"
"And you have never since thought what the price was that Cavalcanti might
have paid?"
He looked at me with troubled eyes. "I confess that in this matter the
satisfaction of coming to your salvation has made me selfish. I have had
thoughts for nothing else."
I groaned, and flung out my arms across the table. "He has paid such a
price," I said, "that a thousand times sooner would I that you had left me
where I was."
He leaned forward, frowning darkly. "What do you mean?" he cried.
And then I told him what I feared; told him how Farnese had sued for
Bianca's hand for Cosimo; how proudly and finally Cavalcanti had refused;
how the Duke had insisted that he would remain at Pagliano until my lord
changed his mind; how I had learned from Giuliana the horrible motive that
urged the Duke to press for that marriage.
Lastly--"And that is the price he consented to pay," I cried wildly. "His
daughter--that sweet virgin--was the price! And at this hour, maybe, the
price is paid and that detestable bargain consummated. 0, Galeotto!
Galeotto! Why was I not left to rot in that dungeon of the Inquisition--
since I could have died happily, knowing naught of this?"
"By the Blood of God, boy! Do you imply that I had knowledge? Do you
suggest that I would have bought any life at such a price?"
"No, no!" I answered.
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