with us," he said. 
 " I can assure you that you missed a good 
 dinner. No host in Brescia stocked his 
 cellar for the fete more carefully than I." 
 
 " I should have done justice to your
 
 94 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 good things had I been here," I answered. 
 " My appetite is not something I leave at 
 home. It travels with me." 
 
 " By the by," said he, " I can give you 
 better quarters on the, morrow." 
 
 " Thank you," I replied, " we will talk 
 about that in the morning. Now I am 
 off to bed, for I am more than weary." 
 
 I mounted the two flights of narrow 
 stairs, and made my way to the cramped, 
 low-ceilinged nook where I was to sleep. 
 I had paid my night's reckoning when I 
 took the room ( this the host said was his 
 rule on fete days ), so if I succeeded in 
 carrying out the hostler's suggestion I 
 should leave no unsatisfied debt behind 
 me. There was but a flimsy fasten- 
 ing upon the door, so not until I had 
 dragged the iron bedstead against it, did I 
 feel secure against intrusion from that 
 quarter. I now threw open the single 
 window, through which the lately risen 
 moon was shining, and looked out. 
 Twenty feet below was the almost flat 
 roof of an extension doubtless the 
 kitchen. It did not occur to me that I
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 95 
 
 had anything to fear from this direction, so 
 I left the window, which swung backward, 
 ajar, the air being unbearably close, extin- 
 guished the candle, and stretched myself 
 out upon the bed, removing from my per- 
 son nothing save my sword, which I placed 
 at my side. The possibility that I might 
 oversleep gave me no anxiety. Since en- 
 tering the service of Gian Galeazzo I had 
 become accustomed to early rising, and I 
 was confident that I should wake at the 
 peep of day. What I feared was that I 
 should get little or no rest at all, so 
 excited was my brain with the happenings 
 which had been crowded into the last few 
 hours. 
 
 As I lay, with wide eyes, upon the hard 
 mattress, my thoughts hovered about 
 Angela Canaro, and however I tried to 
 will otherwise, they would revert to her. 
 More than once had I fancied myself 
 heart-touched before, but what I now ex- 
 perienced was far different from any sensa- 
 tion I had previously known. Not only 
 was my admiration kindled by her beauty, 
 but my sympathies were moved, and all
 
 96 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 the chivalry in my nature stirred by the 
 trying position in which she was placed. 
 Yet what could I, who had practically re- 
 nounced my family and my inheritance and 
 was now but a poor man-at-arms, do to 
 aid the unfortunate maiden ? I felt will- 
 ing to dare anything, but my brain evolved 
 no plan, and so hour after hour I groped 
 blankly. Where a soldier of the shrewd- 
 ness of Gerino Ardotti could see no light 
 was it likely that any would come to me, 
 I asked myself. 
 
 The moon-rays shifted and flooded the 
 room, but gradually through sheer brain- 
 exhaustion I grew drowsy, and became 
 unconscious. I had a dream of being 
 strangled, and awoke with a start to find 
 there was a hand upon my throat and a 
 knee upon my chest. 
 
 " Your message," said a voice which I 
 was sure I had heard before ; " produce it 
 if it is written, tell it if it is not, or I will 
 throttle your life out of you." 
 
 The room had grown shadowy, but I 
 could see a pair of fierce eyes burning 
 down upon me from behind a black mask.
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 97 
 
 I gasped and struggled, but the grip upon 
 my throat tightened until my head swam. 
 
 " Yes," I contrived to ejaculate. 
 
 My throat was loosened, but the oppres- 
 sive weight was still heavy on my chest. 
 
 " In my doublet," said I. "I will give 
 it to you." 
 
 The knee was lifted, and, as the man 
 partly straightened himself, I realized that 
 but one of his feet was upon the floor. 
 With a desperate twist and squirm I 
 gathered myself and leaped at him, clasp- 
 ing him about the middle, digging my 
 head and shoulders into his stomach. So 
 wholly unexpected was this assault that he 
 lost his balance, toppled over backward, 
 and down I came on top of him with my 
 full weight. His head struck violently 
 upon the boards, and my shoulder com- 
 pletely knocked the wind out of him, so, 
 while I scrambled to my feet, there he lay 
 like a collapsed bladder inflated by some 
 child and crushed by an inadvertent foot. 
 To add to the noise, my sword fell with a 
 great clatter. I stooped and tore the 
 mask from his face. It was one of the
 
 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 twobravos of the inn. While I was bend- 
 ing over him the room was suddenly dark- 
 ened. I turned toward the window, and 
 beheld a man about to throw one leg 
 over the sill. There was no time to seize 
 a weapon, so I sprang at him with out- 
 stretched arms. With all my force I 
 threw myself against him. His grip upon 
 the casing was but slight, and though he 
 had a dagger in his disengaged hand, I was 
 upon him ere he had a chance to use it. 
 His body seemed to poise a moment in 
 air before he lost all support ; he clutched 
 wildly at the ladder by which he and his 
 companion had gained the room, then 
 his cry of mingled rage and despair rang 
 out on the night as he plunged sidewise 
 downward upon the furrowed tiles of the 
 extension. His motionless form held me 
 for a moment spell-bound, then I recol- 
 lected my first antagonist and turned 
 quickly to him. He was beginning to 
 recover consciousness, so I hurriedly fast- 
 ened his hands and feet with strips of the 
 bed-linen, lest he should attempt further 
 mischief, caught up my sword, and began
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 99 
 
 nimbly to descend the ladder. I fancied 
 the landlord was somewhere about, and 
 before venturing to drop from the roof of 
 the extension I tried to penetrate the dark 
 corners of the enclosure below, thinking 
 perhaps I might discover him. I did not 
 catch sight of him, however, and soon 
 I was on the ground, speeding swiftly 
 toward the door of the stable. Rushing 
 in, I roused the hostler. 
 
 " Quick ! " I cried, as he descended 
 from the loft; "my horse ! " 
 
 Without a question he began hastily to 
 saddle Hawkwood. While this was going 
 forward I kept watch of the rear door of 
 the inn. Presently I saw the landlord 
 and a burly tapster steal out and peer 
 about. With my sword drawn I sprang 
 toward them. 
 
 " Back! " I exclaimed, " or it will go ill 
 with you." 
 
 The landlord retreated, but the tapster 
 held his ground. He had a heavy blade 
 with which he cut at me viciously, but he 
 lacked agility, and when I had slashed his 
 shoulder he ran howling within.
 
 ioo A Man-at-Arms 
 
 By this time Hawkwood stood ready in 
 the stable door, and with a feeling of re- 
 lief and exultation I sprang to the saddle. 
 The hostler was waiting silently and ex- 
 pectantly. 
 
 " Here," said I, giving him two florins, 
 whereat he blessed me devoutly, " you 
 can do me one more good turn." 
 
 " The Signore has but to name it." 
 
 " Show me the nearest way to the 
 southern gate, to the Porta Cremona." 
 
 He put his hand upon the pommel and 
 ran alongside. 
 
 " I will say that the Signore's sword 
 persuaded me to this if I am ever ques- 
 tioned." 
 
 " I would that you had a horse to ride 
 with me," said I. "I could promise you 
 pleasanter employment than you have at 
 the inn of the Two Falcons." 
 
 " I would follow the Signore, may 
 the saints attend him ! but there is the 
 wife and little one." 
 
 At length he released his hold on the 
 pommel. 
 
 " The way is straight now," he said.
 
 A Night at the Two Falcons 101 
 
 " If the Signore can win over the gate- 
 keeper, he is safe." 
 
 " Farewell," I cried, touching Hawk- 
 wood with my heel. 
 
 The man's answer was drowned in the 
 noise of the horse's hoofs. I knew from 
 the position of the moon that it must be 
 considerably past the middle of the night. 
 The streets were entirely deserted ; not 
 even a watchman seemed to be abroad. 
 Would I still, I wondered, be favored of 
 fortune ? 
 
 It was not long before I drew up at the 
 door of the gate-house. Without dis- 
 mounting, I smote upon the oak re- 
 peatedly with the hilt of my sword. 
 
 " Keeper ! " I shouted. " What, ho, 
 there ! " 
 
 " A thousand curses on you ! " cried 
 a voice. " This is the fifth time I have 
 been roused this night. I will see you in 
 the pit before I will open the gates for 
 you." 
 
 " Not for five bright gold florins ? " 
 
 " Five florins ! " 
 
 " Aye ! they are yours if you will
 
 IO2 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 but undo the fastenings and let me ride 
 forth." 
 
 " But the laws." 
 
 " A rotten fig for the laws ! Who will 
 ever be the wiser ? Are you so rich that 
 you can scorn these yellow comrades ? " 
 and I jingled the gold in my hand. 
 
 " I'll come down ! I'll come down at 
 once, Signore." 
 
 And so it was that I rode out of Brescia.
 
 Chapter VIII 
 The Mission to Milan 
 
 IT had been my intention in reporting 
 the success of my quest to Gian Ga- 
 leazzo to explain to him the situation in 
 which Signor Canaro and his daughter 
 were placed, and ask him if he could not 
 in some way intervene in their behalf, but 
 when I entered the presence of my master 
 he gave me no opportunity to broach that 
 which was uppermost in my mind. Del 
 Verme was with him as usual. 
 
 " You come in good time, Delia Ver- 
 ria," said the Lord of Pavia. " We were 
 wishing you might arrive to-day. What 
 said the captain ? " 
 
 " That he hoped within a week you 
 would see him in Pavia. He will come 
 as soon as he has accomplished his mission 
 103
 
 IO4 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 in Brescia, whither I was obliged to go in 
 search of him." 
 
 " Excellent ! most excellent ! I con- 
 gratulate you. You found him in Bres- 
 cia, you say ? Truly you are as nimble as 
 Mercury." 
 
 " Mercury is reputed to have wings, 
 which I have not, but I have a most noble 
 steed, thanks to your Lordship." 
 
 " There will be an early occasion for you 
 to use him again, to-morrow in fact, 
 when I shall have a little packet for you 
 to deliver to my gracious uncle who rules 
 in Milan. Until then I shall not need 
 you." 
 
 This was clearly a dismissal, and I did 
 not think it wise to ask my master to lis- 
 ten to me when he was so evidently desir- 
 ous of consulting with Del Verme. 
 
 " There will come an opportunity soon," 
 I thought; "if not, I will make one," for 
 I was determined that if any word from 
 me could loosen the coils which seemed 
 to be tightening about the lovely Brescia 
 maiden and her father, that word should at 
 all hazards be spoken. I had little more
 
 The Mission to Milan 105 
 
 than an inkling of the tragic order in 
 which events were shaping themselves, 
 and did not realize how soon all necessity 
 for appealing to any one in behalf of Sig- 
 nor and Angela Canaro would apparently 
 be obviated. 
 
 Repairing to the room in the palace 
 which had been assigned to me, I removed 
 from my person the stain and dust of 
 travel, and then cast myself upon my cot. 
 After two hours I rose much refreshed, 
 and sallied forth in search of Rupert 
 Hartzheim. Finding him off duty, we 
 set out into the town together, and over 
 a hearty supper at a hostelry near the 
 Ticino bridge I related to my friend my 
 experiences during my search for Ardotti. 
 If he was bored by my youthful enthusiasm 
 over my success, he did not show it, and 
 although there was a merry twinkle in his 
 eyes as he listened to my glowing descrip- 
 tion of Angela Canaro, he forbore to rally 
 me, which, as I now think of it, was most 
 kind of him. He must have seen that 
 my ecstasies were those of a lover ( I now 
 admitted to myself that I was in love,
 
 io6 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 though acknowledging the hopelessness of 
 my passion ), and surely there is no more 
 tempting mark for pleasantry than the 
 enamoured swain who persists in pouring 
 his raptures into the ears of his friends ! 
 
 When I told Hartzheim that I had re- 
 solved to appeal to Gian Galeazzo in 
 behalf of Signer Canaro and his daughter 
 he made no immediate answer. 
 
 " What could he do to aid them ? " he 
 said at length. 
 
 " I confess that I cannot see," I replied ; 
 " but possibly he might do something. I 
 shall certainly speak with him when I 
 return from Milan." 
 
 " From Milan ! " 
 
 " Yes, I am to ride thither on the mor- 
 row with some communication from Gian 
 Galeazzo to his uncle." 
 
 " Zounds ! " cried Hartzheim, smiting 
 his knee with his palm, " the Visconti of 
 Pavia send a greeting to the tyrant of 
 Milan ! What in the name of wonder 
 may that mean ? " 
 
 " You can guess much better than I," I 
 answered.
 
 The Mission to Milan 107 
 
 " It means much, I'll stake a month's 
 pay ! Mayhap if you wait a bit there'll 
 be no occasion for your appealing to Gian 
 Galeazzo in behalf of the fair damsel and 
 her father." 
 
 " Have you heard anything new at the 
 palace ? " 
 
 " No, but the Lord of Pavia is not 
 keeping such a force armed and drilled 
 for nothing, and under such a leader as 
 Del Verme. This mission of yours to 
 Milan will bring matters to a head, or 
 I'm a poor prophet ! " 
 
 It was my opinion that Hartzheim was 
 a good prophet, and filled with a pardon- 
 able feeling of pride that I had been 
 chosen as the bearer of what might prove 
 so important a communication, I rode 
 into the palace courtyard the next morn- 
 ing. I had thrown Hawkwood's bridle 
 to a groom, and was about to ascend the 
 main staircase of the palace when I saw 
 Gian Galeazzo and Del Verme coming 
 down the steps together. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the Lord of Pavia, in 
 his pleasantest manner, as he acknowl-
 
 io8 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 edged my salute, " our ambassador 
 waits." 
 
 " He is quite ready, your Lordship," 
 said I. 
 
 " Here is what you are to deliver to 
 my uncle," said he, handing me a small 
 case of soft leather tied with threads of 
 gold. " It contains a topaz of much brill- 
 iancy, which I am sending with my re- 
 spectful homage, and a request in writing 
 to which you are to bring an answer. 
 Shall we tell Delia Verria the tenor of 
 the request, Del Verme ? " 
 
 " It might possibly be a help to him 
 to know," answered the soldier. 
 
 " I am sending word to my gracious 
 uncle," said Gian Galeazzo, giving a pecul- 
 iar emphasis to the last two words which 
 might not have been over-pleasing to the 
 ears of that personage had he heard them, 
 " that three days hence I shall undertake a 
 pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady of the 
 Mountain, at Varese, and I am beseeching 
 him, inasmuch as my natural timidity dis- 
 inclines me to enter Milan, to meet me at 
 the parting of the roads without the city
 
 The Mission to Milan 109 
 
 in order that I may embrace him and 
 renew those expressions of affection for 
 him which of late years I have had no 
 chance to utter. So ardently have I 
 urged my request that I am hoping you 
 will return with a favorable reply." 
 
 I bestowed the packet in my doublet, 
 and turned to mount Hawkwood. 
 
 " A word of warning, Delia Verria," 
 added the Visconti, " although it may not 
 be necessary. Recall what I said to you 
 before you set out for Mantua, and keep 
 a close tongue." 
 
 " Bernabo Visconti shall learn nothing 
 from me that he does not already know," 
 said I. 
 
 It was little more than mid-morning 
 when I rode into Milan. I had visited 
 the city several times with my father, and 
 was sufficiently familiar with it to find my 
 way to the palace of Bernabo without 
 stopping to inquire the route thither. 
 Just within the Vercellina gate, however, 
 I came upon an inn in front of which 
 a stream of running water flowed into a 
 great stone basin. As I paused to let
 
 no A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Hawkwood thrust his nose into the cool 
 flood, the landlord came to the door and 
 asked me if I would not enter and refresh 
 myself. It seemed a well-favored hostelry, 
 and as I detected several loiterers within, 
 it occurred to me that I might pick up 
 a few scraps of gossip in regard to the 
 ruling tyrant who, as report had it, was 
 most cordially hated by those whom he 
 governed, so I allowed myself to be per- 
 suaded to alight. 
 
 " A fine animal you have there," said 
 the landlord, eying Hawkwood with the 
 look of one who was a judge of horse- 
 flesh. 
 
 " That he is ! " said I. "He has brought 
 me hither from Pavia right quickly." 
 
 "Ah, from Pavia!" exclaimed the land- 
 lord. "You are a native of that town 
 perhaps ? " 
 
 "Yes," I returned, " Pavia is my home, 
 though I have lived there but little of 
 late." 
 
 I was in no wise forgetting my master's 
 warning, but I knew that I must appear 
 to be voluble and communicative in order
 
 The Mission to Milan in 
 
 to induce the landlord and the others to 
 talk. It was easy to gabble, and yet in 
 reality to reveal nothing. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said I presently to two 
 or three burghers who were within ear- 
 shot, "will you not join me in a flagon 
 of wine ? Mine host keeps an excellent 
 vintage." 
 
 Two citizens tradesmen seemingly 
 accepted my invitation, and the landlord 
 stood by as we quaffed our liquor. 
 
 " To your health," said they. 
 
 "To your fair city," said I. 
 
 " God send us a better ruler," put in 
 the landlord, sotto voce. 
 
 " Amen to that ! " exclaimed both 
 burghers. 
 
 " Rulers are a necessary evil," said I. 
 
 " Such a one as ours is a curse ! " cried 
 the landlord, and the two citizens nodded 
 assent. " You have one of the same breed 
 in Pavia, but rumor says there is as much 
 difference between Bernabo and Gian Gale- 
 azzo Visconti as there is between black 
 and white." 
 
 " For aught I know that may be," said
 
 H2 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 I, " yet rumor is ever a jade, and little to 
 be trusted. It has been my experience 
 that go where you will, Mantua, Bo- 
 logna, Firenze, the citizens of each town 
 will tell you they have the worst of rulers. 
 Now, though I make no pretence of hav- 
 ing a knowledge of such matters, I'll wager 
 that you have as good a ruler as any of 
 these cities." 
 
 " He is a very Satan ! " exclaimed the 
 landlord. 
 
 " And there is one of his sons, Mastino, 
 whom men call II Brutto [the ugly], who 
 is the very prince of devils ! " cried one of 
 the burghers. 
 
 "Young sir," said the other citizen, 
 leaning forward, " there is not in all Italy 
 a match for this pair. Have you never 
 heard of the hounds of Bernabo ? He has 
 more than a thousand of them in kennels 
 both within and without the city. To-day 
 is one of the days of reckoning with the 
 keepers Heaven help the poor men ! If 
 a dog dies, the man who has had him in 
 charge is fined his entire property, and 
 flogged well-nigh to death. If a dog is
 
 The Mission to Milan 113 
 
 found to be too fat or too lean, the keeper, 
 in either instance, is punished with revolt- 
 ing cruelty. Father and son will be in 
 rare spirits to-day. They have work on 
 hand which is wholly to their liking." 
 
 This tale in regard to Bernabo's hounds 
 was not new to my ears, but I had hither- 
 to given little thought to it. That it was 
 true I had not the least doubt. The nar- 
 rator's earnestness was sufficient confirma- 
 tion of its dread reality. 
 
 " You have heard but one thing," said 
 the man, seeming to take it for granted by 
 my silence that I was sceptical in regard to 
 the truth of his story. 
 
 " It is quite sufficient," said I, rising, 
 and walking toward the door, " to make 
 me curious to see this remarkable ruler of 
 yours." 
 
 " See him ! " cried they, starting to their 
 feet in astonishment. 
 
 "Yes," said I; "why not?" 
 
 They began looking at one another in a 
 puzzled fashion, wondering whether I were 
 joking or no, and never for a moment 
 dreaming that I was really on my way to
 
 ii4 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 seek an audience with Bernabo Visconti. 
 They gathered in the doorway and watched 
 me mount. 
 
 " Good day, gentlemen," I cried, wav- 
 ing my hand to them. " I am for the 
 palace." And I left them gaping after me 
 in mute amazement. 
 
 I marvelled somewhat that these men 
 had been so outspoken in regard to the 
 ruler of their city to me, a total stranger, 
 but finally came to a conclusion not far 
 short of the truth that the people were fast 
 becoming desperate under the oppression 
 to which they were subjected. An ex- 
 pression of dissatisfaction, of unrest, of 
 dormant rebellion, was plainly to be seen 
 on many faces that were lifted to mine as 
 I rode through the streets. The time 
 was evidently ripe for a change, and I 
 fancied that any one who would, either 
 by force or strategy, overthrow the power 
 of the despotic Bernabo would be hailed 
 with acclaim as a liberator. Was this the 
 part that my master was planning to play ? 
 Certainly everything now tended to make 
 me believe such was the case. My heart
 
 The Mission to Milan 115 
 
 quickened at the thought. With Gian 
 Galeazzo Lord of Milan new possibilities 
 opened before me, and with the vision of 
 wealth and fame there rose another far 
 fairer one which I had not been able 
 long to banish since the first time my eyes 
 had rested upon it. That was but a few 
 brief days ago, and yet how great a period 
 it seemed ! 
 
 I found the piazza, which Gian Gale- 
 azzo beautified in after years with that 
 cathedral which is the wonder of Europe, 
 flooded with the dazzling spring sunlight. 
 It was well-nigh deserted, and I could but 
 contrast the busy scene which the square 
 in front of my master's palace presented 
 with the ominous quietude which brooded 
 here. Despite the glow of the sunshine 
 it was as though a spirit of blight rested 
 upon the spot. 
 
 Two sullen guards stood upon either 
 side of the palace gateway, and as I made 
 bold to ride between them into the court- 
 yard, one of them put his hand upon 
 Hawkwood's bridle and demanded my 
 business. I replied that I desired an
 
 1 1 6 A Man-at- Arms 
 
 audience with his master, but he would 
 not allow me to pass until he had called 
 one from within who questioned me 
 sharply. This man was of middle age, 
 swarthy and keen-eyed, and garbed in 
 a rich dark livery. He finally bade 
 me enter, saying, as he walked at my 
 side, 
 
 " His Lordship has just returned from 
 the kennels, and it may be you will not 
 be able to see him at once. However, I 
 will ascertain." 
 
 A serving-man took charge of my 
 horse, and I followed my conductor into 
 the palace. I must confess that my 
 pulses did not flow with their wonted 
 serenity, although outwardly I was calm 
 enough. I realized that I might be about 
 to enter the presence of one of the most 
 unscrupulous and cruel men in all Italy, 
 and although my mission was seemingly 
 innocent, I felt sure that it might possibly 
 be fraught with weighty consequences. 
 
 I was left in a small, bare ante-chamber 
 while he who had accompanied me passed 
 into the adjoining apartment. Scarcely
 
 The Mission to Milan 117 
 
 had I taken three turns in the narrow 
 room when my guide reappeared. 
 
 " His Lordship will see you now," he 
 said. 
 
 I stepped through the doorway, and 
 found myself in a large, light reception- 
 hall at the farther end of which, near a tall 
 window, two men were standing. Between 
 them was a huge boar-hound with whose 
 ears the smaller man was toying. Al- 
 though my spurred heels rang upon the 
 oaken flooring, the two paid no heed to 
 me as I advanced. It was not until my 
 conductor spoke that either so much as 
 noticed my presence, although the dog 
 cast upon me a suspicious glance from his 
 savage eyes. 
 
 " This is the gentleman who wishes to 
 see your Lordship." 
 
 At these words from my guide the two 
 turned. The younger and smaller of them 
 was tricked out with all the finery of a 
 gallant, and showed as ugly and malicious 
 a face as it had ever been my lot to see. 
 A sneer hovered perpetually about his 
 mouth, and in his eyes there burned a
 
 n8 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 vicious and evil light. It needed no sec- 
 ond glance to tell me that this was Mas- 
 tino Visconti, called II Brutto by the 
 burgher whom I had encountered at the 
 inn. There was a resemblance between 
 father and son, but the countenance of 
 Bernabo was cast in a larger mould. In 
 it there was less cunning, but more force 
 and daring, yet the sinister stamp was as 
 clear upon it as upon that of the younger 
 man. 
 
 Having made my obeisance, I took 
 from my doublet the packet entrusted to 
 me by Gian Galeazzo. 
 
 " This," I said, placing it in Bernabo's 
 hand, " my master, your nephew and 
 dutiful son-in-law, bids me give you in 
 token of his earnest regard." 
 
 There came from II Brutto a little iron- 
 ical laugh that was hollow of mirth, 
 whereat his father cast a questioning eye 
 upon him. Then with a grunt, expressive 
 of what emotion I could not conjecture, 
 he broke the threads which bound the 
 packet, and plucked forth the gem, which 
 he held up to the light.
 
 The Mission to Milan 119 
 
 " A fine stone, by the saints ! " said he, 
 and I noticed that his face grew wolfishly 
 avaricious as he gazed at it. Presently he 
 pulled out the writing, which he deliber- 
 ately unfolded and as slowly scanned. 
 When he looked up, it was to regard me 
 critically from head to toe. 
 
 " Why do you serve such a craven as 
 this nephew and son-in-law of mine?" he 
 cried, with a snarl. " You seem a likely 
 looking youth too likely to be the mes- 
 sage-bearer of a coward ! " 
 
 I bowed my acknowledgments. 
 
 " One must serve some one or starve," 
 said I. 
 
 " Do you know what this missive con- 
 tains ? " he demanded. 
 
 "My master honored me by telling 
 me." 
 
 " What do you think," cried he, " of a 
 man who dares not visit his own father's 
 brother, his own wife's father ? Dares not ! 
 Does he think the city of Milan a den of 
 cutthroats ? Body of Christ, that my 
 daughter should have married such a pol- 
 troon ! " His grizzled upper lip lifted in
 
 I2O A Man-at-Arms 
 
 a sardonic laugh, and his white teeth 
 showed like the boar-hound's fangs. 
 
 " May not timidity be a physical infirm- 
 ity," said I, " for which one should not be 
 held accountable ? " 
 
 " It can be overcome," thundered Ber- 
 nabo. " I'll see my cowardly, praying, 
 priest-like nephew and tell him so to his 
 face. By God, I will ! ' His natural 
 timidity disinclines him to enter Milan,' 
 does it ? Well, he shall have his wish. 
 I will meet him as he desires. Will he 
 have his horde of whining priests with 
 him ? I suppose so. A fine company to 
 keep, forsooth ! " 
 
 II Brutto touched his father's arm. 
 
 " Let me see what my cousin writes," 
 he said. 
 
 Bernabo handed him the missive. 
 When he had finished reading it, he 
 scowled and whispered something in his 
 father's ear. 
 
 " You are grown amazingly cautious of 
 a sudden," said the Lord of Milan, mock- 
 ingly. " Here, Marzo," he cried, seizing 
 the letter and holding it toward the man
 
 The Mission to Milan 121 
 
 who had guided me to the apartment ; 
 " you know humanity as well as you know 
 dogs. Tell me what you think of this." 
 
 The master of Bernabo's hounds for 
 he it was ran his sharp eyes rapidly over 
 the writing, but his expression did not 
 change. 
 
 " Will your Lordship step aside a mo- 
 ment ? " he said, as he looked up. 
 
 The three men withdrew several paces 
 and began conversing in low tones. I 
 pretended in the meanwhile to be intent 
 upon something that was taking place in 
 the courtyard below, but in reality I was 
 listening intently to catch some word that 
 would give me a clew to what was passing 
 between them. I felt that both II Brutto 
 and Marzo suspected that there was a 
 hidden motive in Gian Galeazzo's request, 
 and were urging Bernabo not to meet his 
 nephew as proposed. They had, how- 
 ever, an obstinate subject to deal with. 
 
 " I tell you he's too much of a coward ! " 
 J heard the Lord of Milan blurt out, with 
 an impatient snort. 
 
 There was more talk in an undertone,
 
 122 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 then a string of imprecations burst from 
 Bernabo. 
 
 " Am I so old that I am a fool ? " he 
 cried, and I realized that they were re- 
 turning, and wheeled to face them. The 
 Lord of Milan came forward, his cruel 
 face twitching with anger. 
 
 " This is my message to your master, 
 my nephew and son-in-law, Gian Galeazzo 
 Visconti," he said, his gruff voice the 
 hoarser from ire. " Tell him that I will 
 meet him at mid-morning, three days 
 hence, without the Vercillina gate where 
 the road branches toward Varese, unless 
 in the meanwhile he has a fit of fear 
 and remains shut up with his priests and 
 clerks." 
 
 The evident opposition of II Brutto 
 and Marzo had availed nothing save to 
 enrage the Milanese despot. The for- 
 mer shrugged his shoulders as though to 
 indicate that he had no further interest 
 in the matter, while the latter kept his 
 penetrating gaze fixed upon my face. 
 
 I bowed in response to Bernabo's an- 
 nouncement, making a fitting reply, and
 
 The Mission to Milan 123 
 
 then II Brutto said that he would see me 
 back to the courtyard. He led the way 
 in taciturn silence, and as both his face 
 and manner filled me with loathing I 
 made no attempt at conversation. At 
 the head of the stairway he paused and 
 saluted me stiffly. I saw that it was not 
 his intention to descend, so returned his 
 salute with equal formality and passed 
 downward. As I reached the landing by 
 which the descent was broken, a voice ar- 
 rested my steps. Looking back, I beheld 
 Marzo above me. II Brutto had disap- 
 peared. As the master of hounds joined 
 me, I noticed that he held in his hand 
 a finely chased chain of gold whereto a 
 pendant was attached in which a large 
 emerald burned like a cat's eye in the 
 dark. He did not fail to let me have 
 a good look at the trinket, and it flashed 
 into my mind that there was method in 
 his so doing. 
 
 " You return to Pavia directly ? " he 
 said. 
 
 " At once." 
 
 "Do you find service there agreeable?"
 
 124 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " Most agreeable." 
 
 " Ah ! one of your bearing and spirit 
 under a man of no spirit ! It is difficult 
 to understand." 
 
 To this I made no reply. We had 
 halted and stood facing one another on 
 the landing, he with his legs wide apart, 
 swinging the gold chain and the gleaming 
 emerald before my eyes. I knew well 
 enough what he was about to propose, 
 and waited with some curiosity to see 
 how he would put it. He did not hesi- 
 tate long. I certainly had not given him 
 an iota of encouragement, but he went, I 
 presume, on the supposition that every 
 man has his price. 
 
 " My Lord, Bernabo Visconti," he 
 began, " has long wished that he could 
 find some one both intelligent and trust- 
 worthy who would act as his confidential 
 agent in Pavia. To such an one he would 
 be most generous ; to such an one he 
 would be pleased to present this rare bit 
 of jewelry as a token of his good faith, 
 and as earnest of the reward to follow 
 service faithfully rendered. The man
 
 The Mission to Milan 125 
 
 whom he seeks must of necessity have 
 some occupation that would keep him 
 in touch with public affairs, and be in 
 a position that would place him above 
 suspicion. Indeed, if by any chance, he 
 should be in some capacity connected 
 with the ruler of Pavia, it would be ex- 
 ceedingly advantageous. Do you not 
 know of such a person ? " 
 
 He leaned forward insinuatingly, still 
 dangling the chain and the jewel before 
 me. 
 
 " I do not," I said shortly, although I 
 was more amused than angered at so bare- 
 faced a proposal. 
 
 " Think for a moment ! " he went on, 
 seemingly not put out by my decided 
 reply. " To a young man who has his 
 way to make, such an opportunity might 
 mean a fortune. It might prove the 
 chance of a lifetime. Are you still quite 
 sure you know of no one ? " 
 
 "Yes, quite sure," said I, looking him 
 squarely in the eyes. 
 
 " I confess that I am disappointed," 
 said he, still suave, although he now
 
 126 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 ceased to swing the chain. " I thought 
 you were a youth of discernment, but we 
 all make our mistakes. You had better 
 go back to your sallow-faced coward ! " 
 
 "You had best keep to your dogs," 
 said I. 
 
 His dagger was out in a flash, but I 
 was too quick for him. Down the stair- 
 case I flew, three and four steps at a time. 
 Into the courtyard I sprang, and ran 
 toward where Hawkwood was standing. 
 Every second I expected to hear Marzo's 
 voice bidding some of the guardsmen ar- 
 rest my flight, but no word came. Not 
 until I was upon Hawkwood's back did I 
 look toward the palace doorway. There 
 I saw no sign of the master of Bernabo's 
 hounds, nor did I catch a glimpse of him 
 as I rode out into the piazza.
 
