He had been attracted, no doubt, by the
sound of our approach; but at sight of us he turned to escape. Cavalcanti
reached forward in time to take him by the ankle, so that he came down
heavily upon his face.
In an instant I was sitting upon him, my dagger at his throat.
"A sound," said I, "and you shall finish it in Hell!" Eyes bulging with
fear stared at me out of his white face. He was an effeminate cur, of the
sort that the Duke was wont to keep about him, and at once I saw that we
should have no trouble with him.
"Where is Cosimo?" I asked him shortly. "Come, man, conduct us to the room
that holds him if you would buy your dirty life."
"He is not here," wailed the fellow.
"You lie, you hound," said Cavalcanti, and turning to me--"Finish him,
Agostino," he bade me.
The man under me writhed, filled now by the terror that Cavalcanti had so
cunningly known how to inspire in him. "I swear to God that he is not
here," he answered, and but that fear had robbed him of his voice, he would
have screamed it. "Gesu! I swear it--it is true!"
I looked up at Cavalcanti, baffled, and sick with sudden dismay. I saw
Cavalcanti's eye, which had grown dull, kindle anew. He stooped over the
prostrate man.
"Is the bride here--is my daughter in this house?"
The fellow whimpered and did not answer until my dagger's edge was at his
throat again.
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