if he were wearing a helmet.

"Buon giorno, Signore," he said in a deep but neutral voice.

Simon returned his salutation and the muttered greetings of the others,
thinking he really should ask who they were, where bound, and on what
business. In France, especially in his own domains, he would not have
hesitated. But then, in France he rarely traveled alone. These men
seemed not bent on troubling him, and it seemed wiser not to trouble
them.

The other three men in the party looked younger than the leader, and
there was insolence, almost a challenge in their dark eyes as they
looked him over and rode on. It took an effort of will on Simon's part
not to move his hand closer to his sword. But he sat stock-still until
they were past and on their way down into the valley.

What business would bravos like that have in Orvieto? Perhaps they had
come to join the Monaldeschi or the Filippeschi in their feuding.

Simon felt beleaguered at the thought of more bravos coming into town.
Orvieto was already full of armed men serving the local families, as
well as others in the retinues of the churchmen who had come here with
the pope. Uneasiness made his spine tingle. Anything that added to
disorder in Orvieto made it a more dangerous place for the Tartar
ambassadors.

_We must get this question of the alliance settled quickly._

Someone should speak to Cardinal Ugolini and find out if anything would
persuade him to withdraw his objections. Simon wondered why de Verceuil
had not already attempted it.

_I could meet with Ugolini. He knows who I am. They all do, since the
pope greeted me publicly. All I have to do is send Thierry around with a
note asking for an audience._

At once he began trying to persuade himself to forget the idea. How
could he talk a cardinal into changing his mind about such a great
matter? Ridiculous! What could he possibly do or say? And what if this
cardinal were one who knew of the shame of the house of Gobignon?

_Seize any opportunity._

* * * * *

Cardinal Ugolini shrugged with his bushy gray eyebrows as well as with
his shoulders. "The question had been thoroughly discussed, Count. Now
it is up to His Holiness. I am delighted to meet you, but what have you
and I to say to each other?"

The solar, the large-windowed room on the third floor of the cardinal's
palace, was bright with light that streamed in through white glass. The
floor was covered with a thick