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Ferrante saw trouble ahead of him with Lodovico Sforza, concerning a matter which shall be considered in the next chapter, and not at all would it suit him at such a time that such a Pope as Alexander who, he had every reason to suppose, would be on the side of Lodovico should rule in Rome. So he had set himself, by every means in his power, to oppose Roderigo's election.
This river has different sources on a lofty snow-covered mountain, which Roderigo's companions declared to be the highest they had ever seen. This statement must be true, since the snow lay upon a mountain which is not more than ten degrees distant from the equator.
"Come over by Roderigo's bed," Lucia said, "we have only a little time to talk before we leave." "Oh, but you must be excited!" Maria exclaimed. "Look at her eyes," Roderigo laughed, "of course she is." "Well, and why not," Lucia demanded, "wouldn't you be?" Roderigo shivered. "If I were going this day, back to Napoli, I would die from joy," he said.
He saw that one of the men was Pablo Menendez. The other, an older Mexican with short whiskers, was unknown to him. "He fought like a devil from hell. Roderigo's arm is broken. Not one of us but is marked," said the older man admiringly. "My head is ringing yet, Sebastian," agreed Pablo. "Dios, how he slammed poor José down. The blood poured from his nose and mouth.
The last inhabitant of Cellino was out of sight, and it seemed as if they were alone. They waited, Lucia supporting Roderigo's head in her arms. The explosion came, there was a crash, and then a great shaking of the earth. Lucia listened, her eyes flashing. "Wait here," she said to Roderigo, "I will return at once." She ran hurriedly back to the convent and down again to the door.
But consider a moment the close relations existing between them. Roderigo was the nephew of the late Pope; in a great measure Pius II owed his election, as we have seen, to Roderigo's action in the Conclave. That his interest in him apart from that was paternal and affectionate is shown in every line of that letter.
We know that the very Pontiff who admonished these young prelates, though now admittedly a man of saintly ways, had been a very pretty fellow himself in his lusty young days in Siena; we know that Roderigo's uncle the Calixtus to whom Pius II refers in that letter as of "blessed memory" had at least one acknowledged son.
"Come," she said, smiling with something of her old mischievousness. "There is much to be done, and I will take you to Sister Francesca. She will tell you where to begin." Maria followed her. Lucia went back to the ward and did not stop until she stood beside Roderigo's bed. He was asleep, but his brows were drawn together in a worried frown.
It is surprising that we should find in Guicciardini no mention of the four mule-loads of silver removed before the election from Cardinal Roderigo's palace on Banchi Vecchi to Cardinal Ascanio's palace in Trastevere. This is generally alleged to have been part of the price of Ascanio's services.
Roderigo's elder brother, Don Pedro Luis de Lanzol y Borja, was made Gonfalonier of the Church, Castellan of all pontifical fortresses and Governor of the Patrimony of St. Peter, with the title of Duke of Spoleto and, later, Prefect of Rome, to the displacement of an Orsini from that office.
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