o over the plan of the fortress together, and see whether we can
think out anything. I have an idea in my head, but I can't get over one
point."

"Come, Marcone," said Michele, rising; "we will leave them to think out
their scheme. I have to go across to Fognano this afternoon, and I want
you to come with me. Vincenzo hasn't sent those cartridges, and they
ought to have been here yesterday."

When the two men had gone, Martini went up to Gemma and silently held
out his hand. She let her fingers lie in his for a moment.

"You were always a good friend, Cesare," she said at last; "and a very
present help in trouble. And now let us discuss plans."

CHAPTER III.

"AND I once more most earnestly assure Your Eminence that your refusal
is endangering the peace of the town."

The Governor tried to preserve the respectful tone due to a high
dignitary of the Church; but there was audible irritation in his voice.
His liver was out of order, his wife was running up heavy bills, and
his temper had been sorely tried during the last three weeks. A sullen,
disaffected populace, whose dangerous mood grew daily more apparent; a
district honeycombed with plots and bristling with hidden weapons; an
inefficient garrison, of whose loyalty he was more than doubtful, and
a Cardinal whom he had pathetically described to his adjutant as the
"incarnation of immaculate pig-headedness," had already reduced him
to the verge of desperation. Now he was saddled with the Gadfly, an
animated quintessence of the spirit of mischief.

Having begun by disabling both the Governor's favourite nephew and
his most valuable spy, the "crooked Spanish devil" had followed up his
exploits in the market-place by suborning the guards, browbeating the
interrogating officers, and "turning the prison into a bear-garden."
He had now been three weeks in the fortress, and the authorities of
Brisighella were heartily sick of their bargain. They had subjected
him to interrogation upon interrogation; and after employing, to obtain
admissions from him, every device of threat, persuasion, and stratagem
which their ingenuity could suggest, remained just as wise as on the
day of his capture. They had begun to realize that it would perhaps have
been better to send him into Ravenna at once. It was, however, too late
to rectify the mistake. The Governor, when sending in to the Legate his
report of the arrest, had begged, as a special favour, permission to
superintend perso