"That power, Madonna, it may be that I have," said I, and at those words
of mine her servants seemed to honour me with a greater interest. They
leaned forward on their horses and eyed me with eyes grown of a sudden
hopeful. "And," I continued, "if you will have utter faith in me, I see a
way to render doubly certain your escape."

She looked up into my face, and what she saw there may have reassured her
that I promised no more than I could accomplish. For the rest she had to
choose between trusting me and suffering capture.

"Sir," said she, "I do not know you, nor why you should interest yourself
in the concerns of a desolated woman. But, Heaven knows, I am in no case
to stand pondering the aid you offer, nor, indeed, do I doubt the good
faith that moves you. Let me hear, sir, how you would propose to serve
me."

"Whence are you?" I inquired.

"From Rome," she informed me without hesitation, "to seek at my cousin's
Court of Pesaro shelter from a persecution to which the Borgia family is
submitting me."

At her cousin's Court of Pesaro! An odd coincidence, this--and while I
was pondering it, it flashed into my mind that by helping her I might
assist myself. Had aught been needed o strengthen my purpose to serve
her, I had it now.

"Yet," said I, surprise investing my voice, "at Pesaro there is Madonna
Lucrezia of that same House of Borgia."