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Do you take me, my lord? Have I fitted the word to the definition and suited the definition to the man? 'Admirably, Count, assented Pignaver. 'Your command of language fills me with envy. "Eradicate" is good, very good! 'Does the weed flourish in Venice, my lord? asked Gambardella, who was bored and wished to settle the preliminaries of the business at once.
Stradella stood motionless between his keepers, wondering what would happen next, and never doubting but that the whole proceeding had been inspired by Pignaver. But what had really happened can be explained in a dozen words, and will show that the sharp little Legate was acting in perfectly good faith.
'They passed through Padua, and took post to Rovigo and Ferrara, answered Pignaver. 'You cannot miss them if you go that way. 'A very convenient place, Ferrara, if they would wait for us there, observed Trombin. ... veneremur cernui, the choir sang, and many of the people were joining in the ancient hymn. 'When can you start? inquired Pignaver.
Pignaver now laid one finger on his lips and spoke in a whisper, asking whether Markos was acquainted with two honest gentlemen named respectively Signor Trombin and Signor Gambardella. By an almost miraculous coincidence the two honest gentlemen were at that very moment supping within. Markos offered to call them out. 'Unless, he added, 'your lordship is in need of supper, and will join them.
'When I reflect upon the primitive simplicity of the business we undertook for Pignaver, and compare it with the plan we have now conceived and shall certainly execute in a few days, I cannot but congratulate myself on the fertility of my imagination, or, as I might say, upon the resemblance between my mind and that of the novelist Boccaccio.
Most people would prefer to be run through with a rapier, and it was therefore clear that Stradella ought to be satisfied. As for such weakness as a qualm of conscience, Pignaver was as far above such childishness as the Bravi themselves.
Though they had been at supper two hours and had done well by a jar of old Samian, they were as cool and steady as when they had sat down, a fact which predisposed Pignaver in their favour. 'Will you do us the honour to be our guest, sir? asked Gambardella at once. 'But you have already supped, gentlemen, answered the Senator. 'That is a trifle, sir, Trombin said.
'Would it not be well to set a watch in the garden, too, my lord? We should sleep soundly then! 'We shall see, we shall see, answered Pignaver, repeating the words slowly, as he went off. 'We shall see, he said once more, as he went out. As soon as he was gone, Pina hastened to Ortensia's room. 'He is safe! she cried as she entered.
Pignaver would have apologised at once if either of the Bravi had taken that tone, but the Sicilian singer was made of better stuff than the Venetian Senator. 'Sir, he answered quietly, 'I am not a quarrelsome man, and, moreover, I am deeply indebted to you for my freedom. But there is a lady in this case.
He narrated the circumstances of Ortensia's flight substantially as they were known to the Senator, and in as few words as possible, and she listened without interrupting him. 'I know this Pignaver, he said in conclusion, 'and I know positively that he has engaged two Bravi to follow the pair and murder them.
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