 Chapter IX 
 The Coup-de-Main 
 
 THERE was a great stir in and about 
 the Palazzo Visconti in Pavia on a 
 certain Sabbath afternoon of early May, 
 in the year 1385. News had gone abroad 
 through the city that Gian Galeazzo would, 
 that day, start upon a pilgrimage to the 
 shrine of our Lady at Varese, and a great 
 concourse had assembled to see him de- 
 part. In the square upon which the 
 palace looked, five hundred lancers were 
 drawn up to await the Lord of Pavia, half 
 the number upon one side and half upon 
 the other side of the palace entrance. A 
 brave sight they presented as Gian Gale- 
 azzo, Del Verme, the captain of the palace 
 guard, and I rode out into the piazza. 
 Line by line, troop by troop, they wheeled 
 127
 
 128 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 into marching order, and in their midst 
 we four passed the gateway of Santa Maria 
 in Portica, and set our faces toward Milan. 
 I could but think, as we held our way 
 between the fields and orchards, of the 
 change that had come over my life since 
 that day, by no means far distant, when I 
 plodded on foot along the same roadway, 
 trying to think out what line of action I 
 should follow, perplexed and uncertain as 
 regards my future. True, I had made no 
 real progress in that which I had resolved 
 to accomplish, a retraction from my father 
 of the foul slander he had put upon my 
 mother's name, yet I had a feeling that 
 the position I now held would one day 
 help me in carrying out my purpose. Of 
 Angela Canaro and her father, I had as 
 yet said nothing to my master. As I rode 
 back from my mission to Milan, I deter- 
 mined to await the outcome of the Varese 
 pilgrimage before I attempted to solicit 
 Gian Galeazzo's assistance in their behalf. 
 Hartzheim's words, together with the sub- 
 sequent trend of events, brought me to 
 this decision. There was nothing to be
 
 The Coup-de-Main 129 
 
 gained so I told myself by speaking 
 at once, and a delay, even provided noth- 
 ing came of the meeting between nephew 
 and uncle, could do no harm to the cause 
 of those in whom I was interested. 
 
 There was little talk between Del 
 Verme and the Lord of Pavia as we rode 
 onward, and the captain of the palace 
 guard and I exchanged scarcely a word. 
 Among the men there was no merriment 
 despite the fairness of the sky and of the 
 fields, and although the pennons fluttered 
 somewhat gayly overhead, and there was a 
 silvery jingling of spurs and a martial clat- 
 ter of harness, our cavalcade had in every 
 respect the air of a company setting out to 
 do homage at a distant shrine. Yet I am 
 very sure religious thoughts stirred not a 
 single heart in all that grave array. 
 
 Our pace was never beyond a gentle 
 amble, as befitted the day and my master's 
 announced intent, and it was well toward 
 evening before we reached the outskirts of 
 Benasco, at which place we planned to pass 
 the night. The mayor of the municipal- 
 ity with his associates came forth to greet
 
 130 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 us, and conducted Gian Galeazzo to the 
 house of the chief magistrate, where he was 
 to be entertained. The men bivouacked in 
 the public buildings and the castle, which 
 was the property of the Visconti, and the 
 officers were quartered with some of the 
 leading citizens. That evening, with a 
 specially selected escort, my master at- 
 tended vespers at the chief church of 
 Benasco, gave a large offering of alms, and 
 appeared to be particularly earnest in his 
 devotions. It was then, so I afterwards 
 heard, that he made a vow to the Virgin, 
 binding himself, should the expedition 
 prove favorable, to erect some holy edi- 
 fice. Out of this vow grew the stately 
 Certosa di Pavia. 
 
 When we rode from the town the next 
 morning, my place was with Del Verme 
 and my master well in the van of the 
 troops. In fact, but forty lancers, com- 
 manded by Hartzheim, preceded us, ten 
 lines with four men abreast. Thus were 
 we disposed when Hartzheim, who had 
 been riding in advance, galloped back to 
 announce that two richly arrayed horse- 
 men were approaching.
 
 The Coup-de-Main 131 
 
 " Very likely they are the bearers of 
 messages from your uncle to your Lord- 
 ship," said the German. 
 
 " Conduct them to me when they come 
 up," said my master, and Hartzheim hast- 
 ened away to execute his order. 
 
 " When they approach, seize and dis- 
 arm them whoever they are ! " exclaimed 
 my master, addressing Del Verme. 
 
 " It shall be as you command," an- 
 swered the soldier, who bade me give the 
 lancers about us the necessary directions. 
 
 The lines in front of us now opened, 
 and between them came Hartzheim, con- 
 ducting two middle-aged men of evident 
 rank. 
 
 " Ah, cousins, a fair greeting ! " cried 
 Gian Galeazzo when he saw them. 
 
 " A fair greeting to you ! " cried they, 
 in return; but before they could speak fur- 
 ther they were suddenly set upon by the 
 lancers nearest them and disarmed before 
 they could offer the least resistance. In 
 vain they protested to Gian Galeazzo, 
 who, without the least exhibition of feel- 
 ing, ordered them to be taken to the rear.
 
 132 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Thus did Ludovico and Rodolfo Visconti 
 disappear from the public stage. 
 
 For some time we had been able to see 
 the spires of Milan, and now as the walls 
 came plainly into view my master began 
 to show signs of nervousness. He moved 
 uneasily in his saddle, and as I cast a look 
 at him covertly from the corner of my eye 
 I noticed that his face had assumed the 
 colorless, pasty appearance it had worn 
 during the early part of my memorable first 
 meeting with him. Hartzheim had sent 
 back word that a number of mounted men 
 were approaching, and Del Verme had rid- 
 den forward to view them. He returned 
 shortly with the announcement, 
 
 " It is your Lordship's uncle. His 
 escort numbers only about twenty-five. 
 The affair will be an easy matter." 
 
 The Visconti's countenance gained a 
 little color at this, yet he was still visibly 
 anxious. 
 
 " Keep near me, Delia Verria," he said, 
 " and have your eyes open." 
 
 There was not a shadow of doubt in 
 regard to what was about to happen.
 
 The Coup-de-Main 133 
 
 Bernabo Visconti was to be made a 
 prisoner. 
 
 We had now approached a building of 
 considerable size, the hospital of San Am- 
 brosio, which stood near where the road- 
 way branched toward Varese. The lancers 
 in front of us halted, and then the whole 
 troop came to a standstill. As those in 
 the van wheeled their horses to one side, 
 we descried the figure of Bernabo Vis- 
 conti, mounted upon a white mule, riding 
 several paces in advance of his attendants. 
 Onward he came between the array of 
 spears, seemingly unsuspicious of his fate. 
 I looked keenly among those who followed 
 him, but discovered neither the evil face 
 of II Brutto nor the dark countenance of 
 the master of hounds. 
 
 Gian Galeazzo, Del Verme, and several 
 others, myself among the number, had 
 dismounted to receive the Lord of Milan. 
 As two guardsmen grasped the bridle of 
 his mule and Bernabo sprang to the 
 ground, my master with outstretched arms 
 and pleasant words advanced toward his 
 uncle, who suffered himself to be embraced.
 
 1 34 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 But before on his part a syllable had 
 been spoken, and while uncle and nephew 
 had scarcely yet parted from their em- 
 brace, I heard my master's voice ring out 
 as I had never heard it before " Strike ! " 
 
 At that instant a clarion sounded, and 
 while the lancers swiftly encompassed the 
 astonished and discomfited Milanese, Del 
 Verme presented his sword at Bernabo's 
 breast and informed him that he was a 
 prisoner. 
 
 The whole thing was so quickly, so 
 quietly, so masterfully done, that not a 
 drop of blood was shed, and not one of 
 the tyrant's escort escaped. In less than 
 half an hour we were at the Vercellina 
 gate, and not a hand was lifted to oppose 
 our triumphal entry. From street to 
 street, from house to house, as by aerial 
 magic, spread the news, and by the time 
 we reached the piazza and the ancient 
 palace of the Delia Torre a throng had 
 gathered that, with unmistakable acclama- 
 tions of joy, hailed Gian Galeazzo as their 
 deliverer. 
 
 Signs and omens were not lacking in the
 
 The Coup-de-Main 135 
 
 heavens at this time, foretelling that some 
 great event was about to take place ; for, 
 according to Pietro Azario, a learned no- 
 tary of Novara, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars 
 were then in the House of the Twins ; 
 and, eight days previous, a furious bolt of 
 lightning cast down from the summit of 
 Bernabo's palace that stood over against 
 the church of San Georgio, a gilded viper, 
 the ensign of the house of the Visconti.
 
 Chapter X 
 The Last March of Bernabo 
 
 NOT many days after the seizure of 
 Bernabo Visconti, and the tri- 
 umphal entry of Gian Galeazzo into Milan, 
 a troop of fifty men-at-arms gathered in 
 the courtyard of the palace which had 
 formerly been the chief residence of the 
 Milan despot. My master had already 
 transferred his household from Pavia, 
 those of Bernabo's retainers who had not 
 fled had either been sent into exile or im- 
 prisoned, and Gian Galeazzo had been 
 proclaimed the ruler of the city. Many 
 of the towns that had formerly owed al- 
 legiance to Bernabo had hastened to swear 
 fealty to the new lord, and each succeed- 
 ing day gave evidence that throughout 
 Lombardy, wherever the news spread, 
 136
 
 The Last March of Bernabo 137 
 
 folk hailed with delight the change so 
 subtly and bloodlessly wrought. 
 
 In the centre of the troop of men-at- 
 arms, all of whom were mounted, his arms 
 pinioned to his sides, sat a man who for 
 many a year had inspired fear not only 
 within rhe walls of the fair city which he 
 ruled, but throughout all the fertile region 
 over which his dominion extended. To 
 what was passing about him he gave no 
 heed. With head half bent, and eyes 
 fixed and vacant, he seemed unconscious 
 of the curious scrutiny of the troopers 
 who surrounded him. Only once did I 
 notice any shade of emotion upon his face, 
 and this was when he raised his eyes and 
 found me sitting upon Hawkwood at his 
 left. Then, with the look of recognition, 
 there came a sharp contraction of his heavy 
 brows, which instantly disappeared as he 
 glanced at Hartzheim stationed upon his 
 other side. Presently Del Verme emerged 
 from the palace, mounted, and placed 
 himself at the head of the troop. As we 
 rode from the courtyard into the piazza 
 a low murmur rose from the crowd there
 
 138 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 awaiting our appearance, a murmur that 
 swelled into a shout of exultation. If 
 Bernabo was stirred by the outcry, no line 
 of his countenance showed it. He did 
 not even glance toward the sea of faces 
 that heaved about us in such a passionate 
 mingling of hate and joy, hate of the 
 fallen tyrant, and joy that his power was 
 at an end. The young and the old, the 
 high and the low, one and all, regardless 
 of condition or sex, from street, from 
 window, and from housetop, flung their 
 taunts and their execrations at the de- 
 posed tyrant. But not until we had passed 
 beyond the walls did the feeling which the 
 acts of Bernabo had inspired become fully 
 evident. As we turned our faces toward 
 Monza we saw, dotted here and there for 
 some distance, groups of peasants who 
 had gathered by the roadside. As we 
 neared the first group, which was com- 
 posed of both men and women, perhaps 
 a dozen in number, a shrill outcry was 
 raised, the voices of the women mounting 
 high above those of the men, fierce, 
 clamorous, and vindictive.
 
 The Last March of Bernabo 139 
 
 " Let us see the face of the devil ! Let 
 us see how he looks ! " they cried, press- 
 ing close to us, and searching eagerly for 
 him who rode in our midst. When they 
 saw Bernabo, with his arms pinioned and 
 his head averted, mighty was the shout 
 that went up. Another group now came 
 hastening toward us, unable, in their eager- 
 ness to gaze upon their persecutor in his 
 abasement, to wait until we had reached 
 them. A woman led them, wild of eye 
 and with streaming hair. With gleeful 
 cries and frantic motions of her arms she 
 bade her companions hurry on. 
 
 " There he is ! " she shrieked, flinging a 
 long skinny finger at Bernabo. " I should 
 know him in the blackest night. O you 
 fiend out of hell, you shall behold your 
 work ! " Into the crowd she plunged and 
 drew one forth by the hand whose face 
 was a horror to see, for where the eyes had 
 been stared two burned and blackened 
 holes. 
 
 " Look ! look ! " the woman cried, in a 
 voice so commanding that even Bernabo 
 was constrained to gaze toward her ; " this
 
 140 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 is my son, my only son. What crime did 
 he commit ? What wrong did he do ? 
 none ! but two dogs of which he had 
 charge sickened and died, and you must 
 have his eyes plucked out. Curse him, 
 my son ! " 
 
 " Aye ! curse him with me ! " exclaimed 
 a stalwart fellow, lifting the stump of his 
 right arm as he hurled an awful impreca- 
 tion at Bernabo. 
 
 " And with me ! " another cried, who, to 
 keep pace with us, made desperate leaps 
 upon his crutch over the uneven ground. 
 
 So for a mile and more this pitiful 
 scene was enacted. At first it seemed to 
 have but little effect upon our prisoner, 
 but after a time I perceived that he began 
 to shake like one having the ague or 
 palsy. He gnawed his lip, he glanced 
 apprehensively from side to side as though 
 he feared that the enraged men and women 
 would burst through our ranks, drag him 
 from his horse, and rend him in pieces. 
 Indeed, I could but feel that this was the 
 fate he deserved. 
 
 It was a vast relief when we at length
 
 The Last March of Bernabo 141 
 
 left the last group of the wronged and 
 maimed behind. The sights I had wit- 
 nessed, the tales I had heard, were burned 
 deep into my brain, and I began to won- 
 der if the man by whose side I rode was 
 not some incarnation of evil sent upon 
 earth to scourge humanity. As for Hartz- 
 heim, I noticed that he shrank away from 
 Bernabo as though he were one afflicted 
 with the black death. 
 
 It lacked yet an hour of noon when we 
 rode into Monza. Our appearance, how- 
 ever, created but little stir in the streets, 
 for Bernabo was not recognized. True, 
 one of the troopers bore the ensign of 
 Gian Galeazzo, the ensign which later was 
 to inspire dread throughout entire north- 
 ern Italy, but it then stood for nothing in 
 the eyes of the beholders. The design 
 was that of a serpent from whose mouth 
 was issuing a naked child. This it was 
 that, in after time, caused Gian Galeazzo 
 Visconti to be called the Great Serpent, or 
 the Great Viper, // Biscione. 
 
 We had just debouched into the piazza, 
 and were riding in loose rank, save the
 
 142 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 few of us who were directly about Ber- 
 nabo, when a dull sound as of the hoofs 
 of many horses came suddenly to my ear. 
 
 " What is that ? " I called to Hartz- 
 heim, as I reined Hawkwood. 
 
 He, too, had heard the noise, as had 
 others among our comrades, and there 
 were curious glances cast in the direction 
 from which it proceeded. None of us, 
 however, dreamed what was about to 
 occur. Del Verme's attention was now 
 attracted by the growing sound, and he 
 had little more than given the order to 
 
 O 
 
 close ranks when a band of thirty horse- 
 men burst into the square a little in ad- 
 vance upon our right, and charged at full 
 tilt diagonally down upon us. 
 
 We had come forth anticipating no such 
 encounter, and there were not more than 
 a dozen lances among us, while there were 
 twice that number in the attacking party, 
 so while we had fifty men and they but 
 thirty, they had at the outset the distinct 
 advantage. Moreover, many of us had 
 donned only the very lightest body armor, 
 while our assailants were armed cap-a-pie.
 
 The Last March of Bernabo 143 
 
 Scarcely had our dozen lancers time to 
 form in front for the protection of the rest 
 of our troop when our foe was upon us, 
 and we were borne backward by the im- 
 petus of the onset. 
 
 " A rescue ! a rescue ! " was the cry they 
 raised, and I heard Del Verme shout 
 above the din of the melee, 
 
 " Look out for the prisoner ! " 
 
 Indeed, I had quite forgotten him in the 
 suddenness of the attack, and now that I 
 turned to look at him I found his mien 
 had changed from that of sullen submis- 
 sion to that of enraged resistance. He 
 was tugging fiercely at the bonds that pin- 
 ioned his arms, and was galling the horse 
 he bestrode so viciously with the stirrup 
 that the animal plunged and snorted and 
 threatened to do serious injury. 
 
 " Be quiet, you hound of hell ! " I 
 heard Hartzheim cry, as he flashed his 
 sword before Bernabo's eyes. Then I 
 realized that I must have a care for my 
 own safety. 
 
 At the first onrush I had been so 
 hedged about by others that none of the
 
 144 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 foe came near me, but now that our ranks 
 had in a measure been broken, the men 
 were fighting in little groups, and against 
 those of us about Bernabo the most 
 desperate attack was presently directed. 
 Lances had been cast aside, and we were 
 engaged with our swords hand to hand. 
 So many of our troop had been unhorsed 
 or slain in the first contact that we now 
 fought with almost equal numbers ; indeed 
 it seemed to me that the fortune of the 
 day appeared to be going against us. I 
 could hear Del Verme's shouts of cheer 
 from the other side of the press, and see- 
 ing Hartzheim had pushed his way to a 
 place upon my left, I concluded that he 
 had given Bernabo into another's charge. 
 Presently there was such a bickering of 
 steel as I had never before known, the like 
 of which I was not to behold again in 
 many a day. Had not Hartzheim been 
 close at hand to encourage and aid me I 
 doubt if I should have come off as well as 
 I did ; for despite all my training and 
 instruction at his hands, I was far from 
 being wholly at home in the saddle. I
 
 The Last March of Bernabo 145 
 
 owed much also to Hawk wood, who 
 seemed, undirected, always to make the 
 right move. 
 
 My comrade and I had just given two 
 lusty fellows so sharp a taste of our blades 
 that they were glad to rein to the edge of 
 the fray, when I saw two riders forcing 
 their way toward us, cutting right and left 
 as they came. The beavers of both men 
 were raised, and I recognized them in- 
 stantly. They were the leaders of the 
 attack, II Brutto, Bernabo's son, and 
 Marzo, his master of the hounds. I had 
 not more than time to communicate to 
 Hartzheim who they were ere they were 
 upon us. Marzo was my antagonist, and 
 he assailed me with a ferocity I had never 
 before encountered. Almost unprotected 
 as I was by armor, a light coat of linked 
 mail being the only bit of harness that I 
 wore, it seemed for a few seconds that I 
 was doomed, but the fact that I was un- 
 incumbered really proved my salvation. 
 Though the force of my antagonist's 
 strokes several times came near beating 
 down my guard, the complete freedom of
 
 146 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 my arm enabled me the more readily to 
 parry, while I could twist and turn and 
 bend unhampered by the cumbersome 
 plates and joints of steel. Had I been on 
 foot, and had the man opposed to me been 
 as I was, but lightly protected, despite his 
 terrible strength I should not have felt 
 compelled to stand so entirely upon the 
 defensive. I should not have wondered, as 
 I now did, how long it would be before he 
 would overpower me by sheer might. My 
 suppleness, my nimbleness, would have 
 told for something more than mere evasion. 
 
 I could see that my resistance was fast 
 working Marzo into a more fiery rage. 
 He flung out an awful oath. 
 
 "By the blood of Christ!" said he; 
 " what power protects you ? " 
 
 I saw him rise in his stirrups, and my 
 blade went up to meet the downward rush 
 of his steel. But the blow never came. I 
 was conscious of a gleaming line of light 
 and an arm thrust between us. As Hawk- 
 wood swerved to make room for the horse 
 of Hartzheim, out from under Marzo's 
 gorget came a bright spurt of blood, and
 
 The Death of the Master of the Hounds. Page 146
 
 The Last March of Bernabo 147 
 
 the body of Bernabo's master of hounds 
 fell forward upon the neck of his steed, a 
 limp and lifeless thing. 
 
 II Brutto had already fled discomfited, 
 and with his disappearance and Marzo's 
 death the soul animating the attack was 
 gone. The others soon took to their 
 heels. 
 
 A sorry sight was the piazza of Monza 
 after the flight of our assailants. Pres- 
 ently the terrified townsfolk ventured out 
 and assisted us in removing the bodies of 
 the dead and in caring for the wounded. 
 Leaving those who were unable to mount 
 in the charge of some of the kindly-hearted 
 citizens, our thinned and scarred troop 
 rode forward with our prisoner in our 
 midst. Bernabo's mood had again be- 
 come that of sullen dejection, and scarcely 
 once through the long hours of our march 
 did he raise his head, not even when we 
 passed through the gateway of the fortress 
 of Trezzo, which he himself had caused 
 to be raised on the banks of the rushing 
 Adda, from which he never reappeared to 
 the eyes of man.
 
 Chapter XI 
 The Face at the Casement 
 
 SOON after Gian Galeazzo Visconti 
 was established as Lord of Milan, he 
 entered into a league with the Lord of 
 Padua, the Marquis of Ferrara, and the 
 Marquis of Mantua, for the purpose of 
 freeing Italy from the companies of Ger- 
 man, French, and English mercenaries, 
 that, under the nominal employ of vari- 
 ous petty princes, had incited wars and 
 devastated country and town in wanton 
 pillage. Great things were hoped for as 
 the outcome of this confederation. A 
 banner with a blue field was chosen, 
 whereupon the inscription " Pax " was 
 emblazoned. A new era was to be in- 
 augura.ted, an era of peace and good will. 
 In this movement my master was the 
 148
 
 The Face at the Casement 149 
 
 impelling force, and at first no one ques- 
 tioned his sincerity. His well-known 
 timidity, his apparent love of justice, his 
 fondness for quiet and scholarly pursuits, 
 made it seem natural that he should wish 
 to live in amity with all men. His over- 
 throw of Bernabo was looked upon merely 
 as a matter of self-preservation. 
 
 Upon the business of the league I was 
 despatched far and near, and one of my 
 first missions was to Padua, whither I was 
 sent with important letters to the lord of 
 the city, Francesco da Carrara. When 
 Gian Galeazzo gave me his commands, 
 my heart leaped with delight, and for two 
 reasons. Padua had been my mother's 
 home, and I deemed that there, if any- 
 where, I should be able to get some trace 
 of the surviving members of her family. 
 To them I intended to make myself 
 known, and through them I hoped to 
 come to an understanding of my father's 
 unnatural and, I felt sure, unfounded 
 aspersions upon my mother's memory. 
 
 The other reason for the quickening 
 of my pulse was the fact that my journey
 
 150 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 would take me through Brescia, whither 
 my thoughts had daily turned during the 
 weeks that had elapsed since my advent- 
 urous experiences there. Perhaps I 
 should see Angela Canaro again ! Cer- 
 tainly I should make bold to call upon 
 her father, to express my regret at Ar- 
 dotti's sad end, the news of which came 
 soon after my master's entry into Milan, 
 and hope whispered in my ear that pos- 
 sibly there might be a second face to give 
 me greeting at the palace of the Canari. 
 
 But my fair anticipations were destined 
 to be frosted by disappointment. Signor 
 Canaro was not in Brescia, and when I 
 ventured to ask the servant who answered 
 my summons if his master were likely to 
 be long absent (I had it in my mind that 
 perhaps I might find him when I rode 
 back from Padua), the evasive reply I 
 received showed me that my inquiries 
 were regarded with suspicion. Recalling 
 that on my first visit to Brescia, Signorina 
 Canaro had just returned from Verona, 
 I haunted the streets and public places 
 of the latter city a whole day in the hope
 
 The Face at the Casement 151 
 
 of getting a glimpse of father or daughter. 
 It was in vain that I did so. And yet, 
 notwithstanding my lack of success, it was 
 only the urgency of my mission that pre- 
 vented me from continuing the search. 
 
 At Padua another blow awaited me. I 
 learned that my mother's only surviving 
 near relative was a cousin, the son of the 
 uncle and aunt by whom she had been 
 reared, one who had been a wanderer for 
 years, returning to his home only at rare 
 intervals. From the steward who had 
 charge of his property for he still had 
 interests in Padua I ascertained that he 
 was at present somewhere in Germany, 
 the man could not say exactly where, as he 
 had received no communication from him 
 for several months. The best that I 
 could do was to despatch a letter to my 
 cousin, acquainting him with my existence 
 (of which I was by no means sure he was 
 aware, since during my recollection there 
 had been no communication between my 
 father and my mother's kin) and with my 
 earnest desire to see him, and begging 
 him when he should return to Padua, to
 
 152 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 inform me of the fact. This done, and 
 my mission to Francesco da Carrara 
 accomplished, I set my face disconsolately 
 toward Milan. 
 
 Had I had time, at this juncture, to 
 indulge in much reflection, I doubt not I 
 should have given myself over to melan- 
 choly ; but hardly had I returned and 
 made my report to Gian Galeazzo before 
 I was again bidden to ride forth. So for 
 several months after my mission to Padua 
 I had little chance to brood over my ill- 
 success in seeing the lady of my heart and 
 in finding the last representative of my 
 mother's family. But at length there 
 came a period of inaction. I was no 
 longer sent hither and yon upon the 
 business of the league. The confederation 
 which had promised so fairly at the outset, 
 upon which all those really interested in the 
 prosperity and peace of Italy based such 
 high hopes, seemed likely to fail, to be 
 completely abandoned. The cause of its 
 failure, so I one day heard my master 
 aver, was the jealousy and suspicion with 
 which its promoters regarded one another.
 
 The Face at the Casement 153 
 
 Gian Galeazzo professed himself to be 
 entirely free from any such feeling, and 
 placed the blame entirely upon his con- 
 federates ; but I, who had seen much of 
 the inner workings of the league, was 
 not to be deceived by his words. In 
 fact, I soon made up my mind that it 
 was the Visconti alone who was respon- 
 sible for the dissolution of the confedera- 
 tion. 
 
 This discovery did not add to my 
 happiness. Up to this time I had looked 
 upon my master as a man of honor, one 
 whose ambitions were higher than the 
 other rulers of the day, who had in view 
 the good of those whom he governed. 
 I had always realized that his nature was 
 shrewd and calculating rather than sympa- 
 thetic, but his intentions I had never 
 mistrusted. Now I began to see that he 
 was avaricious both of wealth and power. 
 Before many months I was to learn that he 
 was totally unscrupulous. The pleasure 
 and pride I had always taken in serving 
 him were gone, and I grew moody and 
 discontented.
 
 154 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Hartzheim rallied me for what he called 
 my visionary ideas. 
 
 " They are all the same, these lords and 
 princes," said he. " I could have told you 
 what you now know long ago." 
 
 But in spite of my friend's bantering, 
 and the general good cheer which he suf- 
 fused, my spirits continued under a cloud. 
 The future looked dark. I heard nothing 
 from Padua ; I had almost ceased to hope 
 that I should ever see Angela Canaro 
 again, although I thought of her by day 
 and dreamed of her by night ; and as for 
 my father, from him came neither word 
 nor sign to show that he cared whether I 
 were living or dead. 
 
 One afternoon late in the winter of 
 1387, when the heat of the sun had begun 
 to temper the dampness and chill of the 
 air, as I was leaving the palace in search 
 of Hartzheim, it chancing that we were 
 both off duty, I encountered three horse- 
 men with their attendants about halting 
 at the gateway. In the foremost of the 
 riders I recognized a man whom I had 
 seen at the court of the Lord of Padua,
 
 The Face at the Casement 155 
 
 one high in the councils of that ruler. 
 Later in the day I met him again this 
 time passing through one of the corridors 
 of the palace in earnest conversation with 
 my master. 
 
 " Are they going to attempt to revive 
 the league," I thought, " or is something 
 else on foot ? " 
 
 The strangers remained two days in 
 Milan, then rode away, and they passed 
 from my mind until a morning two weeks 
 later when I was summoned into Gian 
 Galeazzo's presence. 
 
 " You have been low-spirited of late, 
 Delia Verria," he said ; " though I have 
 seen little of you that has not escaped me. 
 Inaction, I know, is like a disease to 
 young blood, and I have called you to 
 me to set you riding again, even as far as 
 Padua." 
 
 My master smiled as he noted the look 
 of pleasure that crossed my face. 
 
 " It is good news to you, I see," he 
 remarked. 
 
 " It is indeed," I said, leaving him to 
 infer that the cause of my manifest delight
 
 156 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 was the thought of being once more in the 
 saddle. 
 
 " I should like to have you start at 
 once. Here is a letter which you are to 
 deliver to Francesco da Carrara, or to his 
 son, Francesco Novello. You shall not 
 lack for that which will stir your blood 
 now, Delia Verria. I remember once 
 hearing you say that you did not wish to 
 remain behind if there were active service 
 in the field. Well, you shall soon have 
 your desire." 
 
 I did not need to have the meaning of 
 these words explained to me. The men 
 from Padua had been ambassadors from 
 Francesco da Carrara, to solicit the assist- 
 ance of Gian Galeazzo against Antonio 
 della Scala of Verona, with whom the 
 Lord of Padua had been engaged in con- 
 flict for nearly a year. I was to be the 
 bearer of the missive announcing the Vis- 
 conti's decision to render the requested 
 aid. Had I but known what was erelong 
 to happen, with how earnest a warning 
 against such an alliance would I have 
 delivered this letter ; for Francesco da
 
 The Face at the Casement 157 
 
 Carrara was a noble prince, one who in 
 no wise deserved to be drawn into the 
 snares that Gian Galeazzo finally wove for 
 his undoing ! But I was no seer, and 
 could not read the stars, nor could I 
 detect the subtle schemes that had begun 
 to take form within my master's brain. 
 
 " Your Lordship has ever been most 
 gracious to me," I said. 
 
 " There may be greater rewards than 
 you have dreamed of in store for you, if 
 you continue to serve me well." 
 
 I thanked my master, deep in my heart 
 the while regretting that I had lost faith 
 in his truth and high purpose. 
 
 " Here is another missive which I shall 
 ask you to deliver on your way to Padua," 
 said the Visconti, holding out to me a 
 second folded and sealed slip of parch- 
 ment. "It is to be given to a citizen of 
 Brescia, a man well known, so that you 
 will have no difficulty in finding his resi- 
 dence. His name, as you will see by the 
 superscription, is Vincenzo Canaro." 
 
 It was well that I glanced down at the 
 letter, as Gian Galeazzo referred to the
 
 158 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 address, else had he surely seen by the ex- 
 pression of my countenance that the name 
 was not new to my ears. Why, I cannot 
 say, there now came over me a feeling of 
 relief at the thought that I had never 
 appealed to my master in behalf of Signor 
 Canaro and his daughter, that Gian 
 Galeazzo was not aware that I had any 
 knowledge of their existence. 
 
 My mind was busy with conjectures in 
 regard to what the second missive might 
 contain as I bowed myself from my mas- 
 ter's presence, and went to prepare for 
 my journey. Yet, puzzle as I would over 
 the matter, I could arrive at no satisfac- 
 tory conclusion. One thing, however, 
 seemed likely; namely, that Signor Canaro 
 was in Brescia, and that I would see him. 
 Should I see the lovely face of his daugh- 
 ter as well, and, if so, would she remember 
 me ? Again, as many times before, my 
 breast was torn by fears, fears that her 
 heart, and indeed her hand, might by this 
 time have been given to another. "Oh, 
 you fond fool," I had often said to my- 
 self, " how can you be so senseless as to
 
 The Face at the Casement 159 
 
 imagine that in the brief meeting at her 
 home she bestowed upon you more than 
 the polite attention she would naturally 
 give to a guest ! " And yet each time I 
 thus upbraided my folly there came back 
 to my memory her look at parting. 
 Truly the doting lover will pin his hopes 
 upon the most intangible things ! 
 
 Hawkwood was as glad as I to be out 
 under the blue vault of the sky once 
 more, and famous was the progress that 
 we made. As we passed, at the verge of 
 noon, through the outskirts of Treviglio, 
 I noticed in the stable yard of a well-kept 
 little inn two sleek-limbed horses and two 
 fine palfreys. " Some people of quality 
 are riding abroad," I thought; and, glanc- 
 ing at the inn windows, I had a flitting 
 view of a face at one of the upper case- 
 ments. The sight startled me, and I 
 reined Hawkwood, but I saw no further 
 sign of the occupant of the room though I 
 scrutinized the casement several minutes. 
 I was half minded to pause at the inn for 
 refreshments instead of at one further on, 
 where I had formerly been well served ;
 
 160 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 but finally, with a smile at what seemed 
 my foolish fancy, I rode on. The face 
 at the window had reminded me of Angela 
 Canaro. Had I yielded to my impulse, 
 how different might have been the after 
 pages of this history ! 
 
