French. "I am sorry there is no chair, but this is where I
do all my real work, and it is best not to encourage visitors to sit.
Ludovico, leave us and shut the door behind you. And do not hang about
in the corridor eavesdropping."

Simon rose, and found himself looking down at the skullcap on top of the
pope's head. Feeling awkward, he took a few steps backward until his
back was against the door of the tiny chamber.

Urban said, "I have long wanted to hear from your own lips what happened
at the Palazzo Monaldeschi."

Simon gave the pope a detailed account of the battle. He ended with his
fight with the man in black. Urban's eyes widened, and the trembling of
his head grew more pronounced. When Simon told how the enemy had
escaped, throwing Friar Mathieu from the cellar stairs, the pope winced
in pain.

"So," Urban mused, "this murderer--doubtless sent by Manfred von
Hohenstaufen--still lurks somewhere in Orvieto."

"We have tried to track him down," said Simon. "But the Filippeschi deny
any knowledge of him, and the podesta, it seems, has not the power to
make them answer our questions." He allowed the contempt he felt for
d'Ucello to creep into his voice.

"Open the door and see if that sneaking Ludovico is listening outside,"
Pope Urban said. His lips twitched under his flowing gray beard in what
was probably a smile.

Simon went to the door, and saw no one in the corridor but a helmeted
man-at-arms standing about ten paces away. Servants with a huge bed
frame struggled past. He closed the door and turned again to the pope.

"Yes," said Urban. "What was I saying? Ah, yes--Simon, I expect to be in
my grave before the year is out."

"God forbid, Your Holiness!"

"God do me that kindness, you mean." Urban raised a deprecating hand. "I
am worn out. I am ready to go home. But I have a last task to do before
I die. I must insure the destruction of the odious Manfred. I must not
let him kill me before my work is done, and I must not fall into the
hands of the Ghibellini. So, though it will shorten my life even more, I
must leave Orvieto. Now that the Ghibellini have stirred up the
Filippeschi to make civil war, I am no longer safe on this mountaintop.
Perugia is more secure. It has a big army, and it is surrounded by a
strong ring of other Guelfo cities and castles. After I am gone, the
cardinals will be safe there while they elect a new pope."

Simon realized that he was indeed looking at a dying man. From h