You were warned by Messer Gonzaga to hold
your followers in better leash, and yet to-day, without so much as
drunkenness to excuse them, we have this vile affair, with yourself for a
ringleader in it."
There followed a pause, during which Ercole stood with bent head like one
who thinks, and Francesco turned his wonder-laden glance upon this slight
girl with the gentle brown eyes which had been so tender and pitiful.
Marvelling at the greatness of her spirit, he grew--all unconsciously--
the more enslaved.
Gonzaga, all unconcerned in this, eyed Fortemani in expectation of his
answer.
"Madonna," said the bully at last, "what can you look for from such a
troop as this? Messer Gonzaga cannot have expected me to enlist acolytes
for a business that he told me bordered upon outlawry. Touching their
drunkenness and the trifle of rioting, what soldiers have not these
faults? When they have them not, neither have they merit. The man that
is tame in times of peace is a skulking woman in times of war. For the
rest, whence came the wine they drank? It was of Messer Gonzaga's
providing."
"You lie, hound!" blazed Gonzaga. "I provided wine for Madonna's table,
not for the men."
"Yet some found its way to them; which is well. For water on the stomach
makes a man poor-spirited. Where is the sin of a little indulgence,
Madonna?" he went on, turning again to Valentina. "These men of mine
will prove their mettle when it comes to blows. They are dogs perhaps--
but mastiffs every one of them, and would lose a hundred lives in your
service if they had them.
Pages:
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200