"
"You may be killed as well as shamed," Nicholas suggested unpleasantly.
"It is certain that either you or that Englishman will die to-morrow,
since he's set for no fancy tilting with waving of ladies' kerchiefs and
tinsel crowns of victory, and so forth. Merchant bred or not, he is a
sturdy fighter, as we all learned in France. Moreover, his heart is full
with wrong, and the man whose quarrel is just is always to be feared."
"A pest on you!" snarled Cattrina. "Have you the evil eye that you then
croak disaster in my ears? Look you, priest, I must come through this
game unharmed. Death is a companion I do not seek just yet, who have too
much to live for--power and wealth and high renown, if my plans succeed;
and as you should know, they are well laid. Moreover, there is that
English girl, Red Eve, my wife, from whose sweet side you made me flee.
I tell you, Nicholas, I burn for her and had rather taste her hate
than the love of any other woman on the earth. Now, too, the Pope has
summoned me to Avignon, and her also, to lay our causes before him.
Being bold, mayhap she will come, for his Holiness has sent her
safe-conduct under his own hand. Nor has he mentioned--for I saw a copy
of the brief--that the same business will take me to Avignon about this
time. Well, if she comes she will not go away again alone; the French
roads are too rough for ladies to travel unescorted.
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