The officer in charge turned out to view so numerous a company, and
challenged us to stand. But I flung him the answer that we were the Black
Bands of Ser Galeotto and that we rode by order of the Duke, with which
perforce he had to be content; for we did not stay for more and were too
numerous to be detained by such meagre force as he commanded.
Up the dark street we swept--the same street down which I had last ridden
on that night when Gambara had opened the gates of the prison for me--and
so we came to the square and to Cosimo's palace.
All was in darkness, and the great doors were closed. A strange appearance
this for a house to which a bride had so newly come.
I dismounted as lightly as if I had not ridden lately more than just the
ten miles from Pagliano. Indeed, I had become unconscious of all fatigue,
entirely oblivious of the fact that for three nights now I had not slept--
save for the three hours at Bologna.
I knocked briskly on the iron-studded gates. We stood there waiting,
Cavalcanti and Falcone afoot with me, the men on horseback still, a silent
phalanx.
I issued an order to Falcone. "Ten of them to secure our egress, the rest
to remain here and allow none to leave the house."
The equerry stepped back to convey the command in his turn to the men, and
the ten he summoned slipped instantly from their saddles and ranged
themselves in the shadow of the wall.
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