 That evening, for the third time, I 
 stood looking at the arms of the Canari 
 above the palace entrance while I waited 
 for an answer to my summons. 
 
 " Is Signor Canaro within ? " I asked 
 of the servant who presently appeared. 
 " I have a missive for him from the Lord 
 of Milan." 
 
 " Signor Canaro left for Milan on the 
 afternoon of yesterday," was the reply I 
 received. " He was to pass the night at 
 Chiari, and should by this time have 
 reached his destination." 
 
 " And the Signorina ? " I exclaimed, 
 amazed and disappointed at the news. 
 
 " Accompanied him, Signore." 
 
 Then it had not been my imagination. 
 It was the face of Angela Canaro that I 
 had seen at the casement of the inn at 
 Treviglio !
 
 Chapter XII 
 At Padua 
 
 ON the evening of the following 
 day but one I wandered out into 
 the streets of Padua. I had delivered the 
 communication from my master into the 
 hands of Francesco da Carrara, and had 
 endeavored vainly to find my cousin's 
 steward. He had left the city for a day 
 or two. Should I await his return, and 
 endeavor to learn if he knew anything 
 more definite in regard to my cousin's 
 whereabouts ? Reason said that this was 
 the thing to do, yet something in my 
 heart urged me back to Milan. I had 
 been unable to dismiss the Treviglio inci- 
 dent from my mind, and a hundred times 
 had I upbraided my perverseness in not 
 following my impulse to stop at the inn. 
 
 M 1 6 I
 
 1 62 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 My only solace was the thought that 
 Angela Canaro and her father were at 
 Milan. I told myself that I was pretty 
 sure to get trace of them, inasmuch as all 
 indication pointed to some matter of com- 
 mon interest (and of considerable im- 
 portance) between my master and Signer 
 Canaro what, I was wholly at a loss to 
 imagine. Sooner or later I was likely to 
 encounter the Brescian noble at the palace, 
 if I did not chance upon him elsewhere. 
 
 While I was thus ruminating I gave 
 small heed to whither my steps were lead- 
 ing me, and did not realize that I had 
 strayed into a little-frequented street. 
 There was a half moon in a clear sky, and 
 the air was soft with the first breath of 
 spring. As I passed the entrance to an 
 alley-way that was packed with gloom, I 
 grew suddenly conscious of a sense of 
 danger. But the intuition came too late to 
 enable me to escape unharmed. I have 
 always believed, however, that it saved my 
 life, for the movement which I involun- 
 tarily made caused the blow, which other- 
 wise must have crushed my head to a
 
 At Padua 163 
 
 jelly, to fall obliquely. I reeled against 
 the wall, vainly clutching at it with one 
 hand for support, while with the other I 
 recall that I attempted to draw my sword. 
 Then there came a black blur before my 
 eyes, and I thought myself falling, falling, 
 through bottomless depths of space. 
 
 A bright light that dazed me when I 
 tried to look at it brought me to a reali- 
 zation of regained consciousness. I felt 
 myself lifted and borne along some dis- 
 tance. Then there came a halt, and I 
 heard the swinging back of doors. Soon 
 I knew that I was being carried up a stair- 
 way, then the arms that had held me so 
 firmly were loosened, and I was laid upon 
 a couch which seemed so deliciously soft 
 that I remember thinking it must be 
 eider-down. 
 
 Another day had come when I once 
 more opened my eyes. The room in 
 which I found myself was lofty and spa- 
 cious. There were rich tapestries upon the 
 walls, and the ceiling was beautifully deco- 
 rated with a fresco of vines and flowers. 
 The couch which had seemed so soft the
 
 164 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 night before proved to be a great bedstead 
 elaborately carved. I raised myself upon 
 my elbow and looked about me. There 
 was no one in the room. I saw my clothes 
 upon a chair near the bed, and after sitting 
 up, and finding that I had lost but little 
 strength, I began slowly to get into them. 
 I was dizzy at first, but, as I progressed, 
 this feeling passed away. I took a swallow 
 of wine from a decanter which stood upon 
 the table, and presently, when I had bathed 
 my head, which, in one particular spot, was 
 painfully sore, I felt quite myself, save for 
 a slight unsteadiness when I tried to walk. 
 
 While I was contemplating which of the 
 two doors issuing from the apartment I 
 should try, one of them softly opened, and 
 a man stood upon the threshold. He 
 was of middle age, and though tall and 
 erect had the air of the scholar rather than 
 that of the soldier. There was a singular 
 winningness in his whole face, despite the 
 deep lines of sadness and restlessness about 
 his eyes. I felt drawn toward him in a 
 way which I could not understand. 
 
 That my host and rescuer for such I
 
 At Padua 165 
 
 at once conceived him to be was sur- 
 prised to find me dressed and upon my 
 feet, his face clearly showed. 
 
 " A wise young man," said he, with a 
 grave smile, " after receiving such a blow 
 as you got last night, would have kept his 
 bed at least till noon." 
 
 " I never made any pretence to wis- 
 dom," I replied ; " but of gratitude, Sig- 
 nore, my heart is full." 
 
 He waved his hand to silence my ex- 
 pression of thanks. 
 
 " It was unfortunate," he said, " that I 
 did not arrive sooner upon the scene. I 
 fancy the rascals who attacked you had 
 already relieved you of whatever valua- 
 bles you had about your person, and had 
 left you for dead." 
 
 " They are quite welcome to my purse," 
 I answered, " for I have more gold in my 
 doublet, and to all my rings, save one 
 which was my mother's." 
 
 " Your mother is not living, then ? " 
 my rescuer said softly. " You will par- 
 don the question, I hope, if I ask you 
 who your mother was, and if you are said
 
 1 66 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 to resemble her ? Your face " he hesi- 
 tated as though moved by some strong 
 emotion " your face is so wonderfully 
 like one I once knew and loved." 
 
 As he spoke the last words his voice 
 sank almost to a whisper, while his eyes 
 with a singular eagerness were fixed on 
 mine. I had a feeling that much hung 
 upon my reply, though just what revela- 
 tion it might lead to, curiously perhaps, 
 did not occur to me. 
 
 "Yes," I said, "I have been told by 
 my father that I have my mother's looks. 
 She was a Paduan, and her maiden name 
 was Bianca Gambacorta." 
 
 " I might have known it ! " he cried, 
 " I might have known it ! The same 
 curve of the brows, the same expression 
 about the mouth, the same nose and chin ; 
 and then the eyes ! " He came toward me 
 with hands outstretched. 
 
 " Luigi," he said, "I remember that 
 we heard you were called Luigi, wel- 
 come to your mother's home ! " 
 
 How strange it all seemed to me a few 
 hours later, and yet how fortunate ! In-
 
 At Padua 167 
 
 deed, I blessed the thieves who had way- 
 laid and robbed me, for through them I 
 had found my cousin. The letter which 
 I had entrusted to the care of his steward 
 had never reached him, having been lost 
 in transmission, and but for what appeared 
 the intervention of fate years might have 
 elapsed before we encountered each other. 
 Now Alberto Gambacorta seemed like an 
 old friend. He had heard the story of 
 my life with rapt attention, and I related 
 everything to him without reserve. More 
 than once when I mentioned my father's 
 name a cloud passed over his kindly face, 
 and when I told him of the cause of my 
 quitting home he sprang up in unmistak- 
 able pain and agitation. It was some mo- 
 ments before he regained his self-control, 
 but once having mastered his anger, there 
 was no recurrence of the strong passion 
 that had moved him. 
 
 When I had finished speaking he sat 
 for a long time in thought, his eyes 
 averted. Finally he raised his head. 
 
 " There are but two of us, Luigi," he 
 said. " Why should we live apart ?
 
 1 68 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Will you not, after a little, make this 
 house your home ? I realize that there 
 are certain reasons for your returning to 
 Milan, but will you not promise me that 
 as soon as may be you will come back to 
 this roof for an abiding-place? It was 
 here that your mother spent her early 
 happy days, and while it is mine now, it 
 is the same as yours, for yours it will one 
 day be." 
 
 " The promise you ask," I answered, 
 " is most gladly given. I have told you 
 that I have begun to distrust the Visconti, 
 and would willingly quit his service. 
 This already seems to me like home. 
 Even now I would remain were it not 
 for " here I hesitated. 
 
 " I think I understand," my cousin 
 said. " You would make report to your 
 master, and give to him duly your reasons 
 for quitting his employ ; you would have 
 a last interview with your father ; and 
 you would see if you cannot find some 
 trace of the whereabouts of a certain 
 maiden. Am I not right ? " 
 
 "In the main you are. But why
 
 At Padua 169 
 
 should I seek my father's presence if I 
 cannot force him to retract his base impu- 
 tations ? " 
 
 " I feel that you will be able to do this 
 when you have heard the story of my life 
 and that of your mother, though perchance 
 then you will wish to retract your promise 
 to return to Padua." 
 
 With these words my cousin left me to 
 rest (for my head had times of throbbing 
 painfully) and to meditate upon his part- 
 ing speech, together with the strange chance 
 which had brought me under the roof 
 where my mother had spent her maiden- 
 hood. It was not until we sat at dinner 
 over a confection of prunes and the last of 
 a flask of lacrima Christi that he turned 
 back for me the leaves of the book of the 
 past. I saw by his manner that it was an 
 ordeal to him, this laying bare of a life 
 full of painful memories, and from first 
 to last I did not once break in upon his 
 narrative. 
 
 " You have doubtless heard, Luigi," he 
 began, " that your mother was reared by 
 an uncle and aunt, my father and mother.
 
 i jo A Man-at-Arms 
 
 They took charge of her almost from 
 infancy, for your grandparents were carried 
 off by the plague when Bianca was but 
 three. I was five years of age when 
 she came into the family, and we grew up 
 together like brother and sister. I never 
 thought of her, or looked upon her, in 
 other than a brotherly way until I chanced 
 one day to overhear some words spoken 
 to my father. ' Your niece has grown to 
 be the very flower of Paduan maids,' the 
 speaker said. f He will be a fortunate 
 man who wears such a flower upon his 
 breast.' From that hour I was changed, 
 nor was Bianca slow to note the difference 
 in me, and to divine the cause. How 
 many, many times have I wished in these 
 lonely later years that mine had been a 
 more troubled wooing ! That Bianca and 
 I should marry was the desire nearest my 
 father's and mother's heart, and my cousin 
 confessed, after I had told her of my love, 
 that her affection for me had long ceased 
 to be sisterly. Thus was my path strewn 
 with roses, not an obstacle, not a hinder- 
 ance, thrown in my way ; everything
 
 At Padua 171 
 
 made smooth for me, so that I did not 
 realize the inestimable boon I had won. 
 
 " Despite the fact that my parents so 
 earnestly desired the match, they insisted 
 that we should wait a year before we 
 set the wedding day. Doubtless they 
 thought this provision wise and just, for 
 we were both young. Could they have 
 looked into the future, I am sure they 
 would not have decreed the delay. Be- 
 fore six months had gone by, chance led 
 me into evil company companionship 
 which I should have shunned, but which 
 I courted instead. Your mother's influ- 
 ence, my parents' entreaties, neither suf- 
 ficed to make me see whither my course 
 was leading me. I was a senseless fool, 
 blind to the magnitude of my folly. At 
 last the time came when the day for our 
 wedding was to be set. The year of pro- 
 bation had passed. Bianca met me in the 
 presence of my parents. I can see this 
 moment how sad she looked, and yet how 
 resolute. There was a loving appeal in 
 her eyes as she spoke; for strangely, 
 through all, her heart remained true to
 
 172 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 me. l Alberto,' she said, ' there must be 
 another year of waiting if you would claim 
 me for your wife, and ' her voice broke 
 ' and you must go away for a time. 
 Perhaps when you come back you will be 
 like your old self once more. Then, oh, 
 then ' but her sobs choked her, and I 
 turned from her to my father and mother 
 in amazement, consternation, and shame. 
 Of this contemptible wretch that I had 
 been ! I never dreamed. 
 
 " I strove to protest, but despite my 
 protestations and promises my mother led 
 Bianca from the room, and I was left face 
 to face with my father. c You go, sir, on 
 the morrow,' he said icily, ' not to a place 
 where you will be free from temptations, 
 but where they will be multiplied an hun- 
 dred fold to the city of Constantinople, 
 the seat of the most corrupt court in 
 Europe. You will bear letters to one 
 whom I once knew well, a man who by 
 birth and place will be able to give you a 
 chance to see every side of the varied life 
 of the great Eastern metropolis. If you 
 rise from the slough into which you have
 
 At Padua 173 
 
 fallen, and prove worthy of the blood that 
 flows in your veins, all will be well ; but 
 otherwise you need never hope to call 
 wife the pure girl whose heart you have 
 so cruelly torn.' 
 
 " Thus was I rudely jarred into a reali- 
 zation that I had undermined my house 
 of happiness. I put aside all my follies, 
 and when, after an absence of eight 
 months, I returned to Padua I had noth- 
 ing to look back upon with regret during 
 the period of my foreign sojourn, despite 
 the fact that I had much of the time been 
 thrown with the gay and dissolute youth 
 of a decadent empire. But I found that 
 a new and wholly unforeseen element had 
 been introduced into my home life during 
 my tarry in Constantinople. This was in 
 the person of Giovanni della Verria, your 
 father, who had come to listen to the 
 lectures of a noted doctor of jurispru- 
 dence, then resident at the University of 
 Padua. The Pavian bore with him letters 
 to my father and mother, and had grown 
 to be a frequent and welcome visitor at 
 our house. He had attracted Bianca by
 
 174 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 his distinguished address and by the brill- 
 iancy of his acquirements, and when I 
 arrived I found the two upon a very 
 friendly footing, which I was not slow 
 to discover meant something more than 
 friendship on his part. With Bianca's 
 greeting and manner toward me for some 
 weeks after my home-coming I could find 
 no fault ; and though your father was a 
 frequent guest, I felt so secure in my 
 cousin's affection that his noticeable 
 admiration for her aroused in me no 
 jealousy. 
 
 " A month before the time when our 
 wedding day was finally to be set, it came 
 into your mother's mind, so I afterward 
 learned, that she would submit me to a 
 final test. I cannot wonder, when I con- 
 sider my shortcomings, and yet I know 
 she afterward lamented her action with 
 many bitter tears. It was wholly unfair 
 to your father, it was unjust to me, it was 
 beneath her true and womanly nature. 
 Had she paused to consider, I am sure 
 her sober second thought would have 
 counselled her against playing with the
 
 At Padua 175 
 
 affections, even allowing that her main 
 purpose was in a sense worthy. 
 
 " When I saw Bianca show Giovanni 
 della Verria marked favors I could not 
 at first believe my senses. * She is only 
 trying me,' I said to myself, when I re- 
 covered from my first surprise, which was 
 the truth. ' He knows of our betrothal,' 
 I thought, ' and if he wishes to play the 
 moth and singe his wings at the candle, it 
 is no affair of mine.' No harm would 
 have resulted had I followed out my reso- 
 lution to hold my peace, but in an un- 
 toward hour I ventured to ask my cousin if 
 she had not acted her comedy long enough. 
 Provoked that I should see through her 
 motives, she pretended not to understand 
 me, and I, suddenly conceiving that I 
 might after all be mistaken, spoke a few 
 hasty words of reproach, whereupon she 
 flashed out upon me, ' What are you, sir, 
 that you dare to reproach me ? ' this 
 with a fine scorn of which I did not dream 
 her capable. Now although there was 
 much justice in her retort, there had been 
 a sort of understanding between us that
 
 176 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 there was to be no reference to things by- 
 gone, so I was deeply hurt. I replied 
 hotly, just what I never could recall, nor 
 do I know what she said, save that there 
 was some reference to the necessity of my 
 taking another journey. It was with this 
 in mind that I rushed from her presence, 
 and before the sun set that night I was on 
 my way to Germany. 
 
 " I will not trouble you with my reflec- 
 tions, nor will I dwell upon her regrets 
 when she found she had actually driven 
 me away. Messengers were despatched 
 to recall me, but their search for me was 
 vain. I had met with a severe accident 
 in one of the mountain passes, and lay for 
 weeks in a peasant's hut unable to move, 
 caring little whether I was living or dead. 
 Somehow a rumor reached Padua that I 
 had indeed been killed, and as months 
 passed and nothing was heard from me, 
 the report was accepted as truth. 
 
 " A year slipped away before I set my 
 face toward home. Chance led me to the 
 chief city of a small German principality 
 to whose master I was able to be of some
 
 At Padua 177 
 
 little use with my sword. That in Padua 
 I should be considered dead did not occur 
 to me, and I still thought of Bianca with 
 alternate hope and fear. But return I 
 would not until I could feel that I was in 
 every respect the master of myself. 
 
 " Alas, the cruel shock of my home- 
 coming ! I found my father and mother 
 broken with grief at my supposed end, and 
 my cousin, she of whom I had dreamed of 
 one day making myself worthy, two 
 months married to Giovanni della Verria. 
 She had vehemently resented the idea at 
 first in her grief over my death, of which 
 she accused herself of being the cause, but 
 being assiduously importuned by your 
 father, and urged by my parents, who, 
 now that they thought me no longer living, 
 were anxious about her future, she finally 
 consented. 
 
 " There was naught for me to do but 
 to face the inevitable, but the struggle 
 cost me many a sleepless night, many a 
 day of mental misery. Then a letter 
 which was not meant for my eyes fell 
 into my hands, and I knew that Bianca
 
 178 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 was not happy in her new life. My 
 fancied mastery over myself was gone. 
 Madman that I was, I resolved to see her. 
 At my own request she had not yet been 
 told of my return as it were from the 
 dead, and I did not pause to think what 
 effect my unexpected appearance might 
 have upon her. Concealing my intention 
 from my parents, I set out for Pavia. Ar- 
 riving there, I made such changes in my 
 appearance as would prevent Giovanni 
 della Verria from recognizing me should 
 I meet him upon the street, and then 
 started forth to find his residence. This 
 was not difficult, but to gain an interview 
 alone with Bianca was quite another mat- 
 ter. I watched the entrance for the 
 greater part of a day without avail until 
 the fact that I was being regarded curi- 
 ously by passers-by bade me be cautious. 
 Never once did I take into account that 
 I could do nothing for Bianca, that my 
 presence might not only prove an em- 
 barrassment but might actually add to her 
 unhappiness. No, I was so consumed 
 with the idea that I must see her again,
 
 At Padua 179 
 
 that I must somehow comfort her, that I 
 did not consider the possible consequences 
 of making my presence known. 
 
 " Late in the day I saw your father 
 emerge from the house, and not long 
 afterward a girl came forth whom I fan- 
 cied must be Bianca's maid. I followed 
 her, and when she had gone a little dis- 
 tance, stopped her and inquired if she 
 served the Signora della Verria. Receiv- 
 ing an affirmative reply, I drew a ring 
 from my finger which my cousin had once 
 given me, and bade the girl, as soon as 
 opportunity offered, put it into her mis- 
 tress' hand, and say to her that the wearer 
 of the ring sought an interview with her. 
 The maid seemed much frightened at 
 first, but finally consented to do as I 
 wished. It was agreed that I should 
 await her near a certain street corner at 
 the same hour on the following day. 
 ' My master always goes forth to the 
 promenade at this time,' she said. 
 
 " The girl was prompt to keep her 
 appointment. Before she could speak I 
 questioned her eagerly. ' What said your
 
 i8o A Man-at-Arms 
 
 mistress ? ' I asked. ' Ah, Signore,' she 
 replied, ' I thought the dear lady had 
 fallen into a swoon, she gave such a cry, 
 and dropped back so faint, when I put 
 the ring into her hand. She has not 
 been herself since.' ' But when am I to 
 see her ? ' I cried. f Now,' said the maid, 
 looking about her apprehensively, as 
 though she feared some one, c at once ; 
 you are to come with me. The time 
 may be short.' 
 
 " My head was in a whirl as I followed 
 her, scarcely looking whither she led. I 
 had my wits sufficiently about me, how- 
 ever, to note that it was not the main 
 entrance by which we gained access to the 
 house. Swiftly and silently we threaded 
 several passages, ascended a flight of 
 stairs, and then I found myself in a 
 small room where I recognized the touch 
 of Bianca's hands. The maid left me 
 hurriedly, and an instant later your 
 mother entered. Ah, Luigi, the emo- 
 tions I read upon her beautiful face ! 
 love, joy, sorrow, fear, and a certain some- 
 thing I had not seen before, and could
 
 At Padua 181 
 
 not at the moment fathom. When I saw 
 her, for the first time I realized the un- 
 wisdom of my course. I knew in a flash 
 that it was only an added weight of regret 
 and unhappiness that my coming was 
 likely to bring to her. All she could 
 say was to reiterate my name, a sound 
 that floats down through the years to me 
 sweeter than any mortal music. While I 
 was soothing her, and kissing her fondly, 
 she suddenly started back from me, as 
 though she had dreamed and was awaking 
 to a painful reality. 
 
 " * You must go, Alberto,' she said 
 earnestly, but sadly, 'and go at once. I 
 ought never to have consented to see you 
 at all, but oh, I could not refuse when it 
 seemed to me as though you had risen 
 from the grave. Some time in our old 
 home we may meet again, but not here. 
 No good could come of it. My husband 
 is so jealous, so suspicious, though why, 
 God knows. I suppose it is my punish- 
 ment for striving to arouse jealousy in 
 you.' 
 
 " 1 cried out against her entertaining
 
 1 82 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 such a feeling, but she made no reply 
 save to urge me to leave her. Seeing 
 that I still hesitated, she exclaimed : 
 ' Heaven knows what would happen 
 should he find you here ! Go for my 
 sake, Alberto, and that of my child ! ' 
 Scarcely had this wholly unexpected and 
 touching appeal fallen from her lips when 
 the maid rushed in. ' The Signore ! ' she 
 cried in terror. There was no time for 
 concealment, for in another instant Gio- 
 vanni della Verria stood in the doorway. 
 The maid had been watching for his 
 return by the front entrance, and had 
 heard his steps from the opposite ap- 
 proach when too late to give any warning 
 save the cry which announced his pres- 
 ence. Pausing upon the threshold, he 
 looked darkly from Bianca to me, whom 
 he did not recognize. 
 
 " ' So, Signora,' he said, ( I see that 
 you have a lover. With him I will reckon 
 first, and then, my lady, I will return and 
 reckon with you.' He drew his sword 
 and waved to me to follow him. ' Signer 
 della Verria/ I cried, thinking to make
 
 At Padua 183 
 
 some sort of an explanation, but he gave no 
 heed to me. I cast a last glance at Bianca, 
 who was gazing stonily at the door through 
 which her husband had disappeared, then 
 I strode after him. In the large reception- 
 room below he turned and faced me. 
 Now he saw who I was, and grew only the 
 more enraged. He would listen to no 
 word, and I speedily realized that if I val- 
 ued my life I must defend myself. He 
 closed and fastened the doors, and soon 
 the room rang with the clash of our weap- 
 ons. 
 
 " However your father may have 
 changed in later years, he then knew 
 well the use of the sword, but his rage 
 was his undoing. Before five minutes 
 had passed I had run him through the 
 shoulder and disarmed him. c Hark you,' 
 I said to him as he stood biting his lip in 
 impotent anger and pain, ' your wife is as 
 innocent of the foul slander you put upon 
 her as the veriest babe in arms.' * I do 
 not believe it,' he muttered. * It is true,' 
 I cried, 'on my oath.' Still I saw that he 
 did not believe me. ' It came to my
 
 184 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 knowledge,' I said, 'that she was unhappy, 
 and in the memory of my old love for her 
 I foolishly hastened here, and as foolishly 
 contrived to gain her presence. What 
 blame there is, is mine. Now before I go 
 out from your sight, I trust forever, you 
 shall swear in Jesus' name and that of the 
 holy Virgin that no harm shall come to 
 my cousin through your hand or your 
 agency. Down on your knees.' My 
 sword point was at his throat, and he read 
 death in my eyes if he refused. Slowly 
 he went down upon the floor, repeated the 
 oath, and made the sign of the cross as I 
 bade. There was all the hate of hell in 
 the look he gave me when he had uttered 
 the words. 'If you break your oath,' I 
 exclaimed, as I turned to leave him, c may 
 your soul rot in torment ! ' As I passed 
 out of the room he fell over in a dead 
 faint. ' Your master needs your attention 
 in the reception-hall,' I said to a servant I 
 met in the courtyard. Then I hastened 
 out into the street, and in half an hour 
 had turned my back on Pavia. 
 
 " You may blame me, Luigi, if you
 
 At Padua 185 
 
 will, but you cannot condemn me more 
 severely than I have condemned myself 
 through all these years. Since my father's 
 and my mother's death, which followed 
 soon upon that of your mother, I have 
 been a wanderer on the face of the earth, 
 driven up and down the world by my 
 regretful memories, almost my only com- 
 fort being the knowledge that after your 
 birth your mother's life became more 
 bearable, for whatever your father may 
 have felt in his heart, he kept his oath. 
 Never until to-day has it seemed to me 
 that I could tarry long in one spot, but 
 now that you have heard my story, if 
 you still feel that you can return to Padua 
 and to a life beneath this roof, it will be a 
 joy to me to abide here and do what I 
 can to make you contented and happy, 
 and should you by any chance bring 
 another, she shall be more than welcome 
 for your mother's sake." 
 
 He regarded me with unmistakable 
 anxiety as he finished, as though he feared 
 I would turn my back upon him for the 
 suffering and sorrow he had brought into
 
 1 86 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 my mother's life, but it was with no sense 
 of resentment that I had listened to the 
 recital of the history of his past, but rather 
 one of pity ; for looking into the face of 
 the man, I could but see the mirror of a 
 true and noble heart, that had long and 
 fondly cherished the deepest love for her for 
 whom he had so grieved, and upon whom 
 he had brought such trouble. All the love 
 and hate, the passion and the pain, of the 
 bygone years had tempered my cousin's 
 soul as doth the white fire the steel ; for 
 when I had unhesitatingly renewed my 
 promise to him, he spoke in extenuating 
 terms of my father's conduct, praising his 
 remarkable parts, saying that all mankind 
 had their failings, pointing out how griev- 
 ous a misfortune it is to be the possessor 
 of an ungovernably suspicious and jealous 
 temperament. 
 
 When I parted from Alberto Gamba- 
 corta, and mounted Hawkwood in the 
 fresh air of the early spring morning, it 
 was with a happier heart than had beat in 
 my breast for many a long day. I had 
 found a real home, and one whom I could
 
 At Padua 187 
 
 love ; the old bitterness against my father 
 had in a measure died from my thoughts ; 
 and the image of Angela Canaro rose 
 before me with beguiling and beckoning 
 eyes.
 
 Chapter XIII 
 The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo 
 
 ON the last day of my return journey 
 to Milan, Hawkwood fell so lame 
 that it was hard upon dusk ere I rode 
 through the gates of the city. My first 
 care was to see my steed properly attended 
 to ; this done, I repaired to the lodgings 
 I had recently taken, with my master's 
 permission, in a small street leading from 
 the piazza where the palace stood. I had 
 for some time been eager to transfer my 
 belongings from my contracted quarters in 
 the palace, but had only lately effected my 
 desire. 
 
 While the good housewife who presided 
 over my new abode was filling my ears 
 with the public gossip, I fell to wondering 
 whether I had best report to my master 
 
 188
 
 The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo 189 
 
 that night or wait until the morrow. That 
 he would be surprised at my determination 
 to quit his service I felt sure, and I had 
 no notion how he would take it. Finally 
 I came to the conclusion that I should 
 sleep better if I had the whole matter off 
 my mind ; accordingly, when I had changed 
 my soiled riding-garb, I took a hasty 
 dinner, and sallied forth in the direction of 
 the palace. There was still a faint trace of 
 the golden afterglow in the sky when I 
 reached the piazza, and the place was gay 
 with strolling pleasurers, fair ladies, some 
 of whom were not at all anxious to conceal 
 their faces behind their masks, ogling gal- 
 lants who ruffled it as gamely as a company 
 of cocks with fine feathers, a plentiful 
 sprinkling of sedate merchants with their 
 wives, together with soldiers, and rogues 
 of both sexes. 
 
 I picked my way leisurely through the 
 chattering throng until presently I drew 
 near the palace gateway. As I approached, 
 two of the city's fashionable young bloods 
 brushed past me, evidently bent upon fol- 
 lowing out some light affair of the heart.
 
 190 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 One of them dropped his mask as he 
 hurried by, and such was his haste that he 
 did not stop to pick it from the pavement. 
 I gazed at the bit of black folly with its 
 staring eye-holes, and then, moved by I 
 know not what impulse, stooped and lifted 
 it. Even as I looked, its owner was lost 
 to view in the crowd, and with the mask 
 in my hand I resumed my way. Scarcely 
 had I taken half a dozen steps, however, 
 before I saw a man issue from the palace 
 courtyard who staggered like one in a 
 drunken fit. Amazement halted me, and 
 held me riveted in my tracks, for the man 
 was Vincenzo Canaro. 
 
 As he came on, I realized that his eyes 
 were fixed and that he observed nothing. 
 His face was not that of a man overcome 
 by the fumes of wine, but rather that of 
 one whose brain was undergoing some 
 tense strain. Despair was written upon 
 every feature, and a great compassion for 
 him seized me. My first impulse was to 
 rush forward and speak to him, but it sud- 
 denly came to me that in all probability he 
 would not recognize me, and that in his
 
 The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo 191 
 
 present state I should doubtless be rudely 
 repulsed. As he passed me, he appeared 
 to recover himself a little and glanced 
 about as though to assure himself of his 
 whereabouts. His eyes fell upon me, but 
 there was no gleam of recognition in them. 
 
 My resolve was now swiftly taken. I 
 would follow him, discover his abode, and 
 on the morrow make myself known. It 
 might be that in some way I could be 
 of service ; for that Signor Canaro was 
 in deep trouble I felt confident, and I 
 shrewdly suspected that his trouble ema- 
 nated from my master. That my wish to 
 discover the abode of the Brescian noble 
 was solely because of my desire to offer 
 him my aid I will not assert. In this 
 matter I did not deceive myself. But the 
 fact that I had another end in view did 
 not lessen the sincerity of my intention to 
 be of assistance to him. 
 
 Slipping on the mask, the possession 
 of which now struck me as being a rare 
 bit of good fortune, and drawing about 
 me my cloak, which I had thrown over 
 my arm, I hugged the wall, following a
 
 192 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 score of paces in the rear of the dejected 
 man. He looked neither to the right nor 
 to the left, and as far as his observing me 
 was concerned, I might have hung close 
 upon his heels and he never have been 
 the wiser. At first I encountered a 
 goodly number of people moving in the 
 direction of the piazza, but presently, 
 drawing away from the centre of the city, 
 there was but little life in the streets, and 
 it was only at corners, or before wine- 
 shops, that I met more than a solitary 
 loiterer. Apparently no one gave heed 
 to me, but if any one did bestow a 
 thought upon me, it was doubtless to 
 surmise that I was an enamoured gallant, 
 speeding to keep an evening tryst. 
 
 At length I found myself in the Via 
 San Lorenzo. Although not especially 
 familiar with the quarter of the city into 
 which Signor Canaro was leading me, I 
 recognized this street from the proximity 
 of the church of the same name whose 
 dome loomed large through the fast- 
 thickening dusk. Quickening my pace 
 a trifle, lest the object of my quest should
 
 The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo 193 
 
 disappear in some cross-thoroughfare and 
 leave me in doubt as to which house he 
 had entered, I was but a short distance 
 behind him when he reached the first of 
 the sixteen Corinthian columns that re- 
 main to tell of the stateliness of the 
 baths with which the Emperor Maximian 
 adorned Roman Mediolanum. Not even 
 one lone loiterer was in view. High in 
 the window of an adjacent dwelling a 
 single, feeble taper flared, the only sign 
 of life. The spot was singularly solitary 
 considering the hour. 
 
