"Where is she now?" I asked.
He stared at me a moment, as if my effrontery astonished him. Then he
shrugged and sneered. "I would I knew for certain," was his fierce answer.
"I would I knew. Then should I have the pair of you." And I saw it in his
face how unforgivingly he hated me out of his savage jealousy. "My Lord
Gambara might tell you. I scarcely doubt it. Were I but certain, what a
reckoning should I not present! He may be Governor of Piacenza, but were
he Governor of Hell he should not escape me." And with that he rode ahead
again, and left me.
The rumour of our coming sped through the streets ahead of us, and out of
the houses poured the townsfolk to watch our passage and to point me out
one to another with many whisperings and solemn head-waggings. And the
farther we advanced, the greater was the concourse, until by the time we
reached the square before the Communal Palace we found there what amounted
to a mob awaiting us.
My guards closed round me as if to protect me from that crowd. But I was
strangely without fear, and presently I was to see how little cause there
was for any, and to realize that the action of my guards was sprung from a
very different motive.
The people stood silent, and on every upturned face of which I caught a
glimpse I saw something that was akin to pity.
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