"You are well-advised," said I, when the rogue returned and handed me the
ducats. "I told you I should come back to present my reckoning. Be warned
by this."
As we rode on Galeotto laughed again. "Body of Satan! There is a
thoroughness about you, Agustino. As a hermit you did not spare yourself;
and now as a tyrant you do not seem likely to spare others."
"It is the Anguissola way," said Gervasio quietly.
"You mistake," said I. "I conceive myself in the world for some good
purpose, and the act you have witnessed is a part of it. It was not a
revengeful deed. Vengeance would have taken a harsher course. It was
justice, and justice is righteous."
"Particularly a justice that puts ten ducats in your pocket," laughed
Galeotto.
"There, again, you mistake me," said I. "My aim is that thieves be mulcted
to the end that the poor shall profit." And I drew rein again.
A little crowd had gathered about us, mostly of very ragged, half-clad
people, for this village of Pojetta was a very poverty-stricken place.
Into that little crowd I flung the ten ducats--with the consequence that on
the instant it became a seething, howling, snarling, quarrelling mass. In
the twinkling of an eye a couple of heads were cracked and blood was
flowing, so that to quell the riot my charity had provoked, I was forced to
spur my horse forward and bid them with threats disperse.
Pages:
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316