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Then turning slowly to the immovable Maso, he demanded "And thou, man of falsehood and of blood! what dost thou reply to this clear and probable tale?" Il Maledetto smiled, as if superior to a weakness that had blinded the others. The expression of his countenance was filled with that look of calm superiority which certainty gives to the well-informed over the doubting and deceived."
"With my token thou canst command the loyalty of every Nicolotto is it thine oar that made that rustle? and perchance, if there were a rising of the traghetti to demand aught of the Signoria come nearer, Antonio! the Castellani also, if they willed to join with their traghetti in asking for justice would not serve under my token the less heartily for the word, confided low to their bancali dost understand? that if their taxes and their fines oppress them, these also, I being free, will pay this year to the maledetto Avvogadoro del Commun."
On Maso the wine produced an effect that might almost be termed characteristic, and which it is in some sort germane to the moral of the tale to describe. Il Maledetto had indulged freely and with apparent recklessness in the frequent draughts.
"Signore, it matters not," continued Il Maledetto, with a ruthless perseverance of intention, and a coolness of manner that would seem to merit the description which had just been given his spirit, that of possessing a hellish taint; "she loved him with a woman's heart; and with a woman's ingenuity and confidence, she ascribed his fall to despair for her loss." "Oh, Melchior!
"Is this man's history to be believed, Gaetano?" demanded the baron, who had more than once betrayed a wish to check the rude tongue of the speaker. "I do not I cannot deny it; I never saw my own conduct in this criminal light before, and yet now it all seems frightfully true!" Il Maledetto laughed. Those around him thought his untimely merriment resembled the mockery of a devil.
"These, then, are all?" interrupted the Signor Grimaldi, who saw, by the heaving bosom of Sigismund, that it was time in mercy to interpose. "Not so, Signore there is still another and one I like less than any. A countryman of your own, who, impudently enough, calls himself Il Maledetto." "Maso!" "The very same." "Honest, courageous Maso, and his noble dog!"
Removing some of the long shaggy hair of the dog, Il Maledetto showed the attentive and curious spectators that a belt of leather had been ingeniously placed about the body of the animal, next its skin.
He put his fingers inside his shirt collar and pulled it fiercely out from his throat. "E il vecchio!" he exclaimed, with sudden passion. "E il maledetto vecchio!" Hermione's face changed. There had been in it a firm look, a calmness of strength. But now, at his last words, the strength seemed to shrink.
"The voice of a Doge of Genoa should not be used in intercession, unless in behalf of the innocent," he replied, keeping his severe eye fastened on the countenance of the accused. Again Il Maledetto seemed laboring with some secret that struggled on his tongue.
Il Maledetto, on whom weighed the entire load of Jacques Colis' murder, was again committed to his temporary prison, while Balthazar, Pippo, and Conrad, were permitted to go at large, as having successfully passed the ordeal of examination. Day dawned upon the Col long ere the shades of night had deserted the valley of the Rhone.
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