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Updated: September 24, 2025
I must ride on alone." He lay on his back and stared up at me, and his eyes had a glassy stare. Then he roused himself by an effort, and raised himself upon his elbow. "That is it, boy ride on alone. Take Falcone. Listen, there are three score men of mine at Pagliano who will follow you to Hell at a word that Falcone shall speak to them from me. About it, then, and save her. But wait, boy!
"How came you by this?" he asked, astonished. "Is not Farnese the Pope's son?" quoth Cavalcanti scornfully. "But upon what terms was it conceded? If it involves your honour, your life, or your liberty, here's to make an end of it." And he held it across in his hands as if to tear it, looking up at the Lord of Pagliano. "It involves none of these," the latter answered steadily.
And then I told him what I feared; told him how Farnese had sued for Bianca's hand for Cosimo; how proudly and finally Cavalcanti had refused; how the Duke had insisted that he would remain at Pagliano until my lord changed his mind; how I had learned from Giuliana the horrible motive that urged the Duke to press for that marriage.
Then he wheeled his charger and went down the steep ground, riding hard for Ferrante's army, whilst we pursued our way, and came some two hours later without mishap to Pagliano. I found Bianca awaiting me in the gallery above the courtyard, drawn thither by the sounds of our approach.
"What alternative had I?" groaned Cavalcanti, his face ashen and seared with pain. "There is that between us, Ettore, that... that will not let me credit this, even though you tell it me." And now the wretched Lord of Pagliano began to use the very arguments that I had used to him. He spoke of Cosimo's suit of his daughter, and how the Duke sought to constrain him to consent to the alliance.
I took it, and considered the superscription: "These to the Most Noble Agostino d'Anguissola, at Pagliano. Quickly. Quickly. Quickly." The hand was Galeotto's. I tore it open. It contained but two lines: "Upon your life do not fail to obey the Imperial summons. Send Falcone to me here at once." And it was signed "GALEOTTO." "It is well," I said to the herald, "I will not fail to attend."
Her long blue eyes were raised to look at me as I entered, and their glance grew startled when it encountered mine, the delicate colour faded gradually from her cheeks, and her eyes fell at last as she moved forward to bid me welcome to Pagliano in her own name. They must have perceived her emotion as they perceived mine. But they gave no sign.
Thereafter we waited for events at Pagliano, the drawbridge raised, and none entering save after due challenge. We expected an attack which never came; for Pier Luigi did not dare to lead an army against an Imperial fief upon such hopeless grounds as were his own. Possibly, too, Galeotto's memorial may have caused the Pope to impose restraint upon his dissolute son.
Galeotto pointed to it. "That is my goal," he said. "You had best ride on to Pagliano with these lances. You may need them there. I had hoped that Cosimo would have been found in the castle with Pier Luigi. His absence makes me uneasy. Away with you, then. You shall have news of me within three days." We embraced, on horseback as we were.
And they have not made a shaveling of you, after all. Now blessed be God for that!" Then he stopped short, and his eyes went past me, and he seemed to hesitate. I turned, and there, leaning on the balustrade of the staircase, looking on with smiling eyes stood Galeotto with Messer Cavalcanti at his elbow. I heard Galeotto's words to the Lord of Pagliano. "His heart is sound which is a miracle.
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