nging my own injury and the blood
of so many innocent beings, but also in promoting the welfare of the most
serene republic, on which it is his ambition to trample when he has
accomplished the ruin of the other princes of Italy."

The doge and the senators, who, as we said, were already apprised of the
event that had brought Carracciuolo before them, listened with great
interest and profound indignation; for they, as he told them, were
themselves insulted in the person of their general: they all swore, on
their honour, that if he would put the matter in their hands, and not
yield to his rage, which could only work his own undoing, either his
bride should be rendered up to him without a smirch upon her bridal veil,
or else a punishment should be dealt out proportioned to the affront.
And without delay, as a proof of the energy wherewith the noble tribunal
would take action in the affair, Luigi Manenti, secretary to the Ten, was
sent to Imola, where the duke was reported to be, that he might explain
to him the great displeasure with which the most serene republic viewed
the outrage perpetrated upon their candottiere. At the same time the
Council of Ten and the doge sought out the French ambassador, entreating
him to join with them and repair in person with Manenti to the Duke of
Valentinois, and summon him, in the name of King Louis XII, immediately
to send back to Venice the lady he had carried off.

The two messengers arrived at Imola, where they found Caesar, who
listened to their complaint with every mark of utter astonishment,
denying that he had been in any way connected with the crime, nay,
authorising Manenti and the French ambassador to pursue the culprits and
promising that he would himself have the most active search carried on.
The duke appeared to act in such complete good faith that the envoys were
for the moment hoodwinked, and themselves undertook a search of the most
careful nature. They accordingly repaired to the exact spot and began to
procure information. On the highroad there had been found dead and
wounded. A man had been seen going by at a gallop, carrying a woman in
distress on his saddle; he had soon left the beaten track and plunged
across country. A peasant coming home from working in the fields had
seen him appear and vanish again like a shadow, taking the direction of a
lonely house. An old woman declared that she had seen him go into this
house. But the next night the house was gone,