And his father pardoned
him the deed, and others as bad, by a secret bull, absolving him from all
pains and penalties that he might have incurred through youthful frailty or
human incontinence!"
It was the relation of those horrors, I think, which, stirring my
indignation, spurred me even more than the thought of redressing the wrongs
which the Pontifical or Farnesian government would permit my mother to do
me.
I held out my hand to Galeotto. "To the utmost of my little might," said
I, "you may depend upon me in this good cause in which you have engaged."
"There speaks the son of the house of Anguissola," said he, a light of
affection in his steel-coloured eyes. "And there are your father's wrongs
to right as well as the wrongs of humanity, remember. By this Pier Luigi
was he crushed; whilst those who bore arms with him at Perugia and were
taken alive..." He paused and turned livid, great beads of perspiration
standing upon his brow. "I cannot," he faltered, "I cannot even now, after
all these years, bear to think upon those horrors perpetrated by that
monster."
I was strangely moved at the sight of emotion in one who seemed emotionless
as iron.
"I left the hermitage," said I, "in the hope that I might the better be
able to serve God in the world.
Pages:
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337