 As Signer Canaro reached a point 
 abreast of the last column I was stealing 
 toward the first, intending to pass in the 
 rear of the colonnade, when three men 
 leaped noiselessly from their concealment 
 behind the pillars and flung themselves 
 upon the unsuspecting Brescian, bearing 
 him to the earth. The poor man gave 
 a loud cry as he fell, and that cry spurred 
 me to instant action. Whipping out my 
 sword, I dashed upon his assailants, 
 running one of them through the groin, 
 as he rose to meet me, and thrusting
 
 194 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 violently at the second, who strove to 
 entangle me in his cloak. By this time 
 the third had his weapon out, and I 
 was horrified to see him, as Signor Canaro 
 strove to regain his feet, lunge viciously 
 at the unfortunate man, who staggered 
 and sank back. Thinking him disposed 
 of, the swordsman sprang at me. Like 
 myself he was masked, and so fierce and 
 furious was his sword-play, that in the 
 dim light I was hard put to it to save 
 my skin from a pinking. While the 
 caitiff with the cloak was assisting his 
 wounded companion, the man in the 
 mask and I hacked and hewed at one 
 another till the sparks danced about us 
 like swamp-fires, and the street echoed 
 with our violent cuts and parries. It 
 was haphazard fencing, sheer guess-work 
 oftentimes, but each seemed to know 
 instinctively what the other would at- 
 tempt, and so we slashed, while lights 
 grew in the few windows that looked 
 upon this portion of the thoroughfare, 
 and cries of " murder " and shouts for the 
 watchman swelled about our ears.
 
 The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo 195 
 
 I wondered at the persistence of my 
 opponent, now that the neighborhood was 
 so aroused ; in fact, I could not understand 
 why he assaulted me at all, his end being 
 apparently achieved in the blow he struck 
 Signer Canaro, who had not moved since 
 he received the stroke. The dress of my 
 antagonist gave me no clew to his identity, 
 but there was something about his move- 
 ments that struck me as familiar, though I 
 could by no means say where I had met 
 him at fence before. Now there came the 
 sound of nearing footsteps, and making a 
 final desperate lunge which caused me to 
 fall back a step, he caught up my cloak, 
 which had fallen upon the ground between 
 us, and disappeared in a black alley whither 
 I knew it was futile to follow him. His 
 companions had made good their escape 
 during our encounter, and so when those 
 whose footfalls I had heard arrived, they 
 found me bending over the body of the 
 prostrate nobleman, endeavoring to dis- 
 cover if there were still any signs of life 
 left in him. Life there was, though his 
 breast was soaked with blood, and when
 
 196 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 the light of a lantern was flashed into his 
 eyes he opened them with a dazed and 
 painful look. 
 
 " Whither shall we bear you, Signore ? " 
 said I. 
 
 And he had just strength enough to tell 
 me, lapsing again, immediately afterward, 
 into unconsciousness. 
 
 My guardsman's uniform gave me 
 authority among those who had gathered 
 about us, worthy citizens of the upper 
 class they were, all of them ; so bidding 
 one go in search of a reputable leech, with 
 the assistance of the others I bore Signer 
 Canaro toward the house he had indicated, 
 which was situated in the street just beyond 
 the church of San Lorenzo. 
 
 We found the portal of the dwelling 
 ajar, and from it two women were peering 
 into the night. As we halted, one of them, 
 whom I recognized with a quickened beat 
 of the heart, sprang from the doorway and 
 darted in among us. More lovely than 
 ever she seemed to me, in her simple gown 
 and loosely bound hair, about which the 
 flickering light played like a halo.
 
 Bidding one go in search of a reputable leech." Page 196
 
 The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo 197 
 
 She gazed into her father's face, which 
 wore the pallor of apparent death, gave a 
 low moan, and would have fallen had a 
 kindly hand not lent her support. 
 
 " Courage, Signorina," said he who had 
 assisted her; " there is hope. He has but 
 fainted. A leech will be here presently, 
 and in the meantime do you show us 
 where we may lay him." 
 
 These words restored her to herself in 
 a measure, and calling to her woman, who 
 was still standing helplessly in the doorway, 
 she bade her lead the way. After we had 
 laid Signor Canaro upon a couch and forced 
 a few drops of wine down his throat, the 
 color began to creep back into his cheeks, 
 and presently he opened his eyes. When 
 he saw his daughter bending over him, he 
 smiled, and a look of contentment spread 
 over his features, but he did not try to speak. 
 All save two of us now retired from the 
 apartment. I should have slipped away, 
 but it seemed desirable that some one 
 should remain to be of use should the 
 surgeon require assistance; and inasmuch 
 as I had been the only witness to the
 
 198 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 assault upon Signor Canaro, it was insisted 
 that I should be one of those to stay. 
 
 An aged man-servant now slipped in 
 and stood by one side of the bed, while 
 on the other side knelt the daughter of 
 the wounded man. A striking picture it 
 was, and one that moved me strongly to 
 compassion. The hangings of the bed 
 threw heavy shadows over the form out- 
 stretched upon it, and had it not been for 
 the sound of labored breathing one would 
 have said that Death was present in the 
 room. Indeed, his presence did seem to 
 be there. It was as though in pity for 
 the stricken maiden he was delaying a little 
 space before claiming his own. 
 
 After a time we heard the door open 
 below, there were steps upon the stair, and 
 then the surgeon entered. He was a man of 
 skill and worked rapidly, and such was his 
 personality that with his coming the gloom 
 was suddenly dispelled, the tense strain 
 relaxed. We found ourselves of little aid, 
 and so kept in the background. 
 
 " There is no danger," we heard him say 
 at length to Signorina Canaro. " Loss of
 
 The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo 199 
 
 blood and the shock have caused this 
 prostration. A bone turned the blade, 
 and saved his life, Signorina." 
 
 He asked no questions, and I believe 
 up to this point, so great had been her 
 anxiety, the thought of how it had hap- 
 pened had not entered the mind of Angela 
 Canaro. Now, however, that her fears 
 were relieved, the natural wish to know 
 how her father had received his wound 
 became uppermost, and for the first time 
 she turned to us with expressions of 
 gratitude. Indeed, until now she 
 had given no heed to our presence, so 
 great had been her solicitude for her 
 father. 
 
 " I trust you will pardon me, gentle- 
 men," she said, as she approached us, 
 " for not expressing my gratitude for your 
 kindness before, but " she paused, and 
 cast her eyes toward the bed, while a sob 
 rose in her throat. 
 
 " Think not of thanking us, Signorina," 
 said my companion. " We understand, 
 and now that we are no longer needed we 
 will not further intrude upon you."
 
 2oo A Man-at-Arms 
 
 He passed toward the doorway, and I 
 was about to follow when she said, 
 
 " But can you not tell me how my father 
 came to be hurt? " 
 
 " This gentleman knows more of the 
 matter than I," answered the man, and 
 continued on his way as though anxious 
 to be gone. 
 
 Signorina Canaro now turned toward 
 me, and for the first time, I think, had a 
 fair view of my face, for she gave a little 
 start, and a gleam of half recognition 
 flashed in her dark eyes. 
 
 " Have I not seen you before ? " she 
 said. " Are you not the Signor della 
 Verria ? " 
 
 "Yes, Signorina," said I. 
 
 Impulsively she grasped my hand, and 
 at her words I felt a new energy, a sense 
 of power I had not known before thrill 
 through me. 
 
 " God has sent you to us, Signore," said 
 she. " My father is in some great trouble 
 which he will not confide to me, and is in 
 sore want of a friend. I have never for- 
 gotten some words of yours spoken at our
 
 The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo 201 
 
 home in Brescia when you bade us adieu. 
 You offered me the protection of your 
 sword should the time ever come when I 
 needed a third defender. That was in the 
 presence of my father and Signer Ardotti, 
 the poor brave Signer Ardotti who is now 
 dead, as mayhap you know. It is not for 
 myself that I would now ask the redemp- 
 tion of that promise, but for my father, 
 Signore." 
 
 Ah, the sweet pleading earnestness with 
 which she said these words ! What man 
 with a drop of ardor in his veins could 
 have withstood them ? For me, who had 
 long fostered in my mind the fondest and 
 the fairest thoughts of her, it was difficult 
 not to reply with too great warmth. Yet 
 restrain myself as I would, it was impos- 
 sible for me to repress my devotion both 
 in tone and speech. 
 
 " Believe me, Signorina," I exclaimed, 
 " that offer was not lightly made, and for 
 you or for your father I am as ready to 
 strike now as I was then." 
 
 The look of relief that crossed her face 
 as I spoke did not escape me, and thereat
 
 2O2 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 still more was I elated. It mattered 
 little to me at that moment what unknown 
 dangers I might be called upon to en- 
 counter, what subtle and hidden foes I 
 might be forced to combat, in behalf of 
 Signor Canaro and his daughter. I felt 
 equal to coping with and overcoming 
 them all. 
 
 At Signorina Canaro's request I now 
 related to her how her father came by his 
 wound, taking care not to state that I had 
 followed him from the piazza, but leaving 
 her to infer rather that I had been a 
 chance witness of the assault. 
 
 " How much are we already indebted 
 to you ! " she cried. 
 
 The leech now summoned her, wishing 
 to give her some instructions in regard to 
 the care of her father, and assuring her 
 that I would without fail call in the morn- 
 ing to inquire after the invalid and to see 
 if I could not be of some service, I took 
 my leave, translating her warm expressions 
 of gratitude into something sweeter as I 
 passed along the street. 
 
 Through the open door of the church
 
 The Affair of the Via San Lorenzo 203 
 
 of San Lorenzo there came the faint glim- 
 mer of tapers, and while I confess that I 
 commonly have more faith in the virtue 
 of a strong right arm than in the inter- 
 position of the saints, I slipped into the 
 sacred edifice, and made a supplication 
 and a vow before the holy shrine during 
 the course of which the name Angela was 
 more than once devoutly whispered.
 
 Chapter XIV 
 
 I have Some Last Words with my 
 Father 
 
 I PRESENTED myself in good time 
 at the palace the next morning, only 
 to learn that my master was indisposed 
 and would probably see no one that day. 
 Reporting to the captain of the guard, I 
 requested leave of absence until night. 
 This was really but a matter of form, and 
 my wish was readily granted ; for, as I 
 have before indicated, I was only nominally 
 under the captain's authority, receiving 
 nearly all my orders from my master 
 himself. 
 
 After hearing that the Visconti would 
 that day receive no one, I immediately 
 decided that I would utilize the hours 
 that might otherwise hang heavily, by mak- 
 ing an excursion to Pavia, and getting off 
 204
 
 Last Words with my Father 205 
 
 my mind the interview with my father. 
 Then, at the first opportunity, I would 
 resign my position, and feel free to devote 
 myself to the cause of Signor and Angela 
 Canaro. Something told me that as a 
 lieutenant of Gian Galeazzo's palace guard 
 I was scarcely in a position to be of the 
 most efficient service to the unfortunate 
 Brescian and his daughter. I surmised 
 that Signor Canaro had come to Milan 
 at the suggestion, if not at the command, 
 of my master, and I believed that the 
 Visconti was in some way responsible for 
 the trouble of which Angela Canaro had 
 spoken the night before. Indeed, I had 
 begun to think that the cowardly attack in 
 the Via San Lorenzo was something of his 
 instigation. Six months earlier it would 
 not have occurred to me to suspect him 
 of such baseness, but my eyes had been 
 gradually opened to what lay behind that 
 calm, calculating, and crafty exterior. 
 
 Granted that my suspicions were true, 
 how could I, single-handed, hope to ef- 
 fect anything against his shrewdness and 
 power ? Should I not, if it became known
 
 206 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 that I was acting the meddler, endanger 
 my own safety ? In the enthusiasm of 
 youth and love these things I did not 
 pause to consider. I had a vision of 
 Angela Canaro safe in Padua at my 
 cousin's house ( which he had bidden me 
 regard also mine ), and this for the time 
 being was enough to lift me above earth. 
 How this seemingly miraculous transfer 
 was to be brought about had, just then, 
 no place in my thoughts. Ah, the confi- 
 dence that the magic stirring of love in- 
 spires in the heart of youth ! Yet who 
 shall say that many wondrous things are 
 not wrought thereby ? 
 
 Before making any preparations for my 
 Pavian pilgrimage I hastened to the abode 
 of the wounded Brescian, and was rejoiced 
 to hear that he had wonderfully recovered. 
 
 " He insists upon seeing you," said 
 Signorina Canaro, anxiously ; " for I told 
 him to whom he was indebted for his res- 
 cue, and promised I would bring you to 
 him when you came, fearing to refuse 
 would excite him and do him more harm 
 than a few moments' talk with you."
 
 Last Words with my Father 207 
 
 When I entered the presence of Signer 
 Canaro, I could scarcely believe I saw 
 before me the same man upon whom I 
 had looked the night previous and won- 
 dered if he had an hour's hold on life. 
 True, there was something feverish in the 
 eagerness with which he greeted me, and 
 I feared that the strength he seemed to 
 show might be born of excitement, but 
 there was no trace of unnatural heat in the 
 hand which he placed in mine, and I was 
 forced to conclude either that his recuper- 
 ative powers were remarkable, or that 
 there was magic in the leech's art. 
 
 After he had expressed his gratitude in 
 feeling terms for the service which I had 
 rendered him, he made a little sign to his 
 daughter, who at once withdrew. As I 
 seated myself by the bedside of the 
 wounded man, I was conscious that he 
 was concentrating upon me his most 
 searching gaze as though he would pene- 
 trate the workings of my mind and read 
 my thoughts. 
 
 " Signor della Verria," he said at length, 
 " though I know little of you, I believe
 
 208 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 you to be a man of honor. My daugh- 
 ter has told me of your offer of last night, 
 and I recall your chivalrous words spoken 
 some time since in Brescia. I would fain 
 trust in you, for God knows I need some 
 one in whom to trust, but there is one 
 thing that makes me hesitate to do so." 
 
 He paused before speaking further, let- 
 ting his eyes rest with the same eager 
 intentness upon my face. 
 
 " Perhaps if I knew why you hesitate," 
 said I, " I might be able to persuade you 
 that you do so without reason." 
 
 He reflected for an instant, then he 
 spoke with sharp decision. 
 
 " I will tell you," he said. " You serve 
 Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and if you serve 
 him honestly, I do not see how you can 
 aid my daughter and myself." 
 
 " That fact need have no weight with 
 you," I answered ; " for it is my intention, 
 and has been since my visit to Padua, to 
 resign my position under the Visconti at 
 the first opportunity. I sought him this 
 morning for that purpose, but found him 
 indisposed."
 
 Last Words with my Father 209 
 
 A gleam of something more than 
 satisfaction passed over Signer Canaro's 
 face. 
 
 " Perhaps you are beginning to under- 
 stand the character of the master whom 
 you serve," he said. 
 
 " I am," I replied. 
 
 " I have not the strength this morning," 
 he said, now speaking rapidly, " to explain 
 to you my position, but I am in danger 
 of losing my freedom if not my life, and 
 my daughter's safety is involved in mine. 
 It is for her sake that I am consumed 
 with anxiety, it is for her sake that I am 
 forced to beg aid from you, almost a 
 stranger, for in this whole city there is not 
 one man whom I can call friend." 
 
 " You would leave Milan ? " I asked. 
 " Whither would you go ? " 
 
 " Anywhere ! anywhere ! " he cried, " to 
 escape from the coils of that viper, Gian 
 Galeazzo Visconti. 
 
 It was the first time I had heard the 
 term "viper" applied to my master, and 
 there is small wonder that I started at the 
 sound of it.
 
 2io A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " His arms are well chosen," said Sig- 
 nor Canaro, noticing my involuntary 
 movement. 
 
 " You may count upon my aid," I 
 said, rising, for I saw that he was becom- 
 ing over-excited and fatigued. 
 
 " But the danger to yourself, bethink 
 you of that ! Should our attempt be cir- 
 cumvented, and your present master dis- 
 cover your part in it, you might be in- 
 volved in our ruin. I would have you 
 count the possible cost." 
 
 " I am willing to risk it, and I have a 
 friend on whose advice I ca.n depend, if 
 not upon his assistance." My thought 
 flew to Hartzheim as I said this. 
 
 " Then we must haste, else it will be too 
 late." 
 
 " I will come again this evening," I 
 said. " It will not do for us to talk fur- 
 ther now." 
 
 As I was seeking the street I encoun- 
 tered the Signorina. Her eyes were full 
 of anxiety, and I stopped to give her a 
 reassuring word. The smile which I had 
 in return made bright my journey to
 
 Last Words with my Father 211 
 
 Pavia, which I took beneath a lowering 
 sky. 
 
 Hawkwood was still a trifle lame, but 
 I had no difficulty in obtaining a mount, 
 and as the new bell in Santa Maria del 
 Carmine was clanging the hour of noon I 
 rode up in front of a little inn called the 
 Golden Bull, where I had had many an 
 excellent supper. It was good to see 
 again the rubicund face of " mine host," 
 Tommaso, and to hear his cheery greeting. 
 It was good, too, to look upon the familiar 
 streets and well-known countenances of 
 the townsfolk, and to listen to their pleas- 
 ant salutations. Some of the burghers 
 made much of me, for I had grown 
 to be a man of importance in their eyes, 
 now that I had followed Gian Galeazzo 
 to Milan. All this warmed my heart 
 so that I half forgot my errand. My 
 affection toward my birthplace and the 
 home of my youth was quickened, and 
 there crept a regret into my thoughts 
 that fate was leading my steps into far- 
 away paths. 
 
 Not until the stroke of mid-afternoon
 
 212 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 did I return to a realization of my pur- 
 pose. I knew by this time that my father 
 would have finished his siesta, and would, 
 unless his habits had strangely changed, 
 be poring over some Latin parchment in 
 his library. Bidding the friends with 
 whom I chanced to be visiting adieu, for 
 the first time in many a long month I set 
 my face toward the house I had once 
 called home. I was conscious of a queer 
 sensation in my throat as I turned into 
 the oft-trod street, every stone of which it 
 seemed to me I knew. There was none 
 of the burning bitterness in my breast 
 that had rankled there when I had fled 
 my father's presence. I found it difficult 
 to analyze my feeling toward him, but it 
 was one of compassion rather than of 
 anger. It was not that I resented any the 
 less deeply the wrong which he had done 
 my mother, but that I comprehended, as 
 I did not before, the workings of the sus- 
 picious and unhappy nature that made 
 possible such a wrong. 
 
 I had come with no reproaches, no up- 
 braidings. I looked upon the approach-
 
 Last Words with my Father 213 
 
 ing interview as a plain matter of duty. I 
 was determined that he should hear my 
 cousin's story, and I would relate it to 
 him dispassionately. Then, I felt that it 
 was due to him that he should know my 
 plans for the future. I had kept him in 
 the dark long enough. There were cer- 
 tain rights of inheritance of which he 
 could not deprive me, even should he 
 choose to do so, but these, save what was 
 mine from my mother, it was my purpose 
 to renounce. 
 
 As I turned into the courtyard I 
 almost ran into a tall, slender youth who 
 was passing out. We stared at one 
 another an instant before there was any 
 recognition. The youth was my half- 
 brother, Rinaldo, marvellously changed in 
 stature since I had last put eyes on him. 
 
 " Why, it's Luigi ! " he cried, in a way 
 that surprised me ; for our relations in the 
 past had been none of the pleasantest, 
 owing, I had always fancied, to his 
 mother's influence rather than to any 
 inherent dislike of me on the boy's part. 
 Now he seemed actually glad to see me,
 
 214 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 kissing me with real cordiality upon the 
 cheeks, then stepping back and gazing at 
 my accoutrement. 
 
 " How fine you look ! " exclaimed he. 
 " It must be a grand thing to be a soldier. 
 Will you not help me to be one, Luigi ? " 
 
 "You a soldier, Rinatdo ! " cried I, in 
 amazement. 
 
 "Yes," said he, "why not? You are 
 one. Oh ! " he exclaimed, with a sudden 
 change of tone, " you are thinking of 
 what father would say ! " 
 
 He had hit it fairly. Of that I was 
 thinking. When my father had taken 
 my liking for arms so sorely to heart, 
 what would he say indeed should he find 
 Rinaldo's thoughts (Rinaldo who was the 
 very apple of his eye) bent in the same 
 direction ? 
 
 "He can't say anything," exclaimed 
 my half-brother, as though something 
 had all at once occurred to him, " for 
 he is sick in bed, and has been these 
 two months. I suppose you've come to 
 see him ; but you can't, for the mother 
 won't let you."
 
 Last Words with my Father 215 
 
 " Father sick in bed these two months ! " 
 cried I, in astonishment. "What ails 
 him ? " 
 
 "The doctors say it is a gouty rheum." 
 
 We had now turned across the court- 
 yard, and were approaching the stairway. 
 Up this we passed together, I replying 
 to Rinaldo's questions in haphazard fash- 
 ion, only half realizing what he was ask- 
 ing me. That an illness should overtake 
 my father was something that had never 
 entered my head. He had always seemed 
 a man beyond the touch of ailment. 
 Never in my recollection could I recall 
 hearing him complain of feeling ill. 
 Could it be, now that I had come to 
 speak with him for what might be the 
 last time, that I was to be prevented 
 because he lay helpless on a sick-bed, 
 and a woman who had always thwarted 
 my wishes whenever it lay in her power 
 stood in the way ? " No," I said to my- 
 self; " see him I will, if I have to force 
 myself into his presence." 
 
 As Rinaldo and I entered the apart- 
 ment from which the bedchamber where
 
 216 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 my father was lying opened, a voice from 
 the inner room which I recognized as that 
 of my step-mother called, 
 
 " Who is there ? " 
 
 I had no wish to see my father in her 
 presence, so I did not at once step for- 
 ward, neither did I speak, fearing if she 
 heard my voice the door would be closed 
 in my face. Rinaldo was also silent, tak- 
 ing the cue from me. Presently I heard 
 her rise and approach the entrance. Bid- 
 ding my step-brother stand where he was 
 near the centre of the room, I slipped 
 into a corner, thinking to be for an in- 
 stant unobserved, and knowing that if I 
 could but once get between her and the 
 doorway my purpose would be achieved. 
 
 It all chanced as I hoped. Seeing 
 Rinaldo, she walked toward him, asking 
 him what he desired, while I sprang in 
 behind her, caught the door handle, swung 
 the panelled barrier shut, set my back to 
 it and faced her before she was fully aware 
 what had taken place. When she realized 
 how easily she had been circumvented, she 
 turned upon me with all the rage of a
 
 Last Words with my Father 217 
 
 foiled tigress. Her eyes, which were usu- 
 ally large and cold and gray, contracted 
 on a sudden, and became like glistening 
 points of fire. Her lips were so tightly 
 drawn that the white points of her teeth 
 showed beneath them. 
 
 " How dare you ? how dare you ? " she 
 demanded. " Stand aside, and let me go 
 to my husband. I had hoped, as he had, 
 that we should never look upon your 
 ungrateful face again. Get you gone to 
 your brawlers and your bravos ! " 
 
 She advanced as though she would 
 attempt to seize hold of me and force me 
 from the position I had taken, but I did 
 not cow before her anger ; and though she 
 was a large woman and strong, I had no 
 fear that she really intended to pit her 
 strength against mine. 
 
 " Signora," I said to her calmly, " I 
 have come hither to see my father, and 
 see him I will, nor can any word or act of 
 yours prevent me. I regret that I am 
 compelled to take just this means to 
 achieve my end, but past experience has 
 taught me that there is no other way."
 
 2i 8 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 "You are insulting, basely insulting!" 
 cried she, in a towering rage. 
 
 " But, mother," Rinaldo interposed, 
 " has he not a right to see father ? " 
 
 " You fool," his mother replied, seek- 
 ing some one on whom to vent her anger, 
 " it is you who have brought him here, 
 who have allowed him to make his way to 
 this room, to force himself into his father's 
 presence his father whose every wish he 
 has disregarded, whose life he has embit- 
 tered, and whose sick-bed he would now 
 unfeelingly intrude upon ! " 
 
 This outburst seemed to have small 
 effect upon Rinaldo, and I could but 
 reflect that the boy had freed himself in 
 a remarkable manner from the leading- 
 strings since my departure from home. 
 
 " Signora," said I, " it seems to me that 
 you waste words. I have no desire for a 
 long interview with my father, but I tell 
 you once for all, see him I will. If you 
 return to this place at the end of three- 
 quarters of an hour, you will find me gone, 
 and I can promise you that if we ever 
 meet again that meeting will not be one 
 of my seeking."
 
 Last Words with my Father 219 
 
 Slowly she removed her gaze from my 
 face, a gaze in which the most intense 
 hatred was still dominant. Deliberately 
 she turned, and as deliberately walked 
 from the apartment, bidding Rinaldo fol- 
 low her. Throwing me a look in which 
 amusement and resignation were mingled, 
 he went out after her. 
 
 I regretted the necessity of this scene, 
 but regrets were useless. Never could I 
 have persuaded my step-mother that I 
 had not returned to demand my rights as 
 the eldest son and heir of the house. It 
 was her jealousy of my position that 
 aroused in her such hatred and antago- 
 nism. Doubtless since my departure she 
 had been cherishing the hope that I would 
 never reappear, and had imagined all was 
 fair sailing for her own to inherit name 
 and wealth and position. I had surmised 
 how she would feel, how she would fear a 
 reconciliation should I succeed in seeing 
 my father, and endeavor in every way to 
 thwart me, hence my little stratagem 
 which had succeeded so admirably. 
 
 I lost no time in opening the door and
 
 220 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 entering my father's bedchamber. His 
 couch was so situated that he could not 
 see me, and he naturally concluded that it 
 was my step-mother who had returned. 
 
 " What is the meaning of all this coil 
 and clamor, Elisabetta ? " said he, pee- 
 vishly. " Have you been having another 
 scene with Rinaldo ? Of what new folly 
 has he been guilty ? " 
 
 " It is I, father," said I, now stepping 
 to his bedside, " who was the cause of the 
 noise. Signora della Verria did not wish 
 me to see you." 
 
 He lifted himself upon his elbow and 
 gazed at me, and I was shocked to note 
 how emaciated he had become. 
 
 I did not know but that he would com- 
 mand me to leave him, but he said noth- 
 ing, and after his eyes had traversed my 
 figure from head to foot he sank back, 
 drew a long breath, but still continued to 
 look at me. 
 
 " I hope you will believe, sir," I said, 
 " that I would not have forced myself 
 into your presence had I not been going 
 to make an important change in my life
 
 Last Words with my Father 221 
 
 which it seemed right that you should 
 know, and had I not had a story to relate 
 to you to which I felt that you should lis- 
 ten. But before speaking of these things 
 I wish to tell you how deeply grieved I 
 am to find you here." 
 
 " It is a place I shall never leave until 
 I am carried to my grave. I saw your 
 grandfather lie thus for a half-year before 
 he was borne on his last journey." 
 
 " And do the physicians give you no 
 hope ? " 
 
 "They can do nothing. It is an affec- 
 tion of the blood. Now I will hear what 
 you have to say. If my memory does 
 not fail me, you promised not to set foot 
 beneath this roof again until I recalled 
 certain words I spoke at our last inter- 
 view. I have not recalled them as 
 yet." 
 
 All this, save the very last, was said 
 in his old bitter and uncompromising 
 way, and I found it hard to choke down 
 the anger that rose in my breast, despite 
 the fact that the sight of him lying there 
 helpless awoke in me the sincerest pity.
 
 222 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Love for the man I could not feel. 
 Never once, that I could recollect, had 
 he done anything to inspire that emotion 
 in my heart. 
 
 " I am about to quit service under the 
 Visconti," I said, " to go to live at Padua 
 with my mother's cousin, Alberto Gam- 
 bacorta." 
 
 I expected an outburst at this, but none 
 came. All my father said was, 
 
 " This cousin of yours was a fool when 
 I knew him ! But I am glad you are 
 quitting the Visconti." 
 
 " It is Signer Gambacorta's story I 
 would tell you," I said. 
 
 " I think I know most of it," answered 
 my father, " yet I will listen." 
 
 So I told him my cousin's story. 
 There was silence in the room when I 
 had done, and my father lay with closed 
 eyes. 
 
 " She was a beautiful woman, your 
 mother," he said at last, and now his 
 look hung upon my face, " yet she never 
 ceased to love him, her cousin, fool that 
 he was. She loved him when she mar-
 
 Last Words with my Father 223 
 
 ried me, thinking him dead, loved him 
 and mourned for him during the early 
 days of our life together. Do you won- 
 der that a mad jealousy grew in my heart, 
 for my love for her was an all-absorbing 
 passion, a passion which even now in 
 looking upon you I can recall in all its 
 sweetness and bitterness ! This jealousy 
 wrecked what happiness might have been 
 ours. It made me unreasonable and sus- 
 picious, it made her the more cold and 
 retiring. I kept saying to myself, ' Toward 
 another she may be all fire, toward me 
 she is all ice.' I began to think, after a 
 while, that perhaps it was not her cousin 
 who had her love. ' She has seen some 
 one else,' I told myself. At the time of 
 the reappearance of Alberto Gambacorta, 
 so deeply had the rust of jealousy eaten 
 into my soul that I was ready to grasp 
 at anything. Our encounter sobered me 
 somewhat, but the demon still whispered 
 at my ear ; and all through my life at the 
 thought of your mother, so all-demanding 
 and so wholly barren of return was my 
 love for her, the old flame has seared me.
 
 224 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Not until I had lain here for a month, 
 and my flesh and my spirit been chas- 
 tened, did I see with unobscured vision. 
 The error was at the outset. I should 
 never have married your mother; I, with 
 my passionate disposition, should never 
 have dreamed that I could be contented 
 with the passive liking of a beautiful 
 woman whose heart I knew had been 
 another's, and was still his, though he 
 was supposed to be dead. The mar- 
 riage itself was the chief wrong. What 
 followed was the natural and legitimate 
 outcome." 
 
 My father paused, exhausted. 
 
 " Your mother, Luigi," said he, after 
 a space, " was a blameless woman who 
 deserved all the happiness the world could 
 give, and yet who got little save sorrow 
 and pain. What a strange world ! 
 
 " You may wonder," he went on sud- 
 denly, " that realizing, as I must have 
 done, my jealous disposition, I should 
 marry again. It was partly to see if I 
 could not forget, and Rinaldo's mother 
 was one who had been devoted to me
 
 Last Words with my Father 225 
 
 even before I met your mother in Padua. 
 Of her affection I was sure." 
 
 " I hope I have your approval," I said, 
 " in my decision to take up my abode in 
 Padua." 
 
 " Yes ; that is for the best. No doubt 
 with the lapse of years your cousin is a 
 changed man, and after what has passed 
 you could not be happy here. But you 
 shall have your rights, Luigi, after I am 
 gone." 
 
 This last he said with a sudden vehe- 
 mence. 
 
 " Only what was my mother's," I an- 
 swered firmly. "In this decision nothing 
 can move me. I shall not want, for I am 
 to be my cousin's heir." 
 
 He looked earnestly at me for a little ; 
 then he said, 
 
 " My end were more peaceful were it 
 so, and yet " 
 
 "It shall be so," I said. "I under- 
 stand." 
 
 " You are too good to me, Luigi," he 
 muttered. 
 
 Taking his dry and feverish hand
 
 226 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 in mine, I rose from my seat at his 
 bedside. 
 
 " Good by," said he. 
 
 I saw a look in his eyes I had never 
 seen before, so I bent over and kissed 
 him.
 
 Chapter XV 
 The Black Closet 
 
 WHEN I reached my quarters in 
 Milan, I found a messenger 
 awaiting me, who summoned me to the 
 palace at once. I was not surprised at 
 this, thinking that my master had recov- 
 ered from his indisposition, and either 
 wished to hear a report of my mission to 
 Padua, or desired to despatch me upon 
 some further business. Hungry though 
 I was, I set out on the messenger's heels, 
 not dreaming that I should be long de- 
 tained, picturing to myself what a fine 
 dinner I should make a little later at the 
 inn where I generally took my meals. 
 Already the usual evening throng had 
 begun to gather in the piazza, but to the 
 gay scene I gave little heed. My thoughts 
 227
 
 228 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 flew forward to the interview which I 
 expected to have that night with Signor 
 Canaro, and to the glimpse I hoped to 
 have of Angela. 
 
