"What could I do? What could I do?" he cried when he had finished.
"You let them take him?" said Galeotto, like a man who repeats the thing he
has been told, because he cannot credit it. "You let them take him?"
"What alternative had I?" groaned Cavalcanti, his face ashen and seared
with pain.
"There is that between us, Ettore, that...that will not let me credit this,
even though you tell it me."
And now the wretched Lord of Pagliano began to use the very arguments that
I had used to him. He spoke of Cosimo's suit of his daughter, and how the
Duke sought to constrain him to consent to the alliance. He urged that in
this matter of the Holy Office was a trap set for him to place him in
Farnese's power.
"A trap?" roared the condottiero, leaping up. "What trap? Where is this
trap? You had five score men-at-arms under your orders here--three score
of them my own men, each one of whom would have laid down his life for me,
and you allowed the boy to be taken hence by six rascals from the Holy
Office, intimidated by a paltry score of troopers that rode with this
filthy Duke!"
"Nay, nay--not that," the other protested. "Had I dared to raise a finger
I should have brought myself within the reach of the Inquisition without
benefiting Agostino. That was the trap, as Agostino himself perceived.
Pages:
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402