of unrest that surged in the heart of Romeo
Gonzaga. He sat disregarded at supper that evening, save by Valentina's
ladies and the fool, who occasionally rallied him upon his glumness.
Valentina herself turned her whole attention to the Count, and whilst
Gonzaga--Gonzaga, the poet of burning fancy, the gay songster, the
acknowledged wit, the mirror of courtliness--was silent and
tongue-tied, this ruffling, upstart swashbuckler entertained them with
a sprightliness that won him every heart--always excepting that of Romeo
Gonzaga.

Francesco made light of the siege in a manner that enlivened every soul
present with relief. He grew merry at the expense of Gian Maria, and
made it very plain that he could have found naught more captivating to
his warlike fancy than this business upon which an accident had embarked
him. He was as full of confidence for the issue as he was full of eager
anticipation of the fray itself.

Is it wonderful that--never having known any but artificial men; men of
court and ante-chamber; men of dainty ways and mincing, affected tricks
of speech; in short, such men as circumstance ordains shall surround
the great--Monna Valentina's eyes should open very wide, the better to
behold this new pattern of a man, who, whilst clearly a gentleman
of high degree, carried with him an air of the camp rather than the
camerion, was imbued by a spirit of chivalry and adventure, and ignored
with a certain lofty dignity, as if beneath his observance, the poses
that she was wont to see characterising the demeanour of the gentlemen
of his Highness, her uncle.

He was young, moreover, yet no longer callow; comely, yet with a strong
male comeliness; he had a pleasantly modulated voice, yet one that
they had heard swell into a compelling note of command; he had the most
joyous, careless laugh in all the world--such a laugh as endears a man
to all that hear it--and he indulged it without stint.

Gonzaga sat glum and moody, his heart bursting with the resentment of
the mean and the incompetent for the man of brilliant parts. But the
morrow was to bring him worse.

The Duke of Urbino arrived next morning, and rode up to the moat in
person, attended only by a trumpeter, who, for the third time, wound a
note of challenge to the fortress.

As on the previous day, Valentina answered the summons, attended by
Francesco, Fortemani and Gonzaga--the latter uninvited yet not denied,
and following sullenly in her train, in a las