had ceased to
pinch the neck of the lute, and had thrust his thumbs into his belt,
while his lips had begun to assume a slight curl. He had never yet done
an act of murderous cruelty even to the smallest animal that could utter
a cry, but at that moment he would have been capable of treading the
breath from a smiling child for the sake of his own safety.

"What does this mean, Melema?" said Bernardo Rucellai, in a tone of
cautious surprise. He, as well as the rest of the company, felt
relieved that the tenor of the accusation was not political.

"Messer Bernardo," said Tito, "I believe this man is mad. I did not
recognise him the first time he encountered me in Florence, but I know
now that he is the servant who years ago accompanied me and my adoptive
father to Greece, and was dismissed on account of misdemeanours. His
name is Jacopo di Nola. Even at that time I believe his mind was
unhinged, for, without any reason, he had conceived a strange hatred
towards me; and now I am convinced that he is labouring under a mania
which causes him to mistake his identity. He has already attempted my
life since he has been in Florence; and I am in constant danger from
him. But he is an object of pity rather than of indignation. It is too
certain that my father is dead. You have only my word for it; but I
must leave it to your judgment how far it is probable that a man of
intellect and learning would have been lurking about in dark corners for
the last month with the purpose of assassinating me; or how far it is
probable that, if this man were my second father, I could have any
motive for denying him. That story about my being rescued from beggary
is the vision of a diseased brain. But it will be a satisfaction to me
at least if you will demand from him proofs of his identity, lest any
malignant person should choose to make this mad impeachment a reproach
to me."

Tito had felt more and more confidence as he went on; the lie was not so
difficult when it was once begun; and as the words fell easily from his
lips, they gave him a sense of power such as men feel when they have
begun a muscular feat successfully. In this way he acquired boldness
enough to end with a challenge for proofs.

Baldassarre, while he had been walking in the gardens and afterwards
waiting in an outer room of the pavilion with the servants, had been
making anew the digest of the evidence he would bring to prove his
identity and Tito's baseness, r