gst these, we heard that he had Giovanni d'Anguissola decapitated in
effigy for his rebellion against the authority of the Holy See, and that
my tyrannies of Mondolfo and Carmina were confiscated from me because of
my offence in being Giovanni d'Anguissola's son. And presently we heard
that Mondolfo had been conferred by Farnese upon his good and loyal
servant and captain, the Lord Cosimo d'Anguissola, subject to a tax of a
thousand ducats yearly!

Galeotto ground his teeth and swore horribly when the news was brought
us from Piacenza, whilst I felt my heart sink and the last hope
of Bianca--the hope secretly entertained almost against hope
itself--withering in my soul.

But soon came consolation. Pier Luigi had gone too far. Even rats when
cornered will turn at bay and bare their teeth for combat. So now the
nobles of the Valnure and the Val di Taro.

The Scotti, the Pallavicini, the Landi, and the Anguissola of Albarola,
came one after the other in secret to Pagliano to interview the gloomy
Galeotto. And at one gathering that was secretly held in a chamber of
the castle, he lashed them with his furious scorn.

"You are come now," he jeered at them, "now that you are maimed; now
that you have been bled of half your strength; now that most of your
teeth are drawn. Had you but had the spirit and good sense to rise six
months ago when I summoned you so to do, the struggle had been brief
and the victory certain. Now the fight will be all fraught with risk,
dangerous to engage, and uncertain of issue."

But it was they--these men who themselves had been so pusillanimous at
first--who now urged him to take the lead, swearing to follow him to the
death, to save for their children what little was still left them.

"In that spirit I will not lead you a step," he answered them. "If we
raise our standard, we fight for all our ancient rights, for all our
privileges, and for the restoration of all that has been confiscated;
in short, for the expulsion of the Farnese from these lands. If that is
your spirit, then I will consider what is to be done--for, believe me,
open warfare will no longer avail us here. What we have to do must
be done by guile. You have waited too long to resolve yourselves. And
whilst you have grown weak, Farnese has been growing strong. He has
fawned upon and flattered the populace; he has set the people against
the nobles; he has pretended that in crushing the nobles he was serving
the people, and they-