he ardour of my cousin I do
not think. You are wrong in placing this among the alliances in which
the heart has no part. On my cousin's side--if all they say be true--the
heart plays a very considerable part indeed. But, for the rest--what
harm have we done?"

"Time will show," said the hunchback.

"It will show, then, that I have done no hurt whatever to her
interests. By now she is safe in Roccaleone. What, then, can befall her?
Guidobaldo, no doubt, will repair to her, and across the moat he will
entreat her to be a dutiful niece and to return. She will offer to do
so on condition that he pass her his princely word not to further molest
her with the matter of this marriage. And then?"

"Well?" growled the fool, "And then? Who shall say what may befall then?
Let us say that his Highness reduces her by force."

"A siege?" laughed the Count. "Pooh! Where is your wisdom, fool! Do you
think the splendid Guidobaldo is eager to become the sport of Italy,
and go down to posterity as the duke who besieged his niece because she
resisted his ordainings touching the matter of her wedding?"

"Guidobaldo da Montefeltro can be a violent man upon occasion," the fool
was answering, when the officer who had left them reappeared with the
announcement that his Highness awaited them.

They found the Prince in a very gloomy mood, and after greeting
Francesco with cool ceremony, he questioned him on the matter of the
company they had met yesternight. These inquiries he conducted with
characteristic dignity, and no more show of concern than if it had been
an affair of a strayed falcon. He thanked Francesco for his information,
and gave orders that the seneschal should place apartments at his and
Fanfulla's disposal for as long as it should please them to grace
his court. With that he dismissed them, bidding the officer remain to
receive his orders.

"And that," said Francesco to Peppe, as they crossed the ante-chamber
in the wake of a servant, "is the man who would lay siege to his niece's
castle? For once, sir fool, your wisdom is at fault."

"You do not know the Duke, Excellency," answered the fool. "Beneath that
frozen exterior burns a furnace, and there is no madness he would not
commit."

But Francesco only laughed as, linking arms with Fanfulla, he passed
down the gallery on his way to the apartments to which the servant was
conducting them.

CHAPTER XIII. GIAN MARIA MAKES A VOW

In a measure the events that foll