I asked one of the pages who lounged there waiting for their master, did he
think my lord would be in the library, and the boy was conjecturing upon
this unusual tardiness of Cavalcanti's in seeking his bed, when the door
opened, and at last he appeared.
When he found me awaiting him, a certain eagerness seemed to light his
face; a second's glance showed me that he was in the grip of some unusual
agitation. He was pale, with a dull flush under the eyes, and the hand
with which he waved away the pages shook, as did his voice when he bade
them depart, saying that he desired to be alone with me awhile.
When the two slim lads had gone, he let himself fall wearily into a tall,
carved chair that was placed near an ebony table with silver feet in the
middle of the room.
But instead of unburdening himself as I fully expected, he looked at me,
and--
"What is it, Agostino?" he inquired.
"I have thought," I answered after a moment's hesitation, "of a means by
which this unwelcome visit of Farnese's might be brought to an end."
And with that I told him as delicately as was possible that I believed
Madonna Bianca to be the lodestone that held him there, and that were she
removed from his detestable attentions, Pagliano would cease to amuse him
and he would go his ways.
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