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Updated: June 18, 2025
"Out, fool," cried Gonzaga, cutting at him with his riding-switch, "we need not your capers." "No, but you need my wisdom," retorted Ser Peppe, as he leapt beyond Gonzaga's reach. "Hear me, Beltrame!
Straight to the Count of Aquila went the fool with his letter. Francesco read it, and questioned him closely as to what he knew of the manner in which it had come into Gonzaga's possession. For the rest, those lines, far from causing him the uneasiness Peppe expected, seemed a source of satisfaction and assurance to him.
"Fortemani!" echoed Gonzaga. "By the Host, no! The man is bewitched by that plausible rogue, Francesco. Far from resenting the fellow's treatment of him, he follows and obeys his every word, like the mean-spirited dog that he is." Again Cappoccio sought to scrutinise Gonzaga's face. But the light was indifferent. "Are you dealing with me fairly?" he asked.
There was a guttural laugh from the swashbuckler, and then his arms were round Gonzaga's shapely waist, and the popinjay was lifted from his feet. Viciously he brought down the cross-bow, as he had threatened; but it smote the empty air. The next instant Gonzaga was hurtled, bruised, into a corner of the tower.
"It cannot be too soon for me," replied the quivering Cosimo, black hatred in his glance. "Be it so, then," said the Governor, and he rose, the Court rising with him. My father pressed my hand again. "To the Duomo, Agostino, till I come," he said, and on that we parted. My sword was returned to me by Gonzaga's orders. In so far as it concerned myself the trial was at an end, and I was free.
It was Gonzaga's turn to wax angry, for the choice had been his. "Your message will have need to be a weighty one, sir, to earn our patience for your impertinence." Francesco returned the look of those blue eyes which vainly sought to flash ferociously, and he made little attempt to keep his scorn from showing in his glance. He permitted himself even to shrug his shoulders a trifle impatiently.
The Italians could not hold out against this double attack; the 'furia francese' rendered all their strategy and all their calculations useless, especially as for more than a century they had abandoned their fights of blood and fury for a kind of tournament they chose to regard as warfare; so, in spite of all Gonzaga's efforts, they turned their backs upon the French rear and took to flight; in the greatest haste and with much difficulty they recrossed the torrent, which was swollen even more now by the rain that had been falling during the whole time of the battle.
The fellow's arms slid out, and with a long-drawn, gurgling sigh he sank down and stretched himself horribly on the stones. In that instant the clouds parted overhead and the sun came out in a blaze of golden glory. High above Gonzaga's head a lark burst into song.
"Thus is Giovanni d'Anguissola at last avenged!" he said to me in a deep voice that thrilled me. "I would that he were here to know," I answered. And again Galeotto's eyes grew wistful as they looked at me. We won out of the town at last, and when we came to the high ground beyond the river, we saw in the plain below phalanx upon phalanx of a great army. It was Ferrante Gonzaga's Imperial force.
"He is over-quick to take offence, Madonna, for an honest man," was Gonzaga's answer. "Like the snake in the grass, he is very ready with his sting when we seek to disclose him." "For shame, Gonzaga," she cried, now rising too. "What are you saying? Are you turned witless? Come, sirs, since you are both my friends, be friends each with the other."
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