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It had taken two years to rouse Giovanni to energetic action against one whom he had in turn regarded with indifference, then despised, then honestly disliked, and finally hated. But his hatred had been doubled each time by a greater injury, and was not likely to be easily satisfied. Nothing short of Del Fence's destruction would be enough, and his destruction must be brought about by legal means.
In a fortnight he was to have been married to Donna Tullia Mayer, and her trousseau had just arrived from Paris. It can hardly be said that the Cardinal's conduct was unjustifiable, though many will say that Del Fence's secret doings were easily defensible on the ground of his patriotism.
I will call you when they are gone. I suppose you mean business seriously?" "I care nothing about him. I will give him any satisfaction he pleases," answered Giovanni. "It is very kind of you to undertake the matter I am very grateful." "I would not leave it to anybody else," muttered the old Prince, as he hurried away to meet Del Fence's seconds.
"How dreadful it is to be watched like this!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, with a little laugh, half expressive of satisfaction and half of amusement at Del Fence's devotion. "How can I help watching you, as the earth watches the sun in its daily course?" said Ugo, with a sentimental intonation of his soft persuasive voice. Donna Tullia looked at his smooth face, and laughed again, half kindly.
Hardy mounted breast-high to the fence's top, wreathed two fingers in the willing brute's collar, lifted her, and dropped her on the other side. There she instantly resumed her search. At the same time her yoke-mate's deep bay pealed like a trumpet, from a few yards up the roadway. He had struck the broad, frank trail of the other three negroes.
So long as the quarrel lasted, she was compelled to follow a profession more ancient than the fence's; for there is one passion which war itself cannot extinguish.
He was very amusing, and not altogether unsympathetic to her; and moreover, he professed for her the most profound devotion genuine, perhaps, and certainly skilfully expressed. If any one had paid much attention to Del Fence's doings, it would have been said that he was paying court to the rich young widow.
He "lined" the fence's course and cleared the way rudely through the forest, a work of days, and then he made the maul. The mace of the mediaeval knight is the maul of to-day. No longer it cracks heads or helmets, but there is work for it. And it has developed into a mighty weapon. There are two sorts of maul in the lake country.
If this really happened, he earned the man's eternal gratitude; if not, he foreclosed indeed, but the loser never forgot that by Del Fence's kindness he had been offered a last chance at a desperate moment. It could not be said to be Del Ferice's fault that the second case was the more frequent one, nor that the result to himself was profit in either event.
It would be worth while making the sacrifice in order to learn Del Fence's secret. "This need not be a mere jest," she said, after a moment's silence. "That is as you please," returned Del Ferice, seriously. "If you are willing to do your part, you may be sure that I will do mine." "You cannot think I really meant what I said just now," replied Donna Tullia. "It would be madness." "Why?
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