 At the head of the staircase I met Del 
 Verme and the captain of the palace 
 guard. 
 
 " His Lordship will see you directly, 
 Delia Verria," the former said. 
 
 " Has he quite recovered ? " I asked. 
 
 " Not wholly. He bade me tell you to 
 wait in the black closet. Put aside your 
 sword and dagger. His Lordship is ex- 
 ceedingly nervous to-day, and does not 
 like the sight of weapons." 
 
 I was surprised at neither of these com- 
 mands, and yet there was something not 
 quite natural in Del Verme's manner 
 toward me, and I fancied that the captain 
 of the guard looked at me askance. 
 
 The black closet was a small apartment 
 to which my master not infrequently re- 
 tired for meditation and study, and took 
 its name from the fact that the hangings, 
 the woodwork, and the furniture were all 
 of black. The room was lighted by sev-
 
 The Black Closet 229 
 
 eral small windows set high in the wall. 
 Two doors gave access to it, one from the 
 large reception-hall where Gian Galeazzo 
 generally held his audiences, and the other 
 from the last of the long suite of apart- 
 ments which my master and his family 
 occupied. 
 
 The reception-hall ( it was the same 
 room slightly changed in which Bernabo 
 Visconti had received me ) was empty, and 
 though without the daylight was still fair, 
 here the shadows had begun to gather, 
 and a sensation of disquietude which was 
 wholly unnatural stole over me. I was 
 not wont to be thus visited by gloomy 
 impressions, and was at a loss to account 
 for the present uncomfortable feeling. 
 With decided reluctance I parted with my 
 sword and dagger, placing them upon a 
 small table inlaid with jade which stood 
 near the entrance to the black closet. 
 
 I had been in this room many times 
 before, having frequently received my 
 master's orders there, and was well aware 
 that the doors worked by some peculiar 
 mechanism. Neither door, so far as I
 
 230 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 knew, had a handle. One gained admis- 
 sion by the pressure of a spring, which 
 caused a slipping back of bolts, whereupon 
 the door swung inward. Of the actual 
 working of the spring I was entirely igno- 
 rant. Formerly, when summoned to the 
 black closet, I had tapped upon one of 
 the panels, and presently been admitted. 
 I now followed my usual custom, and a 
 few seconds after I knocked, the door 
 swung backward a little space, but quite 
 sufficient to allow me to step inside. The 
 place was empty, but had been occupied 
 the instant before ; for, as I entered, the 
 door opposite closed so violently, that the 
 gust of air from it caused the door behind 
 me to shut with an ominous click. 
 
 Everything in the room seemed the 
 same as when I had last visited it save 
 that upon a stand in one corner there was 
 a plentiful supply of fruit and bread, a 
 large pasty, and a flagon of wine. As my 
 eyes rested upon those eatables, like a flash 
 the thought went through my brain, " I 
 am a prisoner ! " There was good reason 
 for Del Verme's asking me to put aside
 
 The Black Closet 231 
 
 my sword and dagger, and how unsus- 
 pectingly I had walked into the trap! 
 
 " Pish ! " I said to myself, after a mo- 
 ment's consideration, " what folly ! Why 
 should I be made a prisoner? Gian 
 Galeazzo is not ready to see me, and has 
 sent some one hither to admit me. He 
 will come himself after a little." And 
 yet I could not explain the presence of 
 the up-heaped table in the corner. 
 
 As time passed and no one appeared, I 
 grew uneasy. What Signor Canaro had 
 said, and furthermore what he had implied, 
 in regard to my master came to my mind 
 and would not be banished. Slowly the 
 light faded and darkness closed about me, 
 and still I heard no sound, so that gradu- 
 ally I was forced to the conclusion that 
 my first surmise had been correct. The 
 fruit and bread, the pasty and the wine, 
 had evidently been left there for me, so 
 I proceeded to attack them, and a very 
 good meal I made in spite of the dis- 
 quieted state of my thoughts. 
 
 After I had carefully considered every- 
 thing, I came to the conclusion that there
 
 232 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 could be but one cause for my detention 
 and this was that my acquaintance with 
 Signor Canaro and Angela was known to 
 the Visconti, and he wished to keep me 
 out of the way until he had worked his 
 pleasure with them. Perhaps one of the 
 bravos who had attacked Signor Canaro 
 had recognized me ; possibly the abode 
 of father and daughter was watched, and 
 I had been seen issuing from it. Then 
 I fell to puzzling over the misfortunes 
 of the Brescian. Assuredly, despite his 
 wealth, his lot was far from being cast 
 in pleasant places. Persecuted by Ber- 
 nabo, now, for some unknown cause, he 
 was being harried by his nephew and 
 successor. But was the cause so difficult 
 to understand ? Gian Galeazzo was about 
 entering upon what might prove an ex- 
 pensive campaign. There were new levies 
 of troops to be raised, more mercenaries 
 to be paid. True, the system of tax- 
 ation which he had introduced yielded 
 plentiful returns, but might he not have 
 need of larger sums than he could put his 
 hand upon ? Who could say what plans,
 
 The Black Closet 233 
 
 what schemes for the future, were foment- 
 ing in that crafty brain ? Was it not the 
 riches of Signer Canaro that he was aim- 
 ing to obtain to enable him to carry out 
 his ambitious designs? 
 
 That he had some hold upon the Bres- 
 cian I was certain, perhaps some claim 
 of doubtful validity which he proposed to 
 enforce. At the thought of such baseness 
 and cowardice, such injustice, my heart 
 rose up within me. " And this is the 
 man," I said to myself, " whom I have 
 been so delighted to serve ! " 
 
 It had grown quite dark by this, and I 
 felt my way to a couch at one side of the 
 room, casting myself upon it in rage of 
 spirit. Here I lay throughout the night, 
 catching bits of broken slumber, silently 
 storming at my impotence, wondering and 
 fearing what, in the interval, was happen- 
 ing to the two whose safety I had pledged 
 myself to guard. Bfave indeed must be 
 the man who can hold at bay the wolves 
 of doubt and fear through the long dark- 
 ness from dusk to dawn if he be caged 
 and powerless to lift a hand. Grisly tales
 
 234 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 of the outrages practised by the tyrants 
 of the day swarmed in upon my mind, 
 and more than a score of times I fancied 
 Signer Canaro murdered and Angela 
 worse than dead. But hope leaped up in 
 my heart with the first glimmer of the 
 sun, only to sink again as the morning 
 waned, and no one came to release me 
 from my confinement Over every inch 
 of the doors and casings did I go again 
 and yet again in search for the hidden 
 springs, and without avail. Though I 
 knew it was useless, I beat upon the thick 
 panels and cried out in my impatience and 
 anger. I raged up and down my narrow 
 quarters until well-nigh exhausted, finally 
 to cast myself upon the couch, where I 
 fell to biting my nails in silent despair. 
 
 So noon passed, and the afternoon 
 wore away. Dejectedly I ate the last of 
 the fruit and drained the flagon, and then 
 began to wonder if my provisions would 
 be replenished, or if I should still be held 
 a prisoner and forced to fast, or if by any 
 chance the hour of my release was at hand. 
 I had now spent a night and a day in the
 
 The Black Closet 235 
 
 black closet, and all my thoughts were by 
 this time quite in harmony with the hang- 
 ings and furnishings of the place. No 
 sound from without had reached me so 
 thick were the walls. Not even from the 
 adjoining reception-hall did the slightest 
 indication of noise come to my ears. It 
 was as though I were in a place of the 
 dead. Strange it would have been had 
 my spirits been other than like a stream 
 at its lowest ebb. A single sound, how- 
 ever, was enough to set them well toward 
 flood, a click which told of the moving 
 of a spring. At last I should know if I 
 had correctly surmised the cause of my 
 detention. No longer should I be kept 
 in suspense in regard to what to expect. 
 
 The door which swung back was that 
 leading from the reception-hall, and the 
 face I saw in the opening was that of Del 
 Verme. He gave me an amused smile as 
 he entered, and behind him I descried the 
 Visconti, whose usually grave countenance 
 was lit by a look I had not infrequently 
 seen upon it, that of satisfaction over 
 something achieved. I rose at their en-
 
 236 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 trance, but gave them neither greeting nor 
 salute. 
 
 " A little rest is good even for young 
 limbs," said Del Verme, leaning upon the 
 back of the deep chair into which my 
 master sank. " His Lordship feared you 
 might over-exert yourself, Delia Verria, and 
 so thought best to insure you a little quiet." 
 
 The soldier made no attempt to veil 
 the irony of this speech, and my anger 
 which had kindled at the sight of the two 
 men flamed to a white heat at this. 
 
 " I should prefer choosing my own 
 place of rest," I said, " and having ridden 
 so far in his Lordship's service, I find 
 myself indeed weaned, and do herewith 
 tender to his Lordship my resignation 
 from the position in his palace guard with 
 which he deemed it fit some time since to 
 honor me." 
 
 I saw by the faces of both the Visconti 
 and Del Verme that my answer was un- 
 expected. It was evident enough that 
 they had no wish that I should give up 
 my place as Gian Galeazzo's trusted mes- 
 senger.
 
 The Black Closet 237 
 
 " You mistake Del Verme's meaning," 
 said my master, in his most velvety tones. 
 " I wish to be perfectly frank and fair 
 with you, as I have always been. There 
 was a little affair upon which you appar- 
 ently inadvertently stumbled, a little lesson 
 in the uselessness of persistent obstinacy 
 which you may have misunderstood, but 
 which was fully merited. It became nec- 
 essary to carry out this little affair, to 
 complete this little lesson ; and to guard 
 against your possible presence through a 
 second inadvertence, or a further misun- 
 derstanding, it seemed best to ask you to 
 remain here a few hours, a necessity which 
 I most heartily regret. I tried to make 
 you as comfortable as possible, and sin- 
 cerely hope that the time did not hang 
 heavily. Now that the matter of which 
 I spoke is fully adjusted, I trust that you 
 will be able to forget your tarry here, and 
 that you will continue your duties as 
 before. You know we are about advent- 
 uring upon a campaign in which there will 
 be a rare chance for a young man like 
 yourself to win both fame and fortune."
 
 238 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 While my master was speaking, my 
 temper cooled somewhat, and my mind 
 worked rapidly. The chief part of my 
 conclusions had been correct. I had been 
 detained, so that without hinderance Gian 
 Galeazzo could do what he willed with 
 Signor Canaro, who, it appeared, had re- 
 fused to comply with his demands. Now, 
 more than ever, the Brescian and his 
 daughter were in need of my aid. They 
 were perhaps imprisoned somewhere. 
 Was it not likely that I could be of 
 more service to them if I made a pre- 
 tence of still being on friendly terms with 
 my master than as if I maintained the 
 stand I had taken and insisted on resign- 
 ing then and there ? Perhaps he would 
 have me watched for a while, but I would 
 at least gain time, and would not be com- 
 pelled to leave the city at once, as might 
 be the case if I persisted in my decision 
 to quit my position. 
 
 " I acknowledge that I was hasty in my 
 determination," I said, "and I have no 
 doubt that a few breaths of free air will 
 suffice to blot all this incident from my 
 memory."
 
 The Black Closet 239 
 
 I knew well enough when I spoke 
 these words that nothing short of a com- 
 plete lapsing of all recollection would 
 cause me to forget what had occurred, and 
 I pray that Christ and the Virgin have 
 forgiven me the lie which never would 
 have been uttered had I seen my way 
 clear to avoid it. 
 
 " Ah, now the man of sense speaks ! " 
 cried the Visconti. " We shall see you a 
 captain soon, shall we not, Del Verme ? " 
 
 " Perhaps upon the day we take the 
 field, if it is your Lordship's pleasure," 
 answered the soldier. 
 
 " Thank you for the suggestion. I 
 shall be as careful to remember as Delia 
 Verria is to forget." 
 
 I endeavored to express in fitting terms 
 my appreciation of the new honor which 
 they proposed to confer upon me, but 
 much as I should have been elated at 
 such a promotion a few months earlier, 
 there was in it now no smack of sweet- 
 ness. It would not do, however, to allow 
 them to see this, and I flatter myself I 
 carried oflf the deception well. As I
 
 240 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 ceased speaking, my master rose, and I 
 knew the interview was at an end. He 
 stepped toward the door, and it seemed to 
 me that I heard the click of the spring 
 before he had time to put hand upon panel 
 or casing. 
 
 " It is not likely that I shall ever be 
 trapped here again," I thought ; " but if I 
 am, the floor is the place where I shall 
 look for that hidden spring." 
 
 " You will find your sword where you 
 left it," said my master, standing aside for 
 me to pass. " But stay ! " he exclaimed, 
 halting me in the doorway, and crossing 
 the room he flung open a press which 
 stood in a niche in one corner of the 
 closet. Several cloaks hung therein, and 
 one he lifted from the hook which 
 held it." 
 
 "This," he said, handing it to me, "you 
 might take with you." 
 
 It was my own cloak which had been 
 caught up by the third of Signor Canaro's 
 assailants in the Via San Lorenzo when 
 the wretch had fled at the sound of nearing 
 footsteps. In a flash it came to me who
 
 The Black Closet 241 
 
 the man was. He was none other than 
 the trooper whom Gian Galeazzo had bid- 
 den to prove my swordsmanship in the 
 palace garden at Pavia, Otto von Etter- 
 garde.
 
 Chapter XVI 
 To the Rescue 
 
 AS I strode through the corridors of 
 the palace, I was amazed to think 
 that von Ettergarde had not entered my 
 mind before, now that I recalled certain 
 peculiarities of thrust and parry which had 
 struck, me at our first meeting and again 
 at our encounter that night ; and yet it 
 was several months since I had seen the 
 man, so mayhap it was not so strange that 
 I had not known him. It was clear 
 enough now how my master had become 
 cognizant of my part in the affair of the 
 Via San Lorenzo. Doubtless von Etter- 
 garde had recognized the palace guards- 
 man in my dress, and if he had not been 
 certain of my identity at first, my cloak, 
 which was of peculiar and marked style, 
 242
 
 To the Rescue 243 
 
 revealed my personality beyond a ques- 
 tion. 
 
 A thrill of delight went through me as 
 I felt the stones of the pavement beneath 
 my feet, and saw the rose-tinted evening 
 sky above my head. I sped toward my 
 lodgings with all haste, feeling that I 
 should probably be followed and my 
 movements watched, yet confident that a 
 little later, if I so desired, I could elude 
 those who spied upon me. 
 
 I found the goodwife in whose house 
 my quarters were situated standing at the 
 street door. 
 
 " Here you are at last," said she. 
 " There is a woman within who has been 
 waiting to see you since early morning. 
 She is in a sad state, poor thing, yet never 
 a word will she tell me of her trouble." 
 
 "Quick!" cried I, "take me to her." 
 
 Along the passage the goodwife led me 
 to her own apartments at the rear of the 
 house. Here sat the woman of whom she 
 had spoken, staring blankly out into a bare 
 enclosure. As I had surmised, it was 
 Angela Canaro's serving-maid. She turned
 
 244 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 as we entered, and, although the light was 
 dim, recognized me at once. She sprang 
 up with a cry of joy, and rushed toward 
 me, falling upon her knees at my side 
 and grasping one of my hands in both of 
 hers. 
 
 " O Signore," she exclaimed, " you will 
 save her, will you not, my sweet mistress ? 
 You will save her, will you not, Signore ? " 
 
 Before I could win the story of what 
 had happened from the woman's lips I 
 had to promise that I would rescue Angela 
 and her father an assurance which was 
 easy to give, but an undertaking which I 
 was sure would be far from easy to accom- 
 plish. 
 
 It appeared from the woman's broken 
 tale, which I finally succeeded in piecing 
 together, that late the previous night a 
 man had gained entrance to the abode of 
 the Brescian and his daughter under the 
 plea of being a messenger from the physi- 
 cian, who bore to the wounded man a 
 lotion from his master. Once having 
 gained admission to the house, he allowed 
 six or eight masked men to enter, who
 
 To the Rescue 245 
 
 speedily forced their way to the rooms of 
 Signer Canaro, slaying the old serving- 
 man, who offered resistance. Both father 
 and daughter were seized and carried be- 
 low, where horses were in waiting, which 
 they were forced to mount. The woman 
 had clung to her mistress and begged to 
 be taken with her, but had been rudely 
 thrown aside when the horsemen were 
 ready to start. Just as they were about 
 departing, Angela had leaned over and, 
 in a whisper, bade her seek me out and 
 tell me she thought they were to be taken 
 to the Tower of Vezio. Where this was 
 the woman did not know, nor could she 
 say how her mistress had obtained her 
 information. 
 
 Like the serving-maid, I was ignorant 
 of the whereabouts of the tower, but that 
 was a small matter. Hartzheim would 
 doubtless know, or be able to find out 
 readily, and on him I counted for assist- 
 ance. How far he would be willing to 
 aid me I could not say, but I determined 
 at once to set out in search of him, and 
 relate to him the whole story. Certainly
 
 246 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 the knowledge of the destination of the 
 kidnappers was a great point gained, and 
 I blessed my forethought in telling An- 
 gela where my lodgings were, else had I 
 not come by this so speedily. She had 
 probably overheard one of her captors let 
 fall the name of the tower, and had 
 grasped it as being the place where she 
 and her father were likely to be imprisoned. 
 I concluded from the serving-woman's 
 account of the treatment they received, 
 that they were in no immediate danger of 
 their lives, unless the fatigue of horseback 
 riding should affect Signer Canaro unfavor- 
 ably, and ascended to my rooms consider- 
 ably heartened at what I had heard. 
 
 I put aside my guardsman's dress, 
 donned a shirt of linked mail, then se- 
 lected a doublet of dark stuff with trunks 
 and hose to match. My garb being to 
 my satisfaction, I secured what gold I 
 possessed, together with my few trinkets, 
 about my person, and was ready to set 
 out. Below stairs I paused for a last 
 word with the woman. Calling the good- 
 wife of the house aside, I put several
 
 To the Rescue 247 
 
 pieces of gold into her hand and bade 
 her care for the unfortunate serving-maid 
 until she should be sent for. Should no 
 one come for her after a space of two 
 months, I begged the goodwife to interest 
 herself in obtaining her a position. To 
 the serving-woman herself I renewed my 
 assurance that I would find her mistress, 
 and that when I had seen her in a place 
 of safety she should be allowed to join 
 her again. 
 
 Except the man at the stable who had 
 charge of Hawkwood I employed no ser- 
 vant, though I had intended to when 
 I changed my quarters, and I now had 
 reason to be thankful that I was totally 
 unhampered. Instead of seeking egress 
 to the street by the common entrance, I 
 passed from the rear of the house into the 
 small enclosure behind it, and thence to 
 the back room of a small wine-shop, which 
 had a door opening upon a crooked ally. 
 Picking my way along this dim passage, 
 I finally emerged in a thoroughfare well 
 lighted and gayly peopled. Slipping on 
 the mask which I had found in the piazza
 
 248 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 and taken care to preserve, I hurried off 
 toward Hartzheim's quarters. If a watch 
 had been set upon me I was sure that I 
 had eluded scrutiny. I had not been able 
 to see Hartzheim since my return from 
 Padua, and was by no means sure where 
 to look for him. Though I knew he was 
 rarely at his lodgings, I thought perhaps 
 his man might be able to give me some 
 clew to his whereabouts. Hence it was 
 thither I first turned my steps. 
 
 As I ascended the stairs which led to 
 the rooms of my friend, there came down 
 to me a gay burst of laughter, and then 
 the loud chorus of a drinking-song. I 
 halted in vexation of spirit. Hartzheim 
 was giving a supper to some of his Ger- 
 man comrades. For my purpose nothing 
 could have been more inopportune. What 
 should I do ? Hartzheim I must see, and 
 without delay, for in him lay my only 
 hope of assistance. But to show myself 
 to his companions, with some of whom I 
 no doubt had at least a slight acquaint- 
 ance, was far from my desire. However, 
 no other course seemed open ; so, deciding
 
 To the Rescue 249 
 
 to trust the outcome to fortune and deter- 
 mining, unless absolutely forced to do so, 
 not to remove my mask, I mounted to 
 the top of the stairs and struck a bold 
 summons on the door. Above the din I 
 heard the host's cry of " Enter ! " So I 
 swung back the heavy oak, and advanced 
 a pace within the doorway. 
 
 Through the reek of candle fumes and 
 the flare of the flames, I made out the 
 faces of five troopers gathered with my 
 friend about a table on which, in the centre 
 of the fragments of a feast, stood a huge 
 flagon of the red Tuscan chianti. The 
 effect caused by my appearance was like 
 that of a ghost at a banquet, which per- 
 haps was little to be wondered at, for, 
 coming in upon them suddenly in my 
 sombre garb and black mask, I undoubt- 
 edly seemed for a moment like an uncanny 
 visitant from a dark world concerning 
 which men are wont to speak with bated 
 breath. 
 
 Two of the troopers sprang up with 
 exclamations of fright, a third started back 
 in his chair and nearly upset the table.
 
 250 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 while Hartzheim, less superstitious than 
 the rest, angry at being interrupted, and 
 not dreaming who I was, roared out an 
 oath, and demanded what I wanted. 
 
 " My business," said I, " is with the 
 Signer Hartzheim." 
 
 Still he did not know me, for he rose 
 from his seat and came toward the door 
 in no very good-humored fashion. 
 
 " Well," he exclaimed, " be short ! You 
 see I am engaged." 
 
 " It is a matter of great importance," 
 said I, boldly, " and for your ear alone." 
 
 "Ah! " he cried, his whole air changing 
 as he now recognized my voice. " Come 
 this way. My friends will pardon us if 
 we withdraw for a moment." 
 
 He led me into his sleeping-room and 
 closed the door. 
 
 " What, in the name of the saints, is 
 the meaning of all this mystery ? " said 
 he, as I removed my mask. 
 
 " That I am in great trouble, and want, 
 your advice," I answered, thinking it best 
 to put it in that way. 
 
 " What has happened ? "
 
 To the Rescue 251 
 
 " It will take me some time to explain. 
 Where can I see you, and how soon ? " 
 
 He thought a moment. 
 
 " Stay where you are," he said. " I 
 will send these fellows packing. Some 
 of them have already had more wine than 
 is good for them. I will tell them you 
 bring an important message from Gian 
 Galeazzo which compels me to ask them 
 to postpone the rest of our festivities. 
 That will satisfy them." 
 
 He left me hurriedly, and presently I 
 heard the troopers descending the stairs, 
 none too steadily some of them. Then 
 the door was flung open. 
 
 " Now you may come out," my friend 
 exclaimed. 
 
 We seated ourselves, and he poured me 
 a cup of wine. 
 
 " Take that," said he. " You look as 
 though you needed it to pull yourself 
 together." 
 
 I swallowed a part of the draught he 
 offered me, and then began my story. 
 As I proceeded, he rose, and paced the 
 room, questioning me occasionally.
 
 252 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 "It is a dastardly deed ! " he cried, 
 when I had finished. " I suppose you 
 think of trying to rescue the girl and her 
 father?" 
 
 " Yes," I answered ; " I am willing to 
 risk life afl for her an hundred times 
 over." 
 
 " The rescue will not be an easy matter, 
 but it will be vastly easier if they are con- 
 fined in the Tower of Vezio than it would 
 be if they were secreted here." 
 
 "You know where the tower is, then?" 
 
 " Yes, I have seen it. It overlooks the 
 lake of Como just above where the two 
 arms of the lake join. In time gone by 
 it has sometimes been garrisoned by the 
 rulers of Milan to enforce their over- 
 lordship of that region, but I am sure 
 there is no garrison in it now." 
 
 " Advise me, Hartzheim," I cried : 
 " you are full of resources. Tell me 
 what I had best do." 
 
 He was silent for a space, then he came 
 and offered me his hand. 
 
 " I will do more than that," he said ; " I 
 will help you."
 
 To the Rescue 253 
 
 I leaped to my feet with an exclamation 
 of joy. 
 
 " I had hoped you would," I cried, 
 " but I would not breathe the hope. I 
 felt I should be asking you to sacrifice too 
 much." 
 
 " I confess," said he, " that I have had 
 great expectations from this war in which 
 the Visconti is about to engage. If I aid 
 you I put behind me all rewards that 
 might come from a successful campaign, 
 but pouf! there will be other wars, 
 and there are other masters quite as will- 
 ing to pay for a good sword and a stout 
 arm." 
 
 " But you are not considering what 
 might happen in case we should fail," 
 said I, "and you should fall into Gian 
 Galeazzo's hands." 
 
 " Fail ! " he cried. " I' faith, you are a 
 pretty lover to talk of failing when you 
 are about to set out to rescue your mis- 
 tress." 
 
 " I was thinking of the consequences to 
 you, and not of myself," said I. 
 
 He picked up his beaker of wine.
 
 254 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " A toast ! " he cried. " Here's health 
 to La bella Signorina, and confusion to the 
 Great Viper ! 
 
 " Now to business," he continued, as 
 we put down our empty cups. " We 
 should be on the road north by midnight, 
 or soon after, and in the meanwhile there 
 is much to be looked to. It is advisa- 
 ble that you keep out of sight, so you 
 had better let me make the necessary ar- 
 rangements. There is a little inn called 
 the Triton, near the Vercellina gate, which 
 I presume you know. I will secure 
 horses and have them sent thither, and 
 will meet you there at eleven, or there- 
 abouts. Do you hasten thither at once 
 and keep under cover until I come. We 
 shall need a bite before we start, for a 
 night's ride on an empty stomach is an 
 ill medicine for the digestion, so bid the 
 landlord have a stuffed fowl or a rabbit 
 ready, against my arrival, in one of his 
 rooms above stairs." 
 
 I was not slow to do my friend's bid- 
 ding, and presently I was sitting in a cosy 
 little apartment in the Triton (the very
 
 To the Rescue 255 
 
 inn where I had paused for a draught of 
 wine on the morning of my mission to 
 Milan), waiting with impatience well in 
 curb, for the appearance of Hartzheim. 
 
 The moonlight spattered with silver the 
 open space in front of the inn, and the 
 water made a pleasant gurgle in the stone 
 drinking-basin. Unseen by the comers 
 and goers, I watched the tide of patronage 
 slacken as the hour grew late, my thoughts 
 leaping forward along the northward track 
 we were to follow. I gritted my teeth as 
 I dwelt upon Angela Canaro in the hands 
 of Gian Galeazzo's band of kidnappers, 
 exposed to I knew not what insults and 
 indignities, and longed for the time to 
 come when we should be in the saddle 
 with the south wind at our backs. I 
 could but admire Hartzheim's foresight in 
 choosing the Vercellina gate for our exit 
 from the city. We should both be missed 
 before the morning was many hours old, 
 and an immediate inquiry be instituted. 
 If it were discovered, as it doubtless would 
 be, that horsemen had ridden forth at mid- 
 night from the gateway leading toward
 
 256 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Pavia, suspicion in regard to our real des- 
 tination might be averted. Yet I had a 
 notion that as soon as the Visconti learned 
 of my disappearance he would despatch an 
 admonition of caution to the one com- 
 manding the men at the tower, in which 
 case it behooved us to hasten. We should 
 have scant time to elaborate a plan of res- 
 cue. A bold, quick stroke would have to 
 be depended upon. 
 
 Before the last guest left the wine-room, 
 a man leading three horses turned into the 
 open space before the inn. In the man I 
 made out Hartzheim's servant, Galbo, 
 who was evidently to accompany us, and 
 among the horses much to my delight 
 I discovered Hawkwood, seemingly no 
 longer lame. I hoped my friend was 
 not far behind, but it was fully an hour, 
 and hard upon midnight, before I beheld 
 his stalwart bulk in the doorway of the 
 apartment. 
 
 " I was delayed," said Hartzheim, " for 
 I had to assure a little woman I would 
 send for her when I was safely settled in 
 Padua or Venice," and the great fellow 
 smiled rather sheepishly.
 
 To the Rescue 257 
 
 " Ah," said I, to whom this was wholly 
 in the nature of a surprise, " so Mars is 
 ruled by Venus, after all ! " 
 
 " Well, you see," he explained, " I had 
 promised her that after this campaign we 
 would have a cosy place somewhere to our- 
 selves, a tidy little inn like this, maybe." 
 
 Then I saw what a sacrifice he was 
 making in my behalf, and broke out, tell- 
 ing him that I would not allow it ; but he 
 silenced me in his careless, kindly way, 
 saying now, knowing what he did, he 
 would not serve Gian Galeazzo if his 
 Lordship offered him the command of all 
 his forces. 
 
 After this we fell to discussing the 
 stuffed fowl which the landlord had 
 brought in steaming, and presently Galbo 
 appeared to say that the horses were 
 ready. Hartzheim bade his man finish 
 the fowl, then we hurried below, and hav- 
 ing settled our reckoning, went forth to 
 mount. Hawkwood poked his velvety 
 nose up to my face as I adjusted his bri- 
 dle, and I called him what he was, and 
 still is, the prince of horses.
 
 258 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 There was but a brief halt at the gate, 
 for Hartzheim told the keeper in so 
 authoritative a way that we rode upon his 
 Lordship's business that he did not vent- 
 ure to question us. Soon we were cut- 
 ting a wide arc about the city walls, and 
 erelong the hoofs of our horses were beat- 
 ing in rhythmic unison upon the Como 
 road.
 
 Chapter XVII 
 The Encounter at Como 
 
 DAWN was breaking when we rode 
 into Como and halted at the Sign 
 of the Carp upon the lake quay. I was 
 moved by the beauty of the scene, the 
 like of which I had never before looked 
 upon. There was a flush of mingled rose 
 and gold upon the water, and the sails of 
 the outgoing fisher boats were like great 
 delicately tinted wings in the wondrous 
 light. There was no one astir about the 
 inn, but we were not long in rousing a 
 hostler who took charge of our horses, 
 and as we turned from the stable the 
 landlord appeared, rubbing the sleep from 
 his eyes. 
 
 "A fair day to you, gentlemen," said 
 he. " Such early travellers deserve all the 
 259
 
 260 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 good things fortune provides. It is a 
 sorry thing to have to ride by night." 
 
 "It is sorry indeed," said I, "unless 
 there be a hot flitch waiting at the end 
 of the journey." 
 
 " Such may be found here, and of the 
 best, by any that have the coin to pay for 
 it." 
 
 " Then rouse your cook, and bid him 
 stir his fire," we cried, and while the land- 
 lord set out to do our bidding we strolled 
 down to the water's edge, having in mind 
 to look for a boat that would suit our 
 purpose. We were still examining the 
 shipping when he hailed us with the an- 
 nouncement that our meal was ready. As 
 we passed into the room where it was 
 being served, we heard a stir in the apart- 
 ment above, and Hartzheim remarked to 
 the landlord that some of his guests were 
 moving early. 
 
 " Yes," that worthy said, " they are two 
 troopers who remained behind to pur- 
 chase provisions ; their comrades, who 
 were escorting a lady and gentleman, 
 some invalid lord and his lady on their
 
 The Encounter at Como 261 
 
 way to their castle, went up the lake yester 
 noon." 
 
 I forbore to look at Hartzheim when 
 I heard this, for fear that I should show 
 some exultation at the news. There was 
 now no doubt but that we were on the 
 right track. 
 
 My friend made no immediate response 
 to the landlord's words, but halted in the 
 middle of the room as though he were 
 listening to what was going on overhead. 
 The men were evidently dressing. Sud- 
 denly he turned. 
 
 " This is our chance," he said in a 
 whisper to me ; then to the landlord, " I 
 hve some business with the gentlemen 
 above. I am quite sure they are the 
 ones. Will you kindly show me to their 
 door. Our breakfast can wait." 
 
 Not only was our host surprised, but 
 he seemed little inclined to fall in with 
 Hartzheim's wishes. I saw his eyes move 
 furtively, as though he either thought of 
 making a dash from the room, or of call- 
 ing some one to his assistance. But 
 Hartzheim's manner changed, as it could
 
 262 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 on occasion, from the blandly agreeable to 
 the bristling and ferocious. 
 
 "You heard me," he roared; "by heaven, 
 be quick, or you go for a morning bath 
 off the quay yonder ! " 
 
 The man's knees began to shake. 
 
