words had come to his lips: there are moments
when our passions speak and decide for us, and we seem to stand by and
wonder. They carry in them an inspiration of crime, that in one instant
does the work of long premeditation.

The two men had not taken their eyes off each other, and it seemed to
Tito, when he had spoken, that some magical poison had darted from
Baldassarre's eyes, and that he felt it rushing through his veins. But
the next instant the grasp on his arm had relaxed, and Baldassarre had
disappeared within the church.

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Note 1. "_La vacca muglia_" was the phrase for the sounding of the
great bell in the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Note 2. The poorer artisans connected with the wool trade--
wool-beaters, carders, washers, etcetera.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

AFTER-THOUGHTS.

"You are easily frightened, though," said Piero, with another scornful
laugh. "My portrait is not as good as the original. But the old fellow
_had_ a tiger look: I must go into the Duomo and see him again."

"It is not pleasant to be laid hold of by a madman, if madman he be,"
said Lorenzo Tornabuoni, in polite excuse of Tito, "but perhaps he is
only a ruffian. We shall hear. I think we must see if we have
authority enough to stop this disturbance between our people and your
countrymen," he added, addressing the Frenchman.

They advanced toward the crowd with their swords drawn, all the quiet
spectators making an escort for them. Tito went too: it was necessary
that he should know what others knew about Baldassarre, and the first
palsy of terror was being succeeded by the rapid devices to which mortal
danger will stimulate the timid.

The rabble of men and boys, more inclined to hoot at the soldier and
torment him than to receive or inflict any serious wounds, gave way at
the approach of signori with drawn swords, and the French soldier was
interrogated. He and his companions had simply brought their prisoners
into the city that they might beg money for their ransom: two of the
prisoners were Tuscan soldiers taken in Lunigiana; the other, an elderly
man, was with a party of Genoese, with whom the French foragers had come
to blows near Fivizzano. He might be mad, but he was harmless. The
soldier knew no more, being unable to understand a word the old man
said. Tito heard so far, but he was deaf to everything else till he was
specially ad