Away in the room under the Lion's Tower, the Count of Aquila, too, paced
his chamber ere he sought his couch, and in his pacing caught sight of
something that arrested his attention, and provoked a smile. In a
corner, among his harness which Lanciotto had piled there, his shield
threw back the light, displaying the Sforza lion quartered with the
Aquila eagle.
"Did my sweet Gonzaga get a glimpse of that he would have no further need
to pry into my parentage," he mused. And dragging the escutcheon from
amongst that heap of armour, he softly opened his window and flung it far
out, so that it dropped with a splash into the moat. That done, he went
to bed, and he, too, fell asleep with a smile upon his lips, and in his
mind a floating vision of Valentina. She needed a strong and ready hand
to guide her in this rebellion against the love-at-arms of Gian Maria,
and that hand he swore should be his, unless she scorned the offer of it.
And so, murmuring her name with a lingering fervour, of whose true
significance he was all-nescient, he sank to sleep, nor waked again until
a thundering at his door aroused him. And to his still dormant senses
came the voice of Lanciotto, laden with hurry and alarm.
"Awake, lord! Up, afoot! We are beset."
CHAPTER XVII
THE ENEMY
The Count leapt from his bed, and hastened to throw wide the door to
admit his servant, who with excited face and voice bore him the news that
Gian Maria had reached Roccaleone in the night, and was now encamped in
the plain before the castle.
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