iting until the time when the
signs I observed should have become more definite, as they have now
done, so that I may delay no longer. This, then, goes by the hand of
Zaccaria, to tell you that to-day has word been sent Gian Maria giving
him three days in which to return to Babbiano, or to abandon all hope
of his crown, of which the people will send the offer then to you at
Aquila, where you are believed to be. So now, my dear lord, you have the
tyrant at your mercy, tossed between Scylla and Charybdis. Yours it is
to resolve how you will act; but I rejoice in being the one to send you
word that your presence at Roccaleone and your stubborn defence of
the fortress has not been vain, and that presently you are to reap the
well-earned reward of it. The people have been stirred to this extreme
action by the confusion prevailing here.

"News has reached us that Caesar Borgia is arming, at Rome, a condotta
to invade Babbiano, and the people are exasperated at Gian Maria's
continued absence in such a season. They are short-sighted in this, for
they overlook the results that must attend the alliance with Urbino. May
God protect and prosper your Excellency, whose most devoted servant is

"FANFULLA DEGLI AROIPRETI."

CHAPTER XXII. A REVELATION

"Francesco," said Valentina, and the name came from her lips as if it
were an endearment, "why that frowning, care-worn look?"

They were in the dining-room alone, where the others had left them, and
they were still seated at the table at which they had supped. Francesco
raised his dark, thoughtful eyes, and as they lighted now on Valentina
the thoughtfulness that was in them gave place to tenderness.

"I am fretted by this lack of news," he acknowledged. "I would I knew
what is being done in Babbiano. I had thought that ere now Caesar Borgia
had stirred Gian Maria's subjects into some manner of action. I would I
knew!"

She rose, and coming close to him, she stood with one hand resting upon
his shoulder, her eyes smiling down upon his upturned face.

"And shall such a trifle fret you--you who professed a week ago that you
would this siege might last for ever?"

"Account me not fickle, anima mia," he answered her, and he kissed the
ivory fingers that rested on his shoulder. "For that was before the
world changed for me at the magic of your bidding. And so," he repeated,
"I would I knew what is toward at Babbiano!"

"But why sigh over a wish so idle?" she exclaimed. "By