 " Certainly, certainly," he stammered ; 
 " I did not quite understand, you were 
 so sudden." 
 
 "You had best watch the window, 
 Luigi," said my friend, as he followed 
 our now obliging host. 
 
 From my post without I heard them 
 ascend the stairs, and then came Hartz- 
 heim's knock upon the door, which was 
 followed by a parley of some length. 
 Presently the shutters above were un- 
 fastened, and a pair of eyes looked down 
 at me, but were hurriedly withdrawn. 
 After a silence of considerable duration 
 I heard Hartzheim's summons anew, this 
 time more emphatic than before, and I 
 judged that instead of his knuckles he 
 was using his sword hilt. Directly there 
 was the clatter of hurriedly descending 
 feet. I rushed within just in time to
 
 The Encounter at Como 263 
 
 arrest the steps of the landlord, who was 
 bolting toward the rear entrance of the 
 inn, evidently bent upon going in search 
 of some of the town authorities. I let 
 him see the edge of my bare blade, and 
 he began to whimper like a whipped cur. 
 
 " Listen ! " cried I, still gripping him 
 by the collar. " Not a glimpse of an 
 augustal will you get for that fine break- 
 fast that is cooling if you try to thwart 
 us further ; but if you are quiet, we will 
 see that you have triple pay." 
 
 " But the reputation of my house ! " 
 
 " Rubbish ! " said I ; " there is no one 
 abroad at this hour, and we mean no 
 harm to the troopers above. We merely 
 wish to assure ourselves that they will not 
 harm us." 
 
 The promise of so abundant a recom- 
 pense for his cookery quite won him over; 
 but I had done with my little interview 
 none too soon, for as I released him there 
 rang out a shout for aid from Hartzheim. 
 With my drawn weapon in hand I sprang 
 into the hallway. As I did so there came 
 the fierce clash of steel from above, and
 
 264 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 up the stairs I flew in hot-footed haste. 
 I made out three forms, in the dim light, 
 in one corner of the broad landing, my 
 friend with his back to the wall calmly 
 beating off the vicious attack of two 
 men. 
 
 "Turn ! " cried I, pricking one of them 
 upon the buttock, whereat he wheeled 
 about with a snort of rage, and charged 
 upon me like a bull. 
 
 " Disarm your man," called Hartzheim 
 to me, and I engaged my antagonist 
 with that intent. While he who faced 
 me was a good swordsman as troopers 
 go, he knew none of the fine arts of 
 fence in which I had taken so much 
 pains to perfect myself. I thought I 
 should be able to effect my end without 
 letting him feel my point, but he had a 
 tenacious grip, and, moreover, knew what 
 I was trying to do. I heard the weapon 
 of Hartzheim's adversary fall with a ring- 
 ing vibration upon the floor, and, deter- 
 mining not to keep my friend long waiting, 
 I practised a little feint which a skilful 
 Frenchman had taught me, ripped up
 
 The Encounter at Como 265 
 
 my opponent's sword-arm, and had him 
 wholly at my mercy. 
 
 " We will go in here," said Hartzheim, 
 pointing to the open door of the room 
 which the two men had occupied. 
 
 At my friend's bidding the two dis- 
 armed troopers passed into the apartment, 
 and we followed them, having first secured 
 their swords and forced them to surrender 
 their daggers. From their faces I saw 
 that they were Germans, and from their 
 garb that they belonged to the company in 
 which von Ettergarde was an officer. 
 
 " We regret putting you to any incon- 
 venience, comrades," said Hartzheim, "but 
 we shall have to ask you to change clothes 
 with us, and then we shall wish you to 
 answer a few questions. You will of 
 course see the folly of refusing." 
 
 The men made no reply. 
 
 " Come," said my friend, " bestir your- 
 selves. We have no time to spare." 
 
 Sullenly the troopers began to divest 
 themselves of their apparel, and soon the 
 change was effected, we having, during 
 the process, bound up the arm of the one
 
 266 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 whom I had wounded, his hurt proving 
 to be quite an ugly cut. Hartzheim's new 
 garb suited him well, but mine was not 
 just to my liking, the hose being some- 
 what too ample. However, I knew that 
 the change was part of a plan my friend 
 had in mind, and it did not enter my head 
 to demur. 
 
 " Now," said Hartzheim, after the read- 
 justment in dress had been completed, 
 " suppose you tell us under whose orders 
 you are acting." 
 
 " Von Ettergarde's," said one, without 
 hesitation. 
 
 " And how many men are there at the 
 tower ? " 
 
 " Eight, counting the keeper and his 
 assistant." 
 
 " You were to go on to-day with pro- 
 visions, I understand. Where is your 
 boat ? " 
 
 " Yonder at the quay." 
 
 " And the provisions ? " 
 
 " Were to be put on board this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " At what hour were you to start ? "
 
 The Encounter at Como 267 
 
 " By noon, if the wind favored." 
 
 " Good ! we will give you the pleasure 
 of our company." 
 
 The troopers made such wry faces at 
 this information that both Hartzheim and 
 I shouted with laughter. 
 
 " I fear you do not appreciate the 
 honor we are doing you,"my friend said, 
 a bit of pleasantry which was quite lost 
 upon them. 
 
 Hartzheim remained to guard our pris- 
 oners while I went below and breakfasted, 
 returning to allow him to satisfy his hun- 
 ger. Then, when the troopers had been 
 fed, we fastened their feet and hands se- 
 curely, and set Galbo to watch over them 
 while we caught a few hours of sleep, 
 bidding my friend's man call us if his 
 charges attempted to move or make an 
 outcry. Our liberality had quite won over 
 the landlord, who was now eager to meet 
 our lightest wish, so we stretched our- 
 selves out with the feeling that all was 
 going well. 
 
 I dropped straightway into a dream 
 in which, single-handed, I rescued Angela
 
 268 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 Canaro from a dozen men-at-arms, and 
 bore her, strange to say, not to my home 
 in Padua, but to my father's house in 
 Pavia, where my father appeared at the 
 door and kissed her hand, leading her up 
 the staircase to the grand hall ; there, as 
 I looked about for the lowering counte- 
 nance of my step-mother, a beautiful lady 
 came forward and took my beloved in her 
 arms, saying, " I am Luigi's mother, and 
 will love you because you love him." 
 
 It was not far from the stroke of noon 
 when Galbo came to awaken us ; and both 
 of us rose, alert for action. Repairing to 
 the quay, we found the boat which the 
 troopers had pointed out to us, prepared 
 to start on a moment's notice. 
 
 " Who hired you, my men ? " said 
 Hartzheim to the four sailors who were 
 lounging upon the thwarts. 
 
 " A Signore who went up the lake 
 yesterday," answered one of them. 
 
 " And he paid you ? " 
 
 " No ; he is to pay us when we deliver 
 the cargo." 
 
 " Well, if you will do as the Signore
 
 The Encounter at Como 269 
 
 here and I wish you to, and ask no ques- 
 tions, we will double the sum offered 
 you, and perhaps give you further em- 
 ployment after this present voyage is 
 over." 
 
 The four men looked at one another 
 an instant. For further consultation there 
 seemed to be no need. 
 
 " Agreed ! Signore," they cried in a 
 chorus. 
 
 " Very good," said Hartzheim. " Re- 
 member you are to obey us, and there are 
 to be no questions asked." 
 
 "We will remember. And the money?" 
 
 " That will be forthcoming, you need 
 have no fear. Here is earnest of full pay- 
 ment," and Hartzheim dropped a gold 
 piece into the spokesman's palm. 
 
 When we returned to the inn, we found 
 Galbo had saddled the horses and was pre- 
 pared to start. We had decided that it 
 would be best to send him with the horses 
 across the country to Lecco to await our 
 coming there at an inn of which Hartzheim 
 knew. Furthermore, my friend had given 
 his man orders to procure two additional
 
 2 jo A Man-at-Arms 
 
 steeds ; for, if our quest were successful, 
 our party would number five when we set 
 out from Lecco for Padua, which was to 
 be our destination. Although the Lord 
 of Padua had entered into an alliance with 
 the Visconti, I knew well that there was 
 nothing to be feared from the latter when 
 once we were within the walls of the city 
 ruled by Francesco da Carrara. 
 
 Having seen Galbo depart, we haled 
 forth our prisoners. Fastening them to- 
 gether arm to arm, and threatening them 
 with a taste of bare steel if they attempted 
 to escape, or made any outcry, we marched 
 them before us to the quay and saw them 
 safely bestowed in a clear space in the bow 
 of the boat. There was a group of curious 
 on-lookers, but no one ventured to inter- 
 fere. Such spectacles were not uncommon, 
 and our garb gave us authority in the public 
 mind. One of the town watch approached, 
 and to satisfy his unspoken curiosity 
 Hartzheim told him we were under orders 
 from his Lordship, the Visconti, whereat 
 with a few commonplace remarks he con- 
 tinued on his way. I did not know but
 
 The Encounter at Como 271 
 
 that the troopers might appeal to him for 
 aid, but with so wholesome a dread had 
 my friend inspired them that they did not 
 open their lips. Evidently they thought it 
 best to bide their time, meditating perhaps 
 a break for freedom when we had reached 
 the end of the voyage and they were near 
 their comrades. Had they surmised our 
 intentions in regard to them, possibly we 
 should have encountered something other 
 than tame submission. 
 
 The boatmen now adjusted the long 
 oars with which our little craft was fitted, 
 and pulled a short distance out into the 
 bay, where the broad sail was run up. A 
 gust filled this, the water began to ripple 
 with a pleasant murmur against the prow, 
 the city receded, and soon, rounding a 
 headland, the full beauty of this wonderful 
 lake broke upon me, the grand mountains, 
 the luxuriantly wooded shores, and the 
 liquid expanse in which both were mir- 
 rored and over which we glided as though 
 sailing some paradisial lake of dream.
 
 Chapter XVIII 
 Up the Lake 
 
 I HAD one great consolation as I sat 
 in the shadow of the sail and watched 
 the lovely panorama of the shores unfold 
 and slip by. I drew my solace from the 
 words of the innkeeper at Como, who had 
 spoken of Angela and her father as a lord 
 and his lady going to their castle. It was 
 evident, from the way he regarded them, 
 that they had been treated with considera- 
 tion on their journey from Milan. This 
 led me to hope that they would meet with 
 no ill usage before we could effect their 
 rescue. I was considerably puzzled over 
 what might be the Visconti's ultimate in- 
 tention in regard to his prisoners, whether 
 he proposed to detain them only until he 
 could bend Vincenzo Canaro to his will, 
 272
 
 Up the Lake 273 
 
 or whether it was his purpose to keep 
 them confined either for a brief or for a 
 considerable period, and then let it appear 
 that they had died a natural death when 
 in reality some subtly administered poison 
 was responsible for their taking off. I 
 concluded, after long meditation, that they 
 were in no immediate danger, and that 
 von Ettergarde's murderous assault on 
 Signor Canaro in the Via San Lorenzo had 
 not been a part of the original plan, but 
 was suddenly inspired by the fact that he 
 saw the man whom he had been ordered 
 to seize was likely to escape from his 
 clutches. 
 
 The breeze continued fair, and our 
 progress was such that Hartzheim and I 
 agreed we were likely to reach our desti- 
 nation long before it was desirable ; so 
 beyond Nesso, yet before we reached the 
 promontory of La Cavagnola, we put into 
 a little bay where a mountain stream 
 emptied, coming down from the heights of 
 Monte Colmenacco. Above us the chest- 
 nut groves were feathery with fragrant 
 flowers, while about us were laurel copses
 
 274 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 in which the birds ever and anon broke 
 out in a silvery intermezzo. 
 
 How restful it was, after the stress of 
 the night and morning, to relax our tense 
 nerves for a little in that placid seclusion, 
 and watch the sun slowly dip toward the 
 crest of the mountain-chain ! After a 
 little a roseate light was shed over the 
 water, and, bathed in the flood of the 
 afterglow, we began to make preparation 
 for getting under way again. 
 
 " Comrades," said Hartzheim to the 
 two troopers, who had preserved a moody 
 silence during the whole of our tarry, " I 
 regret that we must part company, but 
 such is the present necessity. You will 
 kindly step on shore. If you object to 
 the grass for a bed and the laurel boughs 
 for a roof, there is Nesso a few miles 
 back, where doubtless there are lodgings 
 a-plenty." 
 
 So surprised were our prisoners that 
 for a moment they sat gazing at my 
 friend incredulously, scarce believing their 
 ears. The two sailors upon the beach, who 
 had braced themselves to push off the
 
 Up the Lake 275 
 
 boat, relaxed their bodies and stepped 
 back so that the troopers might land. A 
 dumb rage kindled in the eyes of these 
 men. They looked from one to the other 
 of us and found us smiling ; the boatmen, 
 too, were grinning amusedly. They were 
 unarmed, and knew that they must obey, 
 but when they were once on shore, beyond 
 our reach, and the boat was again floated, 
 they flung curses long and loud at us 
 across the water, vowing vengeance if they 
 had to follow us to the ends of the earth. 
 
 " Their tempers will be somewhat 
 cooled by morning," said Hartzheim, 
 "and in any event I trust by that time 
 we shall be far away." 
 
 The wind died with the going down of 
 the sun, so the sail was hauled in and the 
 long oars adjusted. There was a music 
 to me in their rise and dip, they were 
 lifted so evenly and fell in such perfect 
 unison ; and I heard Hartzheim, moved, 
 too, by the sense of harmony above and 
 about us, humming to himself some song 
 of his northland home. Thus for a brief 
 space we were removed, even as we had
 
 ij6 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 been that afternoon in the little bay girt 
 by the shining laurels, from the bitter 
 rancors of the world. 
 
 By and by we passed the promontory 
 that juts into the lake where the Como 
 and Lecco arms join, and not long after- 
 ward one of the boatmen pointed out to 
 us some lights that twinkled through the 
 dusk a short distance ahead, upon the 
 right. 
 
 " That is the landing-place, Signori," 
 said he, " and there," lifting his finger 
 to other lights far up the impending 
 slope, " is the village of Vezio and the 
 tower." 
 
 Our destination was at hand. As I 
 raised my eyes to the gleaming points 
 beaconing through the night from the 
 mountain side, my heart went out up the 
 path of the rays to the prison of my 
 beloved, and I longed to be ashore strik- 
 ing a bold blow for her release. 
 
 The situation demanded immediate ac- 
 tion. Delay would be fatal to our hopes. 
 The men whom we had left behind near 
 Nesso would find means of continuing their
 
 Up the Lake 277 
 
 journey on the morrow, and indeed by 
 that time word of warning might come to 
 von Ettergarde from Milan. But now 
 by some piece of good fortune we might 
 take the captors of Signor Canaro and 
 his daughter unaware, and either by a 
 ruse, or by a sudden and unexpected 
 stroke, effect our end. To plan, however, 
 was impossible until we had at least in a 
 measure reconnoitred. 
 
 As we turned into the small harbor 
 formed by a stream called the Esino, which 
 here debouches, we noted two men close 
 to the water's edge who seemed to be 
 watching us intently. Presently one of 
 them hailed us. 
 
 " Are you from Como ? " he called. 
 
 "Yes, Signore," answered one of the 
 boatmen. 
 
 "Is it you, Mandell and Pfander ? " 
 cried the speaker. 
 
 " No," said Hartzheim, with ready 
 tongue ; " Mandell and Pfander returned 
 to Milan. We have come on in their 
 stead with orders from his Lordship to 
 the officer in command here."
 
 278 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 We could see that they were surprised 
 at this, for we had now drawn quite near 
 the stone wall of the place of landing. 
 They conferred a moment, then one of 
 them said, 
 
 " Who are you ? We don't recognize 
 your voice." 
 
 " Hartzheim," answered my friend ; 
 " and Stainer is with me," he added, giv- 
 ing me the name of one of the men in 
 his own command. 
 
 Who Hartzheim was they knew well, 
 and they were apparently satisfied, for 
 they waited for the boat to draw up along- 
 side the rude quay. 
 
 " We must seize these fellows," said 
 my companion, in a low tone, " or they 
 may make trouble for us. With them 
 out of the way there will be two less to 
 deal with at the tower." 
 
 The prow of the boat touched the wall, 
 and with a rope in hand one of the sailors 
 sprang to land, casting the line which he 
 held around a post firmly set in the earth. 
 The other sailors were busy unshipping 
 their oars, and when two of them went
 
 Up the Lake 279 
 
 toward the bow Hartzheim called to the 
 men above, 
 
 " Come down and lend us a hand with 
 these stores. We had best put them 
 ashore ourselves." 
 
 They complied without hesitation or 
 demur. It was several feet from the quay 
 to the boat, and before the unsuspecting 
 troopers had recovered from the necessary 
 spring my friend and I had leaped upon 
 them. Hartzheim bore his man down 
 without difficulty, choking him into speedy 
 submission, but I was hardly so fortunate. 
 My strength was far from being equal to 
 that of my comrade, and it proved that 
 my antagonist was the stouter of the two 
 troopers. To and fro we struggled, each 
 endeavoring to throw the other to the bot- 
 tom of the boat. I had the advantage in 
 the hold, else had it speedily gone ill 
 with me; yet in spite of this, strive as 
 I would, I could not force my adversary 
 down. I felt him fumbling for his dag- 
 ger, and failing in that he tried to tear me 
 from him and fling me into the lake. 
 But I clung to him like a leech, and
 
 280 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 finally, getting the wall as a prop for my 
 back, I locked one leg behind him, threw 
 my whole weight against him, and over we 
 went together, his head in the descent 
 striking upon one of the thwarts with 
 tremendous force. His hold upon me 
 relaxed, and he sank into a limp heap, 
 unconscious. 
 
 All this struggle went on without an 
 outcry, and was witnessed only by the 
 four boatmen, who offered neither to assist 
 nor to restrain us. When our captives 
 had been secured and gagged, and placed 
 in the bow, where their bodies were well- 
 nigh hidden by a piece of sail-cloth, we 
 handed the sailors their promised wage. 
 Now, however, when we proposed to hire 
 them further, they demurred, and we saw 
 that they were inclined to be frightened at 
 what they had done, feeling perhaps that 
 they might be implicated in our somewhat 
 high-handed proceedings. 
 
 " These men, Signori, and those others, 
 are they not in the employ of his Lord- 
 ship of Milan ? " asked one of them. 
 " We know not what you aim to do, but
 
 Up the Lake 281 
 
 truly it will go hard with us if his Lord- 
 ship discovers it was our boat that brought 
 you hither." 
 
 I saw what might be the sole chance of 
 escape, were the rescue safely effected, slip- 
 ping away from us. 
 
 " Your fears are but idle ! " I cried. 
 " We, too, are in his Lordship's employ, 
 and are striving to set free a Signore and 
 his daughter who have been wrongfully 
 confined up yonder in the tower. If you 
 will agree to take us to Lecco to-night, 
 your pockets shall be so heavy with gold 
 that not one of you will need to work 
 again for a year." 
 
 I realized that plain speaking alone 
 would win them wholly to our side, and 
 my open statement of the case had the 
 desired effect ; for after a short conference 
 their spokesman announced that they 
 would run the risk and place their boat at 
 our disposal. Accordingly, having bidden 
 them lighten the craft of most of the pro- 
 visions and await us where they were, we 
 hastened to mount the quay. 
 
 "We must find a guide," said my friend.
 
 282 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " I would that we might chance upon 
 some sturdy fellow who would lend us the 
 aid of- his stout arm on a pinch." 
 
 Even as Hartzheim spoke, we heard a 
 voice trolling out a rollicking stave, 
 
 " O a trooper's life, O a trooper's life, 
 
 Is the life that's fair and free ! 
 In the prick o' the press, in the stress o' the 
 
 strife, 
 With his own true blade by his side for a 
 
 wife, 
 O a trooper's life for me ! " 
 
 Then out of the shadow there strode a 
 burly form. 
 
 " Ho, comrade ! " called Hartzheim, 
 "though I know you not, I'll wager a florin 
 that you have couched a lance or trailed a 
 pike at the wars ! Come, drink with us a 
 cup to the peace of the soul of the last 
 knave you spitted." 
 
 "That I would gladly, friends," said 
 the man, approaching us, " were I not just 
 recovered from a wound, and hence forced 
 to be most abstemious lest the pestilent 
 fever take hold on me again."
 
 Up the Lake 283 
 
 " I was quite right about the wars, 
 then ! " said Hartzheim. 
 
 " You were, in truth," said the man, 
 who proved to be a seemly looking fellow, 
 perhaps ten years my senior. There was 
 a smack of importance in his manner, but 
 his air of bravado was not offensive and 
 was explained later when we discovered 
 that this was his home and birthplace. 
 "A dozen years," he exclaimed, "have 
 I worn a morion ! " 
 
 " Under what lord or lords, if the 
 question give no offence ? " 
 
 "None, i' faith. Can Signorio and 
 Antonio della Scala have been my 
 masters. You serve the Visconti, by 
 your dress. Erelong we may be at one 
 another's throats, if the jade, Rumor, has 
 it right; for already when I left Verona, 
 three weeks since, it was said that Gian 
 Galeazzo had joined Francesco da Carrara 
 against the Lord of Verona." 
 
 " Rumor in this case speaks truly, but 
 there is small likelihood that the clash of 
 arms will find us under the banner of 
 the Visconti. My friend here has little
 
 284 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 cause to love him, and I am wholly of 
 his mind." 
 
 " Ah, haply then you will join me ! I 
 go back to Verona in a few days. This 
 is my old home, and I am here recruiting 
 from a wound a cursed Paduan pikeman 
 gave me. I can assure you of a warm 
 welcome by the Adige, my master being 
 eager to add to his following." 
 
 " It is most gracious of you to suggest 
 it, but we have that on hand which will, I 
 fear, prevent us from joining you." 
 
 I began now to see toward what Hartz- 
 heim was leading. 
 
 " Some private affair, no doubt," said 
 the follower of Antonio della Scala. 
 
 " Yes," answered my friend ; " it is of 
 that nature, and I do not mind telling 
 you that if you would strike a blow at 
 your master's enemy, the Visconti, you 
 could not do so more easily than by aiding 
 us for an hour." 
 
 " For an hour ! " 
 
 " If we succeed, we shall not be longer 
 than that. Our little affair calls us up 
 yonder to the tower."
 
 Up the Lake 285 
 
 " Ah, a lord and lady arrived yesterday ! 
 I saw them land. They are prisoners, 
 perhaps ? " 
 
 " Exactly ! and we propose to rescue 
 them ; but we need a guide, a decoy, one 
 who would be willing to make some sort 
 of an outcry, and attract the attention of 
 those guarding them." 
 
 " You may command me ! " cried the 
 man. " I am wholly at your service. 
 My sword has been rusting for days, and 
 my muscles are beginning to ache from 
 sloth. As for the wound, it must stand 
 the test some time, and why not now ? " 
 
 " But we look to do the fighting ! " I 
 exclaimed. " We could not think of ask- 
 ing a man just recovering from a wound 
 to endanger himself." 
 
 " My friend is quite right," said Hartz- 
 heim. " If you will act as guide and 
 decoy, we will manage to take care of 
 the rest." 
 
 " Well," said our obliging ally, whose 
 name we discovered to be Leo Berni, " I 
 flatter myself that I can strike a very 
 pretty blow, and if you find that you need
 
 286 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 my sword, I beg that you will not hesitate 
 to call on me." 
 
 We thanked him most heartily for the 
 chivalrous spirit which he manifested, and 
 without delay, following closely in his 
 footsteps, struck into a sharply ascending 
 path, which at first wound along the right 
 bank of the Val d' Esino, but finally 
 mounted and traversed the crest of the 
 ridge.
 
 Chapter XIX 
 The Tower of Vezio 
 
 THE darkness was intense, for the 
 night had become cloudy, and had 
 our guide not been perfectly familiar with 
 the pathway, it would have been a miracle 
 had we reached Vezio in safety. There 
 were barriers to be avoided, and we 
 passed more than one spot where a mis- 
 step meant a broken arm or leg, if not 
 a broken neck. After what seemed an 
 interminable and arduous scramble, the 
 barking of a dog told us that we were not 
 far from the village which stood near the 
 tower. Presently the path widened, and 
 we distinguished the dark outline of 
 houses with lights burning in a few of the 
 upper windows. The gloom below, how- 
 ever, was scarcely perceptibly broken, and 
 we still had to grope our way painfully. 
 287
 
 288 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " I thought it might be well to avoid 
 the main street," said our guide, " so I 
 have chosen this route, which is the short- 
 est, though far from pleasant. You had 
 best keep close to me." 
 
 As we passed between the houses, the 
 dank air of open cellars cast a chill upon 
 us, while the reeking breath of the gutters 
 seemed likely to choke us with its foulness. 
 We stumbled over heaps of garbage, twice 
 blundered against tipsy foot-farers, who 
 cursed us thickly, and at length won an 
 open space from which we could clearly 
 distinguish the massive bulk and crenel- 
 ated battlements of the tower. In front 
 of it there seemed to be a sort of platform 
 upon which a fire had evidently been 
 kindled, for a fitful light radiated from the 
 spot which caused the walls to stand out 
 against the inky background of the night. 
 
 " The ordinary approach to the tower 
 is upon the right, but this will best serve 
 your present purpose," said Berni, leading 
 us into a dip where grew some gnarled 
 trunks which we made out to be olive 
 trees.
 
 The Tower of Vezio 289 
 
 Soon we were at the base of a sort of 
 terrace, and could hear the murmur of 
 voices. Bidding us wait where we were 
 for a brief space, our guide slipped away 
 into the darkness. Between Hartzheim 
 and myself no word was spoken. With 
 his head craned to one side my friend 
 listened intently for a sign of Berni's re- 
 turn, while I kept my eyes fixed upon the 
 small dark windows of the tower, which 
 now loomed above us, wondering if from 
 any of them Angela Canaro were at that 
 moment looking down. Inspired by the 
 cheer of Hartzheim's presence, and by 
 the singularly good fortune which had 
 attended our enterprise from the very 
 outset, up to this time I had allowed no 
 doubt in regard to our ultimate success 
 to enter my mind ; but now as I gazed at 
 the gloomy massiveness of my beloved's 
 prison, and realized that, unless favored 
 by chance, six stout men must be over- 
 come before she could be set free, a 
 sudden fear seemed to clutch my heart, 
 and I thought, " What if we should 
 fail ? "
 
 290 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 By daylight, amid familiar or plainly dis- 
 cernible surroundings, most men (those, 
 that is, who are worthy to be classed with 
 the stronger sex) can meet peril unmoved, 
 or feel a sense of exhilaration in the face of 
 danger ; but begirt by darkness and en- 
 vironed by uncertainty, I have heard old 
 soldiers say that their wonted calmness 
 and valor forsook them. It is with this 
 knowledge that I console myself when I 
 recall my faint-heartedness as I stood in 
 the murk beneath the Tower of Vezio 
 and awaited the return of Leo Berni. 
 
 My mind, packed with sombre fore- 
 bodings, was beginning to entertain sus- 
 picions of his trustworthiness, when he 
 emerged before us out of the darkness. 
 
 " If you will come with me," he said, 
 " and step softly, you may be able to hear 
 something that will interest you. After 
 you have listened you can form your 
 plans." 
 
 Hanging hard upon his footsteps, we 
 skirted the base of the terrace, and 
 presently, having rounded a projection, 
 the reflection cast by the fire upon the
 
 The Tower of Vezio 291 
 
 platform showed us, a score of paces 
 distant, the path of approach from the 
 village. Above, and close at hand, we 
 heard voices. 
 
 " I will wait here," said our guide. " If 
 you are careful, you can get within earshot 
 without being detected." 
 
 The slope of the terrace was partially 
 set with a low growth of laurels, beneath 
 which the earth was soft. Dropping upon 
 our hands and knees, Hartzheim and I 
 worked our way slowly upward. So 
 cautious were we that I doubt if we made 
 a sound, and if we did, it must have been 
 lost in the crackling of the flames ; for 
 when we reached the summit of the 
 terrace and could peer over, the two men 
 who sat upon the bench a dozen feet away 
 were still intent on their conversation. 
 One of them I made out to be von 
 Ettergarde. For a moment I could not 
 catch what they were saying, their backs 
 being turned toward us, so I let my eyes 
 rove about the open space in the centre 
 of which the fire was burning. Why 
 this had been kindled was now evident,
 
 292 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 a host of spinning midges being visible 
 in the air high above the flames. The 
 entrance to the tower was situated in that 
 corner of the building nearest the village 
 of Vezio. Through the open doorway I 
 could detect a shifting glimmer which told 
 me that the room was torch-lit. Two 
 men were seated on the entrance thresh- 
 old, while two others were lounging on 
 the steps below. Those in the doorway 
 wore a different garb from the others, who 
 were dressed like ourselves, so I concluded 
 that one must be the keeper of the tower 
 and the other his assistant. 
 
 My roving glance was arrested by von 
 Ettergarde's words. 
 
 " It is agreed upon, then," I heard him 
 say. " You will look after the girl while 
 I am gone to Milan to claim the reward 
 for the little affair." 
 
 " Yes," answered the other, " provided 
 half the money is mine." 
 
 " You fool," cried von Ettergarde, 
 angrily, " how many times must I tell you 
 that the division shall be equal ! " 
 
 " It is a goodly sum, and worth the
 
 The Tower of Vezio 293 
 
 risk ; but if the Visconti should discover 
 the deceit, and we should be taken, it 
 makes my blood creep to think of what 
 he would do to us." 
 
 An exclamation of impatience fell from 
 von Ettergarde's lips. 
 
 " You faint-hearted dolt," he cried, " can 
 you not see that discovery is impossible ? 
 By Bacchus, I would that I had spoken 
 to one of the others and not to you ! " 
 
 " If you will confide the plan more fully, 
 I shall feel greater confidence." 
 
 So evident was it that some villany not 
 meditated even by the Lord of Milan was 
 on foot that I wriggled a trifle nearer, lest 
 any word should escape my ears. 
 
 "It is to be done to-morrow night, as I 
 told you," von Ettergarde said, in a most 
 matter of fact tone, " unless orders to the 
 contrary come from Milan. But instead 
 of making way with the girl after the 
 sleeping potion has been administered, she 
 shall not be harmed. I shall see that an 
 extra dose of the drug is given her so she 
 will not waken until she is safe in the vault 
 of the tower. As you and I are to have
 
 294 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 the affair in hand, no one can discover the 
 deception. She will be to all purposes 
 dead, and buried with her father. After 
 it is all over, and the others are asleep (I 
 shall manage to slip a little something 
 into the wine that will be drunk after the 
 business is concluded), you and I will steal 
 down to the vault, open it, lift her out, 
 seal the place, and then bear her to a 
 house in the village where I have made 
 preparations for her to be received." 
 " It certainly sounds simple." 
 " Nothing could be simpler ! And as 
 for the rest, all you will have to do will be 
 to see that she does not escape from the 
 house while I am gone. You can feign 
 illness, so no one will wonder that you 
 remain behind. I will hasten back to 
 Milan with the others, make my report, 
 claim the reward, and then, as soon as 
 chance offers, escape from the city and 
 return hither. You shall have your share 
 of the money and can go where you will ; 
 as for me, well, that does not matter." 
 
 "Will you marry the girl?" said the 
 trooper, with a laugh.
 
 The Tower of Vezio 295 
 
 " What is that to you ? " cried von 
 Ettergarde, with an angry oath, rising and 
 striding toward the entrance to the tower. 
 
 So the wretched fate which the craft 
 and dastardly cruelty of my former master 
 had planned for his helpless captives was 
 close at hand unless by some stroke of 
 fortune we could intervene and thwart 
 both his murderous designs and von 
 Ettergarde's unscrupulous intentions. At 
 the latter I was in no whit surprised, but 
 the manifest cold-bloodedness of the Vis- 
 conti's orders shocked me, and revealed 
 to me how wrong I had been in allowing 
 myself to think that my beloved and her 
 father were in no immediate danger. What 
 I had heard wrought an instant change in 
 me. No longer was I troubled by the 
 haunting dread with which I had so re- 
 cently been assailed. The fact that dire 
 danger menaced her in whom all my fond- 
 est hopes, all my dearest desires, were 
 bound up roused my courage to its wonted 
 pitch. It mattered not that I was not 
 certain my passion was returned ; this 
 never for a breathing-space came into my
 
 296 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 mind. A deed was meditated for which 
 the annals of our time, big with crime 
 though they were, offered scarce a parallel. 
 So long as I could stir a foot or lift a 
 hand, I determined to strive to foil 
 those who were to be the instruments 
 of its accomplishment. For the time I 
 put selfish motives entirely from my 
 thought. 
 
