mandates
of the Holy See. Nothing remains, then, but to deliver sentence;
unless..."

He paused, and his eyes singularly sly, his lips pursed almost
humorously, he turned his glance upon Galeotto.

"Ser Cosimo," he said, "has pronounced this memorial a false and lying
document. Is there anything that you, Messer Galeotto, as its author,
can have to tell the Court?"

Instantly the condottiero rose, his great scarred face very solemn, his
eyes brooding. He advanced almost to the very centre of the table, so
that he all but stood immediately before Gonzaga, yet sideways, so that
I had him in profile, whilst he fully faced Cosimo.

Cosimo at least had ceased to smile. His handsome white face had lost
some of its supercilious confidence. Here was something unexpected,
something upon which he had not reckoned, against which he had not
provided.

"What has Ser Galeotto to do with this?" he demanded harshly.

"That, sir, no doubt he will tell us, if you will have patience,"
Gonzaga answered, so sweetly and deferentially that of a certainty some
of Cosimo's uneasiness must have been dissipated.

I leaned forward now, scarce daring to draw breath lest I should lose a
word of what was to follow. The blood that had earlier surged to my face
had now all receded again, and my pulses throbbed like hammers.

Then Galeotto spoke, his voice very calm and level.

"Will your excellency first permit me to see the papal brief upon which
you acted in summoning hither the accused?"

Silently Gonzaga delivered a parchment into Galeotto's hands. The
condottiero studied it, frowning. Then he smote it sharply with his
right hand.

"This document is not in order," he announced.

"How?" quoth Cosimo, and he smiled again, reassured completely by now,
convinced that here was no more than a minor quibble of the law.

"You are here described as Cosimo d'Anguissola, Lord of Mondolfo and
Carmina. These titles are not yours."

The blood stirred faintly in Cosimo's cheeks.

"Those fiefs were conferred upon me by our late lord, Duke Pier Luigi,"
he replied.

Gonzaga spoke. "The confiscations effected by the late usurping Duke,
and the awards made out of such confiscations, have been cancelled by
Imperial decree. All lands so confiscated are by this decree revertible
to their original holders upon their taking oath of allegiance to
Caesar."

Cosimo continued to smile. "This is no matter of a confiscation effected
by Duke Pier Luigi," h