r all that what Gonzaga told him might sort excellently well with
the ideas he had himself entertained, Cappoccio was of a suspicious
nature, and his suspicions whispered to him now that Gonzaga was
actuated by some purpose he could not gauge.

He stood still, and leaning with both hands upon his partisan, he sought
to make out the courtier's features in the dim light of the rising moon.

"Do you mean," he asked, and in his voice sounded the surprise with
which Gonzaga's odd speech had filled him, "that we are foolish to have
listened to Messer Francesco, and that we should be better advised to
march out of Roccaleone?"

"Yes; that is what I mean."

"But why," he insisted, his surprise increasing, "do you urge such a
course upon us?"

"Because, Cappoccio," was the plausible reply, "like yourselves, I was
lured into this business by insidious misrepresentations. The assurances
that I gave Fortemani, and with which he enrolled you into his service,
were those that had been given to me. I did not bargain with such a
death as awaits us here, and I frankly tell you that I have no stomach
for it."

"I begin to understand," murmured Cappoccio, sagely wagging his head,
and there was a shrewd insolence in his tone and manner. "When we leave
Roccaleone you come with us?"

Gonzaga nodded.

"But why do you not say these things to Fortemani?" questioned
Cappoccio, still doubting.

"Fortemani!" echoed Gonzaga. "By the Host, no! The man is bewitched
by that plausible rogue, Francesco. Far from resenting the fellow's
treatment of him, he follows and obeys his every word, like the
mean-spirited dog that he is."

Again Cappoccio sought to scrutinise Gonzaga's face. But the light was
indifferent.

"Are you dealing with me fairly?" he asked. "Or does some deeper purpose
lie under your wish that we should rebel against the lady?"

"My friend," answered Gonzaga, "do you but wait until Gian Maria's
herald comes for his answer in the morning. Then you will learn again
the terms on which your lives are offered you. Do nothing until then.
But when you hear yourselves threatened with the rope and the wheel,
bethink you of what course you will be best advised in pursuing. You ask
me what purpose inspires me. I have already told you--for I am as open
as the daylight with you--that I am inspired by the purpose of saving my
own neck. Is not that purpose enough?"

A laugh of such understanding as would have set a better man on fire
w