 The trooper with whom von Ettergarde 
 had been conversing still remained seated 
 upon the bench muttering to himself, so 
 Hartzheim and I were forced to withdraw 
 to the bottom of the terrace with great 
 caution. Reaching the spot where Berni 
 was awaiting us, my friend suggested that 
 we retire to a place where we could speak 
 with more freedom ; accordingly we went 
 down again among the olives. 
 
 " Part of those men must be somehow 
 lured from the entrance to the tower," 
 said I. " Then if we make a sudden dash, 
 perchance we can win the door, and that, 
 if once won, might easily be held against 
 all six." 
 
 " I think it can be managed," said
 
 The Tower of Vezio 297 
 
 Hartzheim, " if our friend here will play 
 his part as he agreed." 
 
 " You have but to tell me what you 
 wish," said Berni, " and it shall be done." 
 
 " Good ! " cried my friend. " This, 
 then, strikes me as being the most feasible 
 plan. After you have conducted us to 
 the base of the terrace at the point yonder 
 just opposite where the path from the vil- 
 lage approaches, do you retrace your steps 
 and take up your position somewhere 
 near the path and not very far from the 
 tower. There do you set up a great out- 
 cry for help as though you were being 
 murdered, and shout, ' Von Ettergarde ! 
 von Ettergarde ! ' That is the name of 
 the officer in command. It is more than 
 likely that at least a part of the troopers 
 will rush toward you, thinking you are 
 one of. their comrades, for two of their 
 number have gone down to the lake and 
 are undoubtedly expected back at any 
 moment, though we have taken the neces- 
 sary precautions to prevent their inoppor- 
 tune appearance. If you are successful in 
 creating this little diversion, we shall not
 
 298 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 be slow in seizing upon the most favora- 
 ble chance that offers, and in making a 
 dash for the doorway of the tower." 
 
 " If the troopers of the Visconti were 
 stone deaf, I would draw them away from 
 the tower by my cries," exclaimed Berni, 
 with a chuckle. 
 
 " Some of the village folk may be 
 roused and come hither to complicate 
 matters," said Hartzheim, " but we shall 
 have to take that risk." 
 
 Berni now led us to the left over a piece 
 of rough ground, and posted us where we 
 were in no danger of being observed, but 
 where, by lifting our heads, we could see 
 everything that took place in front of the 
 tower. 
 
 " You will not have long to wait," he 
 said, as he left us. 
 
 I was heartily thankful for this assur- 
 ance, since now that affairs were approach- 
 ing a crisis I was exceedingly loath to lie 
 supine in concealment. Hartzheim with 
 his usual imperturbability crouched by my 
 side, occasionally running his finger along 
 the edge of his sword, as though to satisfy
 
 The Tower of Vezio 299 
 
 himself that it was in a fit condition to do 
 good execution. One of the men who 
 had been seated in the doorway of the 
 tower had gone within. Presently he 
 reappeared, bearing a flagon and some 
 drinking-cups. These he distributed and 
 proceeded to fill. The trooper who had 
 agreed to assist von Ettergarde had joined 
 the group, and all were evidently in the 
 best of humor. Occasionally we could 
 hear what was said, but most of their 
 conversation failed to reach us. In the 
 midst of their good cheer a piercing cry, 
 as of some person in mortal agony, went 
 up into the night. So sudden was it, so 
 wild, so penetrating, that both Hartzheim 
 and I, although we were expecting it, were 
 thrilled and startled. Again it rose, and 
 then there followed frantic appeals to von 
 Ettergarde for aid. I raised myself upon 
 one knee to mark the effect of this out- 
 burst upon the troopers. Their drink- 
 ing-cups were cast aside, and, even as I 
 watched, von Ettergarde and another, 
 with their weapons drawn, rushed from 
 the platform in the direction of the cries,
 
 300 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 while two of the others went as far as the 
 edge of the terrace. 
 
 " Now ! " exclaimed Hartzheim, in a 
 whisper, and as he spoke we were upon 
 our feet. 
 
 Being the more agile of the two, I 
 darted in advance of my friend along the 
 face of the tower. The wine-bearer, with 
 the flagon still in his hand, was standing 
 in the doorway, while on the lowest of the 
 three steps which led to the entrance, his 
 face set in the direction the troopers had 
 taken, was a short, thickly-built man, 
 whom I took to be the keeper. He was 
 gripping the handle of his sword, and 
 seemed to be on the point of joining the 
 two soldiers at the edge of the terrace, 
 when a pebble gritted under my foot. 
 The sound caused him to turn his head, 
 and he descried Hartzheim and myself 
 not twenty feet distant. For an instant 
 he appeared dazed, our garb deceiving 
 him, then he uttered a cry that rivalled 
 the one given by our ally and guide, and 
 tried to interpose between me and the 
 doorway. But his surprise and hesitation,
 
 The Tower of Vezio 301 
 
 although brief, enabled me to effect my 
 end. I eluded the stroke he aimed at 
 me, and charged full upon the man in the 
 doorway, who had had no time to draw 
 his weapon. He cast the flagon full at 
 my head, and, as I stooped to avoid it, 
 sprang back within the tower and whipped 
 out his sword. As my blade met his I 
 heard the clash of steel from without, and 
 knew that Hartzheim had engaged the 
 keeper. 
 
 A large torch stuck in a cranny shed 
 a flickering light over the room which 
 occupied almost the entire floor of the 
 structure. In the centre of the rear wall 
 was a cavernous fireplace ; on the right 
 of this, an open trap led to the cellar and 
 vaults ; and on the left there was a stair- 
 way giving access to the rooms above. 
 All this I took in at a glance as I 
 bounded into the room. The man whom 
 I encountered was no swordsman, a mere 
 toy in my hands, and after a few passes 
 I sent his weapon spinning in the air. 
 He cringed before me, begging for mercy; 
 and, though I knew it was no time for
 
 3O2, A Man-at-Arms 
 
 dallying and giving quarter, I had not 
 the heart to take the poor wretch's life 
 in cold blood. 
 
 " Down you go," said I, pointing to 
 the open trap, " and be quick about it ! " 
 
 He did not wait to be bidden a second 
 time, and disappeared in speedy fashion, 
 while I dropped the door above him and 
 shot the bolt that held it into its socket. 
 Two strides took me to the entrance to 
 the tower, where a single look told me I 
 was none too soon. At the foot of the 
 steps the prostrate keeper was gasping his 
 life out, while Hartzheim was beating off 
 the blades of two troopers, and endeavor- 
 in the meanwhile to retreat to the shelter 
 of the doorway. As I sprang to the lower 
 step and thrust at one of my friend's 
 assailants, out of the gloom in the direc- 
 tion of the village leaped von Ettergarde 
 and a fourth trooper. 
 
 "To the tower," cried Hartzheim, " but 
 give them a taste of steel first." 
 
 We forced the two who faced us back a 
 pace, Hartzheim inflicting a slight wound 
 upon his antagonist, then we turned and
 
 The Tower of Vezio 303 
 
 gained the shelter of the doorway, wheel- 
 ing about in time to meet the combined 
 rush of the four, von Ettergarde at their 
 head. For a few seconds the outcome 
 seemed doubtful, but the doorway was 
 narrow, and they found it difficult to reach 
 us with their swords ; so after a little they 
 retreated to the bottom of the steps dis- 
 comforted, two of them at least bearing 
 evidence that our points had penetrated 
 something besides leather. Von Ettergarde 
 to my disgust came off unharmed, and 
 was now disposed to parley. 
 
 " What do you want ? " he demanded 
 of Hartzheim, not condescending to notice 
 me. 
 
 " A wise question," said my friend. 
 " Why did you not inquire before ? We 
 have come to release your prisoners, which 
 we shall do presently without so much as 
 * by your leave.' ' 
 
 Von Ettergarde laughed. 
 
 " You are prisoners yourselves," said 
 he. " You have run your necks into the 
 noose." 
 
 " Of what use is the noose if you can-
 
 304 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 not tighten it ? You tried just now. 
 Perhaps you would like to try again." 
 
 Von Ettergarde made no reply, but 
 whispered something in the ear of one of 
 his men, who immediately set out in the 
 direction of the village. I did not at all 
 fancy the turn affairs had now taken, but 
 my friend seemed unconcerned. For a 
 moment or two nothing more was said, 
 then upon this silence broke the not far 
 distant ring of meeting steel, following 
 upon which came a sharp cry of pain. 
 
 Von Ettergarde and his two companions 
 glanced apprehensively at one another, 
 while Hartzheim thrust his head out of 
 the doorway, and cried in his great deep 
 voice, 
 
 " Ho, Leo Berni ! " 
 
 There was an answering shout from the 
 darkness, the sound of steps, and then the 
 figure of our guide burst from the gloom. 
 Now we were man for man. Down the 
 steps sprang Hartzheim and I, but von 
 Ettergarde and the two remaining troop- 
 ers did not attempt to withstand our onset. 
 Away they went as fast as their legs could
 
 The Tower of Vezio 305 
 
 carry them, over the edge of the terrace, 
 crashing through the laurels, and disappear- 
 ing into the murk of the night. 
 
 Berni was in high spirits as he joined 
 us. 
 
 "I had a little dispute out yonder," 
 said he, with a laugh. " Some hulking 
 fellow came rushing along, and ordered 
 me from the pathway. I objected to 
 move, so we tried conclusions with our 
 swords. I fear his spirit is ranging in 
 another region now, though, hearing you 
 shout, I did not pause to discover if he 
 were sped. The thrust I gave him, how- 
 ever, when properly delivered, is one that 
 carries death with it." 
 
 " Your encounter and your prompt 
 response to my friend's call were most 
 opportune," said I. 
 
 By this time we had reached the en- 
 trance to the tower. 
 
 " Von Ettergarde will try to rouse the 
 villagers," said Hartzheim, " and there is 
 need of the greatest haste. Berni and I 
 will stand guard, Luigi, while you go 
 above and release the prisoners."
 
 306 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 I sheathed my sword, ran within, and 
 plucked the torch from the cranny. With 
 a heart fast throbbing I mounted the wind- 
 ing stairs. On either side of the narrow 
 landing on the second floor was a rivet- 
 clenched door chained and barred. 
 " Angela ! " I cried ; "Angela ! " 
 The bare walls gave back my voice 
 in cavernous reduplication, and it was 
 impossible to tell if my appeal was an- 
 swered, so I set myself to unfastening the 
 chains and bolts which held the door com- 
 municating with the room on the outer 
 face of the tower. Disappointment awaited 
 my efforts. The place was empty. With 
 all haste I fell to undoing the fastenings 
 of the door opposite. As the barrier 
 swung inward on creaking hinges, I caught 
 up the torch, which I had leaned against 
 the wall, and held it high above my head. 
 The room was hung with dingy arras, and 
 furnished with a slight show of comfort, 
 but at the first glance I thought I was to 
 be disappointed a second time. On look- 
 ing closer, however, I caught sight of a 
 figure kneeling with averted face as if in
 
 The Tower of Vezio 307 
 
 prayer before a pallet in the corner. I 
 took a step forward. 
 
 " Angela ! " said I, tenderly. 
 
 The face of my beloved for it was she 
 was raised, surprise, hope, doubt, all 
 written upon it. In the flaring torchlight 
 my features must have been indistinct, for 
 I saw fear leap into her eyes. My troop- 
 er's dress, too, made recognition difficult. 
 I lowered the torch and advanced to the 
 centre of the room. 
 
 " Do you not know me, Signorina ? " 
 said I. " It is I, Luigi della Verria." 
 
 In an instant she was upon her feet. 
 
 " You ! " she cried, shading her eyes 
 with her hand, and gazing at me as though 
 she could scarcely believe what she had 
 heard ; " is it really you ? Oh, how I have 
 prayed that you would come ! Thank 
 God ! Thank God ! " 
 
 She swayed as though she would fall, 
 and I sprang to her side, casting the torch 
 upon the floor. As I took her in my 
 arms our eyes met in the dim light, and I 
 read in hers that which thrilled my whole 
 being with rapture. There was no need
 
 308 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 of words of wooing. Words could wait. 
 Each knew what the other's heart held, 
 and that sufficed. Scribes who write 
 learnedly of love, putting words of ardor 
 into the wooer's mouth, at crucial times 
 like this, have no knowledge of such 
 intense feeling as those moments of silence 
 held for my beloved and me.
 
 " There was no need of words of wooing." Page 308
 
 Chapter XX 
 The Flight by Night 
 
 IT was Angela who first returned to 
 earth from our vision of paradise. 
 
 "My father!" she exclaimed, as she 
 disengaged herself from my arms, " have 
 you found him ? " 
 
 " No," I answered. 
 
 " Come," she said, " let us go to him. 
 He is in one of the rooms above." 
 
 Lifting the torch from the floor, I led 
 the way to the landing overhead, and soon 
 father and daughter were clasped in a fond 
 embrace. How it was between Angela 
 and myself Signer Canaro must have sur- 
 mised, for he said to me, 
 
 " Had I a son, he could not have done 
 more than you have done, Signor della 
 Verria." 
 
 309
 
 310 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " It is to my friend below," I replied, 
 " to whom thanks are chiefly due. I 
 could have accomplished nothing without 
 his advice and aid. But further danger 
 may threaten, so let us be gone." 
 
 I was rejoiced to learn that Signer 
 Canaro's wound gave him but little incon- 
 venience, for I now saw no obstacle to 
 prevent our speedy flight. I found on 
 descending that nothing new had de- 
 veloped during my absence, and after I 
 had presented my beloved and her father 
 to Hartzheim and Berni, and they had 
 expressed in the warmest terms their 
 gratitude for our efforts in their behalf 
 ( Angela endearing herself to me all the 
 more by the feeling manner in which 
 she addressed Hartzheim, thereby com- 
 pletely winning his heart), I proposed 
 that we quit the tower. 
 
 " The sooner the better," said Berni, 
 " else will it be no easy matter to gain the 
 lake without an encounter." 
 
 A joy which I will not try to describe 
 filled me as I walked by Angela's side, 
 assisting her when the way was rough,
 
 The Flight by Night 311 
 
 whispering to her words of encouragement 
 and love. Her spirits rose with a bound 
 after we lost sight of the dismal walls 
 which had been her prison, and as we trod 
 hand in hand through the night, to both 
 of us (despite the gloom) the path seemed 
 one illumined by a light fairer than any 
 our eyes had ever before looked upon. 
 
 It was necessary to return as we had 
 come, and as we threaded the dark lanes 
 of the village of Vezio, we noticed a grow- 
 ing commotion in the main thoroughfare, 
 shouts and the flaring of torches. Von 
 Ettergarde was rousing the villagers. 
 
 Though Signor Canaro seemed appre- 
 hensive, Angela appeared to have no fear 
 of recapture, and I was buoyed up by her 
 confidence, though otherwise I believe I 
 should have shared her father's anxiety ; 
 for the noise swelled behind us, and as 
 we reached the point where the pathway 
 began to pitch sharply toward the lake, 
 we descried several torch-bearers hurrying 
 after us. 
 
 " They cannot have seen us," said 
 Berni, " and I doubt if they follow us
 
 312 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 at once. They will think to intercept us, 
 should we come this way, a few paces 
 back where another path joins the one 
 we are following. It will hardly occur to 
 them that we have already passed." 
 
 Our guide's conjecture was reassuring, 
 and proved to be correct ; this was provi- 
 dential, as our progress was of necessity 
 slow, owing to the perils of the pathway. 
 Berni led the party, I close after him, 
 ever ready to aid Angela, who came next, 
 then followed her father, and finally 
 Hartzheim. Without accident we reached 
 the valley of the Esino, and soon were 
 hastening along the level ground to where 
 our boat was moored. It was not difficult 
 to see that a storm was impending. The 
 gloom had thickened, and not a breath of 
 air stirred upon the surface of the lake. 
 
 When we reached the boat, we found 
 but one of the sailors in charge of her. 
 
 " Where are your comrades ? " cried I, 
 in astonishment. 
 
 " They did not expect you for some 
 time yet," answered the man, reluctantly, 
 " but they are not far away."
 
 The Flight by Night 313 
 
 " At one of the wine-houses, I sup- 
 pose ! " exclaimed Hartzheim, in a furious 
 rage. " Well, pack yourself off and sum- 
 mon them, and if you are not back 
 quickly, you may look to find your boat 
 gone." 
 
 The man sped away in the direction 
 of the nearest light, while Hartzheim and 
 I, outwardly calm, but furious with con- 
 cealed anger, raised the two troopers whom 
 we had left in the prow of the boat and 
 bestowed them by the side of the pile of 
 provisions upon the quay. I fear, in our 
 impatience, we handled them with scant 
 consideration, but after all a few bruises 
 are but a small matter. Doubtless they 
 counted themselves fortunate to get off so 
 lightly. 
 
 While Hartzheim was loosening the 
 mooring-rope, I moved toward Angela, 
 who was standing by her father's side. 
 She came to meet me, divining by her 
 fine instinct what was passing in my 
 mind. 
 
 " Do not put blame upon the sailors 
 when they come," she said. " They are
 
 3 14 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 our only means of escape, and what should 
 we do if you should anger them and they 
 should refuse to help us ? " 
 
 I saw that she was right, and turned 
 to caution Hartzheim, who, I knew, would 
 be likely to use a sharp tongue unless 
 warned. 
 
 " The Signorina is wise," said my 
 friend. " I will hold my peace, though 
 it will not be an easy matter." 
 
 Very soon the delinquents came dashing 
 up, their leader profuse in his apologies. 
 We were so gratified to find that the men 
 were all of them in possession of their 
 senses, and not stupefied by the fumes of 
 drink, as we had expected they would be, 
 that we were able to accept their excuses 
 with some show of indulgence. 
 
 We now bade farewell to Leo Berni, 
 from whom we parted with real regret ; he 
 in turn declaring that were it not for say- 
 ing good by to his people he should be 
 inclined to cast his lot with us. As we 
 were about to embark, Signor Canaro 
 pressed upon the valiant trooper a ring 
 heavy with gems, which he begged him to
 
 The Flight by Night 315 
 
 wear in remembrance of him and of his 
 daughter. 
 
 As we drew out from shore, the light- 
 ning began to play behind the crest of a 
 lofty peak on the further side of the lake 
 which the sailors called Monte Crocione. 
 
 " It is better to be here in the storm 
 than there," said Angela to me, as we sat 
 side by side in the stern. 
 
 I glanced back in the direction which 
 she indicated, and saw the flash of moving 
 lights all along the mountain slope. Von 
 Ettergarde had been abundantly success- 
 ful in rousing the villagers of Vezio, but 
 he had evidently not been keen enough to 
 surmise that we had had a guide to whom 
 the paths leading from the tower had, 
 from boyhood, been familiar ground. 
 
 We had told the boatmen we were likely 
 to be pursued, but I saw by the way they 
 bent to their oars, and by the apprehen- 
 sive glances they cast at the sky when a 
 lightning flash lit up the brooding expanse 
 of water, that it was not for fear of be- 
 ing overtaken that they were pulling so 
 lustily.
 
 316 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " Is there danger from the storm ? " I 
 asked of the one nearest us. 
 
 " That there is, Signore," said he. 
 " We should never have ventured out had 
 it not been that we promised you our 
 assistance." 
 
 " Can we not seek some shelter till the 
 tempest passes? " said I. 
 
 " We are striving to reach a place of 
 safety," he answered, " a little cove that is 
 half cave on the eastern side of the Bellag- 
 gio promontory. We shall be quite out 
 of danger there, and dry." 
 
 It was really a race with the storm that 
 our boatmen were rowing. Little puffs 
 of warm air fanned our cheeks, then there 
 was a perfect calm again. The thunder- 
 growl momently became more threatening ; 
 the mountains seemed to rock upon their 
 very foundations, and the heavens to vi- 
 brate above us. Our boat shot through the 
 water faster than I deemed it possible for 
 so clumsy a craft. I could hear the labored 
 breathing of the boatmen, who never for a 
 second relaxed their efforts. Already the 
 Val d'Esino and the Tower of Vezio were
 
 The Flight by Night 317 
 
 left far behind. The lights upon the 
 mountain slope faded into faint points, and 
 then were wholly lost. One instant it 
 was as though we were moving forward 
 through a void of limitless night in which 
 no planet ever shone ; the next we were 
 enveloped in a sheet of dazzling flame. 
 
 Though I had never before experienced 
 such an aerial display, I felt no concern tor 
 myself; but for Angela I was full of anx- 
 iety. She must have read this on my 
 face by the light of one of the flashes, for 
 she said, 
 
 " I fear nothing now, Luigi. Nature 
 has always been my friend." 
 
 She had never called me Luigi before, 
 and the thrill I experienced on hearing my 
 name upon her lips caused me so wholly 
 to forget our surroundings that I needs 
 must take her in my arms for a moment 
 despite the fact that the lightning was 
 likely at any instant to betray me to the 
 eyes of the sailors, to those of my friend, 
 and of Angela's father. 
 
 Erelong there was a gust of cool air, and 
 a few large drops of rain fell. Then a
 
 318 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 forked flame shot from the sky, and a 
 sound as of the rending of the universe 
 smote our ears. Somewhere upon the 
 promontory toward which we were speed- 
 ing the bolt struck, and the nearness of 
 our haven of refuge was revealed to us. 
 I heard the leader of the sailors give a 
 sharp word of command, whereat the men 
 ceased rowing and rested on their oars. 
 The pause was but momentary, however, 
 for when another flash came they resumed 
 their stroke. Soon we were close to the 
 shore, and just before the flood of the 
 storm was loosened, still aided by the fit- 
 ful light in the heaven, we glided into a 
 little cove over which a shelf of rock 
 impended, and above which the cliff rose 
 sheer to the height of one hundred feet. 
 As we were on the leeward side of the 
 promontory, the tempest driving up the 
 lake from the southwest, our shelter was 
 both secure and dry. 
 
 How long we were forced to remain 
 here I cannot say. Safe for a while from 
 pursuit, protected from the rage of the 
 elements, with the one in all the world
 
 The Flight by Night 319 
 
 dearest to me by my side, I gave little 
 heed to the lapse of time, to the roaring 
 of the wind, and the deluge of the rain. 
 Even after there came a rift in the rack 
 it seemed unwise to proceed at once, 
 owing to the roughness of the water and 
 the force of the gale, but toward morning, 
 just as the first faint glimmering of dawn 
 showed between the mountain crests, we 
 put out and began coasting the western 
 shore. Soon after sunrise the water grew 
 calmer, for we had left behind the central 
 track of the storm, and as the breeze now 
 shifted to the north, the oars were un- 
 shipped and the sail hoisted. 
 
 We reached Lecco considerably before 
 noon, and found Galbo, all preparations 
 for our journey made, awaiting us. After 
 a brief tarry for rest and refreshment we 
 mounted. The horses were in fine fettle, 
 the sky was without a wisp of cloud, the 
 air was cool and fresh, and with hearts 
 elate we rode out of the mountain coun- 
 try through the rolling foot-hills to Ber- 
 gamo, where we lay for the night. We 
 should have pressed forward another ten
 
 320 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 miles to Grumello had we not had Signor 
 Canaro's condition to consider; but we 
 soon discovered that it would be neces- 
 sary for him to husband his strength with 
 the greatest care, and hence shortened the 
 distance we had planned to compass on 
 leaving Lecco. 
 
 On the following morning I had my 
 first opportunity to broach to Signor 
 Canaro that which was now the dearest 
 desire of my life, my marriage to Angela. 
 He received my proposal with all the 
 kindness and gentle courtesy which 
 marked his nature, and even before I 
 told him what my prospects were (that 
 I was the heir to my cousin Alberto 
 Gambacorta of Padua), he yielded his 
 hearty assent. What his words were I 
 will not repeat lest I seem to set forth 
 my own praise unduly. It will suffice to 
 state that his reception of me in my new 
 attitude straightway transported me to a 
 perfect heaven of bliss, and I was about 
 to wheel Hawkwood to Angela's side to 
 whisper to her how I had won her father's 
 approval, and see the blush-rose dye her
 
 The Flight by Night 321 
 
 cheek, when Signer Canaro detained me 
 by saying, 
 
 " She will not be a dowerless bride, 
 Signer della Verria, though I must per- 
 force leave to the Visconti the bulk of my 
 possessions. When I was persecuted by 
 Gian Galeazzo's uncle, Bernabo, I con- 
 verted a portion of my property into 
 jewels. These we shall be able to carry 
 with us when we leave Brescia." 
 
 This was the first intimation I had had 
 that Signer Canaro expected to visit his 
 home even for the briefest period. Hartz- 
 heim and I had discussed the matter that 
 morning before our departure from Ber- 
 gamo, and had decided that it would be 
 the part of wisdom to avoid Brescia en- 
 tirely, but I now realized that Signer 
 Canaro would never consent to this ; and, 
 after all, a short halt there might lead 
 to no harm. Although von Ettergarde 
 would lose no time in acquainting the 
 Visconti with the escape of his captives, 
 and although my former master would 
 naturally hit on Brescia as the spot where 
 he might most naturally re-cage the flown
 
 322 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 prisoners, it did not seem to me possible 
 that his emissaries could overtake us 
 unless we had the misfortune to be de- 
 tained a considerable number of hours. 
 
 After consulting with Hartzheim, we 
 decided to change slightly our former 
 plan so as to allow for a brief tarry at 
 Brescia. Our route to Padua lay by way 
 of Mantua, a wide detour, it is true, but 
 Verona and the adjacent country was little 
 less than an armed and hostile camp.
 
 Chapter XXI 
 The House of the Canari 
 
 AS we were drawing near Brescia that 
 afternoon, I left Angela, by whose 
 side I had been riding, and joined her 
 father, noticing that he seemed fatigued 
 and dejected, Hartzheim taking my place 
 near my betrothed. Signor Canaro said 
 nothing for several moments after I asked 
 him how he fared, but kept his eyes fixed 
 upon the distance out of which rose dimly 
 the towers of the city which had for cen- 
 turies been the home of his race. 
 
 " I believe it is not the wound that 
 drags me down," he answered finally, 
 " but the knowledge that I must flee 
 before that viper who has drawn his 
 coils about so much of our fair land of 
 northern Italy, who will one day, if I 
 323
 
 324 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 mistake not, encompass many another 
 prosperous city to the ruin of its rulers 
 and its leading men ; the knowledge that 
 he will sweep into his coffers well-nigh 
 all that is by birthright mine, and I am 
 powerless to avert it." 
 
 " You have never told me," said I, 
 " how he dares to wrong you so." 
 
 " He has a pretended claim, else even 
 in his position, all-powerful though he 
 apparently deems it, he would hardly 
 venture to employ such extreme meas- 
 ures. I had intended to explain the 
 whole matter to you, and perhaps there 
 is no better time than now. 
 
 " You are in a measure acquainted with 
 the persecutions which my daughter and I 
 endured at the hands of Bernabo Visconti, 
 so you may imagine with what joy I wel- 
 comed the news of his downfall. All that 
 I had heard of Gian Galeazzo before his 
 deposal of his uncle prepossessed me in 
 his favor, and while Brescia was among 
 the last of Bernabo's possessions to yield 
 to the new lord, I proclaimed myself in 
 his favor at the outset. I cannot recall
 
 The House of the Canari 325 
 
 exactly when I first had a personal com- 
 munication from him, but I should say 
 about a month ago. In it he bade me 
 wait upon him in Milan as soon as it was 
 convenient for me to do so, as he had 
 matters of special importance to discuss 
 with me. Thinking he referred to muni- 
 cipal affairs, in which, with the change of 
 power, I had taken considerable interest, 
 I replied, stating when I would present 
 myself at his palace. I was delayed in 
 leaving Brescia " 
 
 " Ah," I interposed, " perhaps that is 
 why I was made the bearer of a missive 
 to you. I think I have never told you 
 that the day after your departure for 
 Milan I called upon you to deliver a 
 letter from Gian Galeazzo." 
 
 " The Visconti informed me at our first 
 meeting that he had summoned me a 
 second time, but of course I did not 
 know through whom. The delay of 
 which I spoke was but of brief duration. 
 Angela, who had never visited Milan, 
 begged that she might accompany me, 
 and I was only too glad of her com-
 
 326 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 panionship, never dreaming that I was 
 leading her into peril. We made the 
 journey without incident and were soon 
 established in lodgings recommended to 
 us by Brescia friends. I hastened, on the 
 morning following my arrival, to the pal- 
 ace of the Visconti, and was graciously 
 received by him, but it was not till toward 
 the close of our interview that there 
 dawned upon me the faintest notion of 
 what that master of craft really desired 
 of me. ' There are certain papers,' he 
 said casually, after there had been much 
 talk concerning the condition of affairs in 
 Brescia, * which I wish to discuss with 
 you if you will kindly give me an hour 
 of your time on the morrow.' ' Papers ? ' 
 I replied, with some surprise. { Yes,' he 
 returned, f documents which recently came 
 to my hand quite accidentally while I 
 chanced to be disposing of some of my 
 uncle's effects.' 
 
 " At the mention of his uncle a sense 
 of an impending unpleasant disclosure 
 seized me, though I did not dream how 
 vitally I was to be affected thereby. ' The
 
 The House of the Canari 327 
 
 writings,' said he, t are by no means of 
 recent date, in fact they were executed 
 about the time my ancestor, Azzone, be- 
 came the Overlord of Brescia.' At this 
 a swift suspicion smote me. ' May I 
 ask,' I said, ' if these writings concern me 
 personally ? ' ' Filippo Canaro was your 
 grandfather, was he not ? ' the Visconti 
 asked. ' He was,' I replied. ' Then,' 
 said the Lord of Milan, l it is my opin- 
 ion, inasmuch as you, through your father, 
 are Filippo Canaro's heir, that the papers 
 very decidedly concern you. In them are 
 embodied certain agreements which appar- 
 ently have been only partially fulfilled, 
 but we will speak of these matters when 
 we meet again,' and I was dismissed with 
 the request, which was virtually a com- 
 mand, that I repair to the palace at a 
 certain hour the next day. 
 
 " I was familiar enough with the his- 
 tory of my family at the time of the 
 downfall of the Brusati in Brescia. I 
 knew that my grandfather had opposed 
 Azzone Visconti, and, when that prince 
 had triumphed, had purchased exemption
 
 328 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 from exile at the sacrifice of almost every- 
 thing he possessed. I was morally certain 
 that Gian Galeazzo had no claim upon 
 my family that had not been satisfied 
 long since. The papers, the documents, 
 which the Lord of Milan asserted that 
 he possessed were doubtless forgeries exe- 
 cuted by his uncle, just before his deposal, 
 as a final means of bending me to his 
 ends. 
 
 " Naturally I was much disquieted by 
 the Visconti's revelation, but I hoped to 
 be able to prove to his satisfaction the 
 falsity of the writings, and the injustice of 
 pressing such a claim. I had yet to dis- 
 cover the real nature of the man with 
 whom I had to deal. Seeking the palace 
 at the appointed hour on the following 
 day, I was informed that his Lordship 
 could not see me. Another time of meet- 
 ing was set, and again I failed to obtain 
 the expected interview. I began to realize 
 that I was like a bird, about whom the net 
 which is to prove its undoing is gradually 
 being closer and closer drawn. 
 
 " At length, late in the afternoon of
 
 The House of the Canari 329 
 
 that memorable day when you rendered 
 me such timely assistance, I succeeded in 
 gaining the Visconti's presence, and it was 
 not long before I saw beneath that suave 
 and fair-seeming exterior the fangs of the 
 venomous viper. He was satisfied, he 
 said, that the ancient claims against the 
 Canaro estate were still outstanding, and 
 despite what I affirmed in regard to my 
 ability to disprove this statement, he 
 hinted to me that, unless I complied with 
 his wishes to the letter (this I speedily 
 discovered meant beggary), grave conse- 
 quences might ensue. In either case, 
 whether I bowed to his will or not, I 
 knew myself ruined. I looked upon the 
 blandly smiling face before me, and a 
 great contempt that changed to a great 
 anger rose within me. I tossed prudence 
 to the winds. I set before him in plain 
 words what he proposed doing. I drew 
 him a vivid picture of his own cowardly 
 and despicable nature, and finally I cursed 
 him and his whole viper brood. Toward 
 the last he became fearful for his safety, 
 and summoned some attendants, who
 
 330 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 ejected me from his presence. I went 
 forth dazed with rage, and had hardly 
 become master of myself when his hire- 
 lings set upon me in the Via San 
 Lorenzo." 
 
