Readily accepting this advice, Gian Maria went in quest of Guidobaldo,
and laid before him his proposals, together with the news which
had arrived and which was the cause of the haste he now manifested.
Guidobaldo listened gravely. In its way the news affected him as well,
for he feared the might of Caesar Borgia as much as any man in Italy,
and he was, by virtue of it, the readier to hasten forward an alliance
which should bring another of the neighbouring states into the powerful
coalition he was forming.

"It shall be as you wish," answered him the gracious Lord of Urbino,
"and the betrothal shall be proclaimed to-day, so that you can bear news
of it to Valentino's messenger. When you have heard this envoy, deliver
him an answer of such defiance or such caution as you please. Then
return in ten days' time to Urbino, and all shall be ready for the
nuptials. But, first of all, go you and tell Monna Valentina."

Confident of success, Gian Maria obeyed his host, and went in quest of
the lady. He gained her ante-chamber, and thence he despatched an idling
page to request of her the honour of an audience.

As the youth passed through the door that led to the room beyond, Gian
Maria caught for a moment the accents of an exquisite male voice singing
a love-song to the accompaniment of a lute.

"Una donna piu bella assai che 'l sole..."

came the words of Petrarch, and he heard them still, though muffled, for
a moment or two after the boy had gone. Then it ceased abruptly, and
a pause followed, at the end of which the page returned. Raising the
portiere of blue and gold, he invited Gian Maria to enter.

It was a room that spoke with eloquence of the wealth and refinement
of Montefeltro, from the gilding and ultramarine of the vaulted ceiling
with its carved frieze of delicately inlaid woodwork, to the priceless
tapestries beneath it. Above a crimson prie-dieu hung a silver crucifix,
the exquisite workmanship of the famous Anichino of Ferrara. Yonder
stood an inlaid cabinet, surmounted by a crystal mirror and some wonders
of Murano glass. There was a picture by Mantegna, some costly cameos and
delicate enamels, an abundance of books, a dulcimer which a fair-haired
page was examining with inquisitive eyes, and by a window on the right
stood a very handsome harp that Guidobaldo had bought his niece in
Venice.

In that choice apartment of hers the Duke found Valentina surrounded
by her ladies, Peppe the fool, a co