"
"Do you promise us so much?" asked Galeotto.
"Explicitly," was the ready answer, "upon my most sacred honour. Send me
word that you are in arms, that the first blow has been struck, and I shall
be with you with all the force that I can raise in the Emperor's name."
"Your excellency has warrant for this?" demanded Galeotto.
"Should I promise it else? About it, sir. You may work with confidence."
"With confidence, yes," replied Galeotto gloomily, "but with no great hope.
The Pontifical government has ground the spirit out of half the nobles of
the Val di Taro. They have suffered so much and so repeatedly--in
property, in liberty, in life itself--that they are grown rabbit-hearted,
and would sooner cling to the little liberty that is still theirs than
strike a blow to gain what belongs to them by every right. Oh, I know them
of old! What man can do, I shall do; but..." He shrugged, and shook his
head sorrowfully.
"Can you count on none?" asked Gonzaga, very serious, stroking his smooth,
fat chin.
"I can count upon one," answered Galeotto. "The Lord of Pagliano; he is
ghibelline to the very marrow, and he belongs to me. At my bidding there
is nothing he will not do. There is an old debt between us, and he is a
noble soul who will not leave his debts unpaid.
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