 The recollection of all he had suffered 
 at the hands of my former master so 
 moved Signer Canaro that every vestige 
 of color left his face, and for an instant I 
 feared that he would lose his seat in the 
 saddle ; but he recovered himself, and we 
 rode for a space in silence, for what conso- 
 lation could I offer to one who had suf- 
 fered such grievous wrong ? 
 
 Hartzheim broke in upon our medita- 
 tion by suggesting a moment's halt for 
 consultation, inasmuch as we were now 
 approaching the city walls. 
 
 " I understand," he said, addressing 
 Signor Canaro, " that it is your desire to 
 pause for a brief space at your home. It 
 strikes me that it would be unwise for 
 all of us to accompany you, provided 
 a different and satisfactory arrangement 
 can be made, since we do not wish, if 
 we can avoid it, to leave behind us any
 
 The House of the Canari 331 
 
 sign of our tarry here. By this time to- 
 morrow I trust we shall be beyond the 
 Visconti's power, but I doubt if we can 
 win farther than Montechiaro to-night, 
 and it would be most unfortunate if pur- 
 suers should get track of us, and over- 
 take us there, as they might be able to 
 do should we give them the means of 
 tracing us." 
 
 " There is a reputable inn just without 
 the Porta Venezia where you, Angela, and 
 Galbo might await Signer della Verria and 
 myself," answered Signor Canaro. 
 
 "Just the spot," said Hartzheim. 
 " Even should we be tracked thither, those 
 pursuing would naturally infer that we 
 had ridden toward Verona." 
 
 So it was decided that I should accom- 
 pany Signor Canaro into the city, while 
 the others, by making a considerable de- 
 tour, should avoid the town, gain the 
 shelter of the inn, and there abide our 
 coming. Bidding Angela be of good 
 cheer, we dismounted, gave our horses into 
 the charge of Hartzheim and Galbo, and 
 strode toward the gateway, Signor Canaro
 
 332 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 half muffling his face in his cloak to avoid 
 any chance recognition. 
 
 Unaccosted and unheeded we gained 
 the house of the Canari. While we stood 
 awaiting the servant in whose charge the 
 palace had been left, I marked the pallor 
 of my companion's face, but as I was 
 uncertain whether it was owing to exhaus- 
 tion or to the strong emotion naturally due 
 to the thought that he might be entering 
 for the last time his own home and that of 
 his fathers, I refrained from commenting 
 upon it, though it gave me no little anxiety. 
 But the old retainer who threw open the 
 door was not silent. He took instant 
 fright at the almost death-like countenance 
 of his master. 
 
 " Signore, Signore," he cried. " What 
 has happened ? Has ill befallen the Sig- 
 norina ? " 
 
 " No, no, Tonio ; thank heaven, not 
 that ! " said Signor Canaro. 
 
 " Will you come with me ? " he asked, 
 as we passed within. 
 
 Thinking that he might prefer to be 
 alone, and had only invited me to accom-
 
 The House of the Canari 333 
 
 pany him out of courtesy, I declined, 
 saying I would remain with Tonio. As- 
 suring me that he would not keep me 
 long waiting, he crossed the courtyard and 
 was lost to view. As I watched him, and 
 noted the uncertainty of his steps, I 
 regretted that I had declined to go with 
 him. 
 
 " What ails the master, Signore ? " said 
 the wondering servant. 
 
 " He has been ill," I returned, knowing 
 it would be unwise to arouse the man's 
 curiosity by telling him Signer Canaro 
 had been wounded ; " moreover, he has 
 ridden far to-day, and is much fatigued." 
 
 " And will he not bide at home now 
 that he is here ? " 
 
 " No ; he is obliged to go at once upon 
 another journey." 
 
 The man was bewildered, but he showed 
 that he knew his place by forbearing to 
 question me further. 
 
 I began pacing up and down the court- 
 yard, listening anxiously to catch the first 
 sound of Signer Canaro's returning foot- 
 steps. The moments slipped by, and at
 
 334 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 length I grew uneasy. I reflected that 
 Angela's father had told me he would not 
 keep me long waiting. Again and again 
 my eyes sought the stairway which he had 
 ascended. Tonio, too, showed that he 
 shared my anxiety. At length I could 
 endure the suspense no longer. 
 
 " Something may have happened to 
 your master," said I. 
 
 " Shall we go and see, Signore ? " asked 
 the man. 
 
 "Yes," said I ; " do you lead the way." 
 
 In haste we mounted to the second floor. 
 
 " He would hardly be here," said I. 
 " Where are the apartments which he 
 usually occupies ? " 
 
 " On the floor above, Signore." 
 
 When we reached the next landing we 
 paused. 
 
 " Signer Canaro," I called. 
 
 There was no answer. Again I called, 
 much louder than before, and still there 
 was no reply. 
 
 I chanced to glance at Tonio, and saw 
 apprehension and fear plainly written on 
 his face.
 
 The House of the Canari 335 
 
 " What has happened, Signore ? " said 
 he, his voice unconsciously falling to a 
 whisper. 
 
 " We must see," said I ; " which are 
 your master's apartments ? " 
 
 " Yonder," he answered, pointing to a 
 half-open door at the extremity of the 
 corridor, toward which I strode with feel- 
 ings of the greatest concern, Tonio hang- 
 ing back as though he dreaded what might 
 be revealed. 
 
 I halted upon the threshold and pushed 
 wide the door. The room was small and 
 richly furnished. On two sides were 
 couches after the Byzantine fashion. 
 Heavy draperies hid the walls. An in- 
 laid cabinet stood in one corner, and in 
 the centre of the apartment there was a 
 curious table, a slab of lapis lazuli sup- 
 ported by four bronze griffins. I thought 
 the room empty, and was crossing toward 
 the doorway at right angles to the one by 
 which I had entered, when I noticed that 
 one of the couches had been slightly 
 moved and that at the farther end the 
 arras hung as though some object broke
 
 336 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 its symmetrical folds. Hastening to the 
 spot, I drew back the hangings, and there 
 lay the body of Signor Canaro before an 
 open sliding panel which disclosed a small 
 metallic casket. 
 
 As my eyes fell upon the ghastly gray- 
 ness of his countenance, a momentary 
 panic seized me, and I looked down upon 
 him in speechless horror. It seemed to 
 me that he must be dead. One hand was 
 outflung toward me, and presently, when 
 I had recovered a little from the shock, 
 I bent over and touched him. There was 
 a feeble fluttering at the wrist, like a faint 
 flickering watch-fire seen by a wanderer 
 in the dark, which revived hope and made 
 me quite myself again. With a shout I 
 summoned Tonio. Together we lifted 
 the swooned man, placed him on one of 
 the couches, and set about restoring him 
 to consciousness. This we finally suc- 
 ceeded in doing, but so weak was he that 
 he could scarcely raise his head, and the 
 words that fell from his lips were hardly 
 articulate. I drew Tonio to one side. 
 
 " Is there a physician near ? " said I.
 
 The House of the Canari 337 
 
 " Yes, Signore ; the one who usually 
 attends the master lives in the next street." 
 
 "Do you summon him," said I, "and 
 be quick. Fetch another, should you not 
 find the one you seek at home." 
 
 Tonio gone, I seated myself at Signer 
 Canaro's side, moistening his lips occa- 
 sionally with a few drops of strong Calabrian 
 wine, watching eagerly for some sign of 
 returning strength in his pallid counte 
 nance. Occasionally he opened his eyes 
 and let them rest for an instant on mine, 
 then closed them again without attempting 
 to speak. There was a strong appeal in 
 his look, yet he would not put into words 
 that for which his heart clamored. I was 
 not slow to divine his desire, and could 
 not steel myself to deny him, however 
 much compliance pained me. Signor 
 Canaro believed himself to be dying, and 
 yearned for the presence of his daughter. 
 
 Delay in the house of the Canari meant 
 the direst danger to us all. Every hour, 
 every fraction of an hour, brought nearer 
 those whom I knew the Visconti, in rage 
 at the frustration of his schemes, had de-
 
 338 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 spatched in search of us. Yet what could 
 be done ? Fortune, who had showered 
 her favors upon us thus far, had suddenly 
 deserted us, and an evil fate (in the person 
 of the Great Viper) seemed about to 
 enmesh us in its coils. 
 
 Again Signer Canaro unclosed his eyes 
 and fastened upon me that appealing look. 
 I nodded my head. 
 
 " Yes," I said, " as soon as Tonio re- 
 turns she shall be sent for." 
 
 A more restful expression now settled 
 upon his face, but the color did not return, 
 nor did his pulse perceptibly strengthen. 
 Some vital breath must soon fan the flame 
 of life, else it would expire and leave but 
 ashes. 
 
 At length there was the sound of foot- 
 steps on the stair, and I hastened to the 
 doorway to greet Tonio and the man of 
 healing. 
 
 " I could not find the master's physi- 
 cian," the servant said, " so I have brought 
 one whose cures are famous beyond Brescia, 
 though he is scorned by those of the 
 schools." \
 
 The House of the Canari 339 
 
 " Alessandro Muzio, at your service, 
 Signore," said the man in question, whom 
 I saw by his garb and air to be one of 
 those who brood by night over the 
 mysteries of the stars, who interpret the 
 strange workings of the earth, and are said 
 (how truly I know not) to hold com- 
 munion with disembodied souls, and with 
 the dark spirits of a nether sphere. 
 
 A great shock of hair like a horse's 
 forelock escaped from his conical hat and 
 hid his brow. A dark beard, thickly 
 sprinkled with gray, grew high upon his 
 cheeks, hiding his mouth, and falling to 
 his breast. It was the eyes that gave 
 character to the face. Deep set, and 
 seemingly as changeable as a chameleon 
 in the sun, now they slumbered like a dull 
 coal, now they glowed and sparkled with 
 an intense light. A single garment of 
 some blue Eastern fabric girt by a silken 
 cord hid his ample figure, and lent a certain 
 majesty to his bearing. Though I realized 
 that among many there was an unfavorable 
 feeling toward such as he, I could not avoid 
 being strongly impressed by him.
 
 340 A Man -at- Arms 
 
 "You will find your patient yonder," 
 I said, pointing to the couch where Signer 
 Canaro lay. 
 
 The leech bowed and entered the room, 
 while I remained in the corridor for a 
 word with Tonio. 
 
 "You know an inn outside the Porta 
 Venezia ? " I asked. 
 
 "Yes, Signore, the inn of the Three 
 Kings. It is so called because " 
 
 " Never mind about that, but listen to 
 what I have to say." 
 
 " Yes, Signore." 
 
 " I wish you to hasten as fast as may 
 be to this inn, and inquire there for Signor 
 Hartzheim. To him you are to say that 
 you have come at my orders to conduct 
 him and Signorina Canaro hither. Should 
 he not be disposed to believe you, bid 
 him call the Signorina, but do not under 
 any circumstances so forget yourself as 
 to alarm her needlessly in regard to the 
 condition of her father. He may be 
 much recovered by the time you return. 
 Say, if you are questioned, that I will 
 explain everything on their arrival."
 
 The House of the Canari 341 
 
 I descended with Tonio to the street 
 entrance, and, having seen him start at a 
 brisk pace upon his mission, secured the 
 door and again mounted the stairs. I 
 found the leech, or seer, awaiting me in 
 the corridor just outside the room where 
 Signor Canaro lay. He put to me a few 
 searching inquiries, and then drew from 
 beneath his robe a thin and worn leather 
 case from which he took a slender vial 
 containing a liquid that sparkled like 
 molten gold. 
 
 " The Signore is exhausted," he said, 
 " nervously and physically, and needs 
 complete rest." 
 
 " I feared that it might be worse," said 
 I, " but that is bad enough. We should 
 be gone out of Brescia within the hour." 
 
 " So I gathered from what the Signore 
 said. I would fain work a miracle, but 
 that is not in my power ; yet this I can 
 promise you : if three drops of this " (hold- 
 ing up the vial) " be administered on the 
 stroke of every hour, by midnight the 
 Signore will be able to continue his 
 journey."
 
 342 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 " Pray heaven it may not then be too 
 late ! " I exclaimed, as we passed into the 
 room together. 
 
 The apartment adjoining the one where 
 the sick man was reclining was a library, 
 or study ; beyond this was a bedchamber, 
 and thither we bore Signer Canaro. When 
 he was comfortably bestowed, and a first 
 potion from the vial administered, I had 
 the satisfaction of seeing him drop into a 
 profound slumber. The man of mysteries 
 and healing now gave me minute direc- 
 tions, which he admonished me must be 
 scrupulously followed, and having pre- 
 sented to him his fee and, accompanied 
 him to the palace entrance, I returned to 
 Signer Canaro's bedside, having first taken 
 care to secure the metallic casket from its 
 place of concealment behind the arras. 
 This I placed so that Signor Canaro's eyes 
 would rest upon it when he unclosed them, 
 and then seated myself to await the sum- 
 mons which should announce the arrival 
 of Hartzheim and my beloved.
 
 Chapter XXII 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 
 
 IT lacked but little of the stroke of 
 midnight. In the silver lustre near 
 the door a single taper showed a greenish- 
 yellow flame. On the couch where Sig- 
 nor Canaro had reclined that afternoon 
 my friend Hartzheim was breathing heavily 
 in slumber. Within, by her father's bed- 
 side, Angela, the flower of my heart, 
 watched like a white spirit. Through all 
 the house of the Canari there brooded a 
 great silence. 
 
 It was my watch, and I needs must 
 move frequently to keep awake. Now 
 I crept in to whisper some comforting 
 word to Angela, now I peered into the 
 garden from the darkness of the library, 
 watching the indistinct and ghostly move- 
 
 343
 
 344 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 ments of the boughs of the limes that 
 were by fits breeze-tossed ; now I stole 
 into the corridor and listened. It was 
 here that I came most frequently and 
 tarried longest. If the sound rose which 
 I dreaded to hear, the summons of armed 
 men below, I must catch its first echo. 
 Tonio had been dismissed for the night. 
 This had been done after a consultation 
 between Hartzheim and myself. We 
 thought it best to let it appear that the 
 house was entirely deserted. Should the 
 emissaries of the Visconti arrive and 
 demand admission, we decided to pay no 
 heed to them. Possibly they might retire 
 without forcing an entrance, and in case 
 they did use force the presence of a ser- 
 vant might lead to our discovery. He 
 might be found, and frightened or tortured 
 into revealing something. As for our- 
 selves, we had made no plans. Signor 
 Canaro was not in a condition to be con- 
 sulted, and we did not wish to disturb 
 Angela, who spent her every moment by 
 her father's side, unless occasion forced us 
 to do so
 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 345 
 
 " There must be some place of conceal- 
 ment in all this huge house, whither we 
 can retire if we find ourselves caged," 
 Hartzheim had said, when we talked the 
 matter over shortly after his arrival ; so I 
 had tried to put worry away from me, 
 and to think, even if the dreaded men-at- 
 arms of the Visconti arrived, we might 
 somehow contrive to elude them. 
 
 I had just come from a whispered word 
 with Angela, and had left her father sleep- 
 ing peacefully, the change that had taken 
 place in him since that afternoon being a 
 marvel to us all. His countenance had 
 lost the death-like cast, and when he was 
 roused, as had been directed, that the 
 medicine might be administered, his voice 
 was strong, his eye clear, and his hand 
 steady. It had been decided between my 
 betrothed and myself that should he still 
 be slumbering when midnight struck we 
 would waken him, for we had every confi- 
 dence that he would be able to endure, at 
 least for a considerable number of hours, 
 the fatigues of our flight. 
 
 For several moments I stood in the
 
 346 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 doorway which opened into the corridor, 
 waiting as eagerly as ever man waited to 
 catch the first peal that should herald the 
 birth of another day. Never had time 
 seemed so leaden-footed as now. I was 
 telling myself that the next instant my 
 ears must surely be gladdened by the 
 welcome sound, when there rang through 
 the hallways and corridors of the palace, 
 faintly at first, then louder and more loud, 
 not the midnight chime of bells, but the 
 summons for admission from below. 
 
 I had fully made up my mind what I 
 should do in case of this dreaded emer- 
 gency. With a bound I sprang through 
 the library into the room where Angela 
 and her father were. My beloved had 
 heard the noise and had risen to meet me. 
 
 "They have come," said I. "Rouse 
 your father and await us here. My friend 
 and I will go to reconnoitre. We shall 
 soon return." 
 
 I found Hartzheim in the corridor 
 doorway. Plucking a taper from the 
 lustre, and lighting it, I hurried as swiftly 
 and silently as possible toward the front
 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 347 
 
 of the palace, my friend at my side. We 
 were not long in gaining a room which 
 overlooked the street, where we loosened 
 the casement and were able, without danger 
 of detection, to view the scene below. A 
 great flare of torches in the hands of a 
 dozen city watchmen illumined the high- 
 way, which was blocked by a score of 
 troopers, some on foot and some on horse- 
 back. 
 
 " Open ! " we heard a voice shout, as 
 the thunderous knocking ceased for an 
 instant, " open in the name of the Lord 
 of Milan and of Brescia ! " 
 
 The man who demanded admission was 
 Otto von Ettergarde. 
 
 We had seen enough, and we speedily 
 retraced our steps. As we passed the 
 head of the stairway, the noise grew more 
 threatening, and we surmised that they 
 had begun to batter in the doors. At 
 the extremity of the corridor Angela and 
 Signer Canaro were awaiting us, the latter 
 erect and animated. 
 
 "We are surrounded," he said ; " for we 
 have just noted from the library window
 
 348 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 the light of torches in the laneway beyond 
 the garden. We are not yet taken, how- 
 ever," he continued, " nor are we likely 
 to be at once unless those noisy fellows 
 without have sharper eyes than I give them 
 credit for. Come ; I will show you where 
 we can conceal ourselves." 
 
 We followed Signor Canaro into the 
 library, and watched him swing out and 
 back a case, which was apparently built 
 into the wall, containing a rare collection 
 of illuminated missals. In the opening 
 thus revealed was a narrow door which 
 readily yielded to the pressure of the 
 hand, and showed a small recess from 
 which a staircase ascended. 
 
 " The door in the apartment above is 
 as cunningly hidden as this," said Signor 
 Canaro. " We can remain here until 
 they tire of searching for us, and then 
 perhaps, even though they leave the 
 house watched and guarded, contrive to 
 escape." 
 
 We took care to close the doors of the 
 rooms we had occupied, and to put every- 
 thing to rights so that the apartments
 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 349 
 
 should not seem to have been recently in 
 use, then we entered the recess and be- 
 came for the time being voluntary pris- 
 oners. Presently we heard sounds of the 
 search for us, the tramping of heavy feet, 
 the murmur of voices, then these noises 
 grew indistinct, after a space to increase 
 again in volume. Angela and I sat mid- 
 way upon the staircase, below us Signer 
 Canaro and Hartzheim. Despite the great 
 peril in which we were placed, those hours 
 of waiting and anxiety were full of a deep 
 sweetness to me. Had I not by my 
 side to kiss and to caress at will the 
 one peerless maiden from the human 
 flower-garden of the whole world ? Could 
 I not pour into her ear pictures of our 
 love-life when we should have escaped out 
 of the Viper's coils, and listen in return 
 to her words of gratitude and praise for 
 what I had already done, and to her ex- 
 pressions of confidence in what I was yet 
 to do, for her and for her father ? 
 
 At length all sounds without died en- 
 tirely away, yet we did not deem it wise 
 to venture forth. More than three hours
 
 350 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 must have elapsed before it was de- 
 cided that a move should be made. If 
 watchers had been set we wished to give 
 them time to become drowsy. Slowly and 
 noiselessly the case containing the missals 
 was swung outward, and Hartzheim and I 
 slipped from the recess into the library. 
 The faint gray light of dawn had begun 
 to steal into the room, and as my friend 
 crept toward the corridor I advanced to 
 the window, thinking perhaps I might be 
 able to see if any guards had been posted 
 in the garden. To my surprise for I had 
 not been able to note the fact in the dark- 
 ness, nor did I recall having observed it 
 on my first visit to the house of the Canari 
 I discovered a balcony just outside the 
 window. Cautiously opening the case- 
 ment, I stepped out and peered below, but 
 could see no one. Then I let my eye 
 follow the line of the palace to the left, 
 and found, to my inexpressible delight, 
 that both the adjoining house and the one 
 next it were supplied with balconies simi- 
 lar to the one upon which I was standing. 
 Here was a possible means of escape, if
 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 351 
 
 the space between the balconies could be 
 bridged. Hugging the wall, and tiptoeing 
 along, I came to the edge of the gap. It 
 was not more than seven feet from railing 
 to railing. 
 
 " One of the Byzantine couches in the 
 room adjoining the library will be just the 
 thing ! " I thought. 
 
 Back I crept as hastily as I dared. An- 
 gela and her father had emerged from our 
 place of concealment, and to them in a 
 whisper I confided my plan. 
 
 " The very thing," cried Signor Canaro, 
 " dullard that I am that it did not occur 
 to me ! The second house is unoccu- 
 pied, and from the grounds at the rear 
 there is access to a side street which is 
 not likely to be watched." 
 
 My heart gave a great bound of exulta- 
 tion at this news. As the gloom of night 
 was beginning to lift, so was it with the 
 darkness that had, for a space, beclouded 
 our fortunes. 
 
 At this moment Hartzheim reappeared. 
 
 " There is a guard at the top of the 
 stairway," said he, " and I think I heard
 
 352 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 some one stirring in the corridor on the 
 right." _ 
 
 Hurriedly I told him of our plan. 
 
 " Bravo ! " he cried, in a whisper, his 
 face brightening; "we shall triumph over 
 the Viper, after all." 
 
 Angela and her father retired, at our 
 suggestion, behind the missal case, until 
 we should have put our improvised bridge 
 in position, then Hartzheim and I seized 
 upon one of the couches. It was rather 
 a cumbersome affair, by no means easy 
 to handle, and we found that it was im- 
 possible to move it without making some 
 noise. As we were preparing to pass it 
 through the library casement, the sound 
 of footfalls reached us from the corridor, 
 light yet unmistakable. We set down 
 our burden, and I started as though I 
 would go toward the door. 
 
 " No," said Hartzheim, in a suppressed 
 tone, " there should be but one of us. 
 Leave it to me." 
 
 He slipped off his sword and drew a 
 stiletto from his doublet, a weapon which I 
 knew he detested, and which I had never
 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 353 
 
 before seen in his hand. I hardly recog- 
 nized his face as he glided by me, the 
 usual kindly look having quite gone out 
 of it, and a hard and fierce resolve settled 
 there in its stead. I realized that it was 
 no hour for mercy. He into whose 
 clutches we should fall, if captured, would 
 show as little pity as the venomous 
 reptile emblazoned on his ensign, or as 
 the gaunt gray wolf of the Apennines. 
 Yet I could not think of the man who 
 was stealing along the corridor without a 
 qualm. He as little dreamed of the 
 swift death that lay in wait for him as 
 does the lusty reveler when Hate, in the 
 guise of Friendship, presses the poisoned 
 cup to his lip. 
 
 Suddenly from the adjoining room came 
 the noise of scuffling feet, then a dull blow 
 and a spasmodic sound like the swift in- 
 drawing of breath. Presently I saw my 
 friend's face again. It was still stern and 
 set. He refastened his sword and seized 
 upon the couch with eager energy. 
 
 " It had to be," he said, " and I was 
 the one to do it, yet I like it not, least of
 
 354 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 all in that way. I trust there will be no 
 others, unless " he stopped. 
 
 " Unless ? " I repeated. 
 
 " Well, there is one among them for 
 whom a good honest thrust would be 
 far too saintly a speeding," he returned, 
 and I knew he referred to the man who 
 had been the Visconti's chief instrument 
 in the whole affair. 
 
 We were in constant fear lest a noise 
 should attract attention, and proceeded 
 with the utmost caution ; consequently it 
 was some time before we had the couch 
 in position. The outcome of our efforts 
 was even more successful than I antici- 
 pated, and we hastened to summon my 
 betrothed and her father. Hartzheim was 
 the first to cross, then followed Signor 
 Canaro, and then Angela, my friend and 
 I each giving her a hand to steady her. 
 I was on the point of joining them, 
 when I bethought me of my cloak which I 
 had cast over a chair in the library that 
 I might not be hindered by its folds. Tell- 
 ing my companions what I sought, I sped 
 on tiptoe along the balcony to the open
 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 355 
 
 casement, entered, had lifted my cloak, 
 and was about retracing my steps when a 
 footfall caused me to pause. 
 
 Before I had a chance to conceal myself 
 a man strode into the room from the direc- 
 tion of the corridor. For a few seconds 
 we stared at one another through the still 
 indistinct light of dawn. Then at the 
 same instant recognition came to both of 
 us. The man was Otto von Ettergarde. 
 
 "Ah," said he, "'tis Signer Tallow- 
 Locks ! " using the same insulting epithet 
 he had applied to me at our first meeting 
 in the palace courtyard at Pavia. " This 
 time there seems to be no one here to 
 interrupt us," and he swiftly closed the 
 door through which he had come, glanced 
 into the bedchamber adjoining, and closed 
 that door. I, in the meanwhile, had un- 
 sheathed my sword and swung the hang- 
 ings fully free from the casement. 
 
 How von Ettergarde had chanced thus 
 to come in upon me I could not imagine, 
 but here he was, and I must face him. I 
 felt, however, no sinking of the heart as 
 he came forward ; on the contrary, I was as
 
 3 56 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 calm as though I was about to engage in 
 a friendly fencing bout. Life and love 
 were at stake, aye, more ! the lives of those 
 to whom I was linked by the strongest 
 ties of affection might hang upon the 
 outcome, and yet I was unmoved. Von 
 Ettergarde, on his part, was perfectly con- 
 fident, and the fire that leaped from his 
 cold and cruel eyes as our blades crossed 
 might at any other time have made me 
 feel that I had met more than my match. 
 At first my enemy, such was his com- 
 plete assurance, made a pretence of playing 
 with me, but seeing that I was not to be 
 thrown off my guard, nor led to take 
 advantage of his seeming carelessness, he 
 tried to force me into a corner near the 
 casement where my arm movement would 
 be restricted, and he would have me at a 
 serious disadvantage. I held my ground 
 tenaciously, however, not giving back an 
 inch, whereupon he retreated as though 
 inviting me to attack. I suspected a ruse, 
 and advanced with the greatest caution. 
 Well was it that I did so, for with a 
 sudden shifting of position he feinted and
 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 357 
 
 thrust so swiftly that it was not skill but 
 a blind instinct which saved me. Of 
 small avail my shirt of linked mail would 
 have been in staying the force of that 
 furious blow. His point was aimed 
 straight at my heart, and I managed to 
 turn it so that it passed between my arm 
 and side, doing no more damage than to 
 tear a great hole in my doublet. It was 
 a stroke of which I had heard the famous 
 maitre d'armes, Houdon Despagnac, 
 sp^ak one evening in Bologna. Later 
 the same night I had seen him illustrate 
 how it should be parried, and how, if 
 the opponent of the one using it were 
 quick, and could depend upon his wrist, 
 a counter-thrust quite as dangerous could 
 be delivered. 
 
 Though I had never put into practice 
 what I had seen demonstrated, since 
 occasion had never before arisen, I re- 
 solved to attempt it now, for I felt sure 
 von Ettergarde would presently try the 
 ruse again, his first attempt having fallen 
 so little short of success. Indeed, I believe 
 he thought my fate was as good as sealed,
 
 358 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 for a little smile began to hover about his 
 mouth. There was some further cautious 
 play on both sides, and then I again ad- 
 vanced a pace, giving my antagonist, as 
 he supposed, the desired opportunity to 
 execute his coup. But this time my blade 
 met and turned aside his forward thrust, 
 was carried by a quick straightening 
 of my arm upward, pierced his neck just 
 above the dip where the clavicle and the 
 breast-bone join, and came out at the base 
 of his skull. My sword was wrenched 
 from my hand as he fell forward. I caught 
 a glimpse of the horror of his contorted 
 face ; then Hartzheim came in through the 
 casement and embraced me, calling me I 
 know not what extravagant names, fill- 
 ing my ears with praise, bidding me go 
 to Angela, and saying that he would 
 follow in a moment and bring me my 
 sword. 
 
 Soon my beloved's arms were about me, 
 and then I came nigh to playing the 
 woman ; but Hartzheim saved me by ap- 
 pearing just at the right moment and an- 
 nouncing that there was still much to be
 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 359 
 
 done before we could afford to waste time 
 in love-making. 
 
 Undetected we gained the balcony of 
 the unoccupied house, pried open one of 
 the casements, and were soon threading 
 the streets in the direction of the Porta 
 Venezia. Fortunately not a soul was 
 abroad. With the breaking of dawn the 
 watchmen had retired to their homes, and 
 it was yet too early either for the hardiest 
 laborer or the most enterprising vender to 
 be stirring. 
 
 Our only fear now was that orders had 
 been issued to allow no one answering to 
 our description to leave the city, but von 
 Ettergarde, who doubtless had but just 
 arrived when we heard his summons at 
 the house of the Canari hard upon mid- 
 night, had failed to take any such precau- 
 tions. Although the gate-keeper grumbled 
 at being disturbed, and seemed curious to 
 see folk of our evident station on foot at 
 such an hour, he readily opened the gates 
 for us after I had slipped something yellow 
 and glistening into his hand, and Hartz- 
 heim had explained that we purposed to go
 
 360 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 hawking, and looked to find our servants 
 and hawks and horses awaiting us at the 
 Three Kings. 
 
 Galbo was quickly roused and the 
 horses saddled, and then as the sun-rays 
 were dispelling the last vestiges of the 
 night, the brooding vapors, and the low- 
 lying mists, we galloped away from Bres- 
 cia through the fresh air of the morning, 
 and long ere noon passed in safety from 
 the territory of the Visconti into that of 
 Francesco da Gonzaga, the Marquis of 
 Mantua. 
 
 For each of us that day ushered in a 
 new life. To Signer Canaro, despite the 
 loss of his princely home, came a peace, a 
 security, and a contentment which he had 
 not known for years, a world of quiet pleas- 
 ure in the society of those he loved, and in 
 the companionship of one who, like him- 
 self, had felt the cruelty of sorrow and 
 misfortune, my cousin, Alberto Gamba- 
 corta. To Hartzheim came abundance and 
 prosperity, the cosy inn of his choice, and 
 the little woman of his heart seated as mis- 
 tress by his fireside. Truly nothing was too
 
 Out of the Viper's Coils 361 
 
 good for one who, at the sacrifice of his 
 own position and interests, had done so 
 much for friendship's sake, and to see 
 the right prevail ! To Angela and my- 
 self came a great and ever-abiding happi- 
 ness, a happiness which grows sweeter 
 and sweeter as the pilgrim years slip 
 away. 
 
 Never again were any of us enmeshed 
 in the Great Viper's coils (Venice offering 
 a safe asylum when, for a time, Padua fell 
 under the sway of the Visconti), but not 
 until more than half a score of years after 
 our outriding from Brescia that memorable 
 morning did the long-delaying hand of 
 fate smite down the man who was a 
 terror to prince and peasant. During the 
 summer of 1402, the plague descended 
 upon Lombardy with fatal fury. To the 
 barred gates of the isolated fortress of 
 Marignano it at last found its way. 
 Where human foot could not gain an 
 entrance in it crept, stole from room to 
 room, and finally found one in a seques- 
 tered apartment cringing and shaking 
 with cowardly fear. It leaped upon him,
 
 362 A Man-at-Arms 
 
 gripped him by the throat, and when the 
 news spread abroad through Italy, a great 
 shout of deliverance went up, for a curse 
 that was worse than the plague had been 
 lifted from the land. 
 
 THE END
 
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