"There stands my foster-brother, who has borne witness to my true identity;
there Falcone, who has been my equerry these thirty years; and there are
the brothers Pallavicini, who tended me and sheltered me when I lay at the
point of death from the wounds that disfigured me at Perugia."
"So, my Lord Cosimo, ere you can proceed further in this matter against my
son, you will need to take your brief and your bull back to Rome and get
them amended, for there is in Italy no Lord of Mondolfo and Carmina other
than myself."
Cosimo fell back before him limp and trembling, his spirit broken by this
shattering blow.
And then Gonzaga uttered words that might have heartened him. But after
being hurled from what he accounted the pinnacle of success, he mistrusted
now the crafty Lieutenant, saw that he had been played with as a mouse by
this Imperial cat with the soft, deadly paws.
"We might waive the formalities in the interests of justice," purred the
Lieutenant. "There is this memorial, my lord," he said, and tapped the
document, his eyes upon my father.
"Since your excellency wishes the matter to be disposed of out of hand, it
can, I think, be done," he said, and he looked again at Cosimo.
"You have said that this memorial is false, because the witnesses whose
names are here cannot be admitted to testify.
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