There was much he might have said but that the presence of the other
three restrained him. Yet some little of that much she may have seen
reflected in his eyes, for all that day she rode pensive, a fond, wistful
smile at the corners of her lips. And although to Gonzaga she manifested
no resentment, yet did she twit him touching that mistake of his. Sore
in his dignity, he liked her playful mockery little yet he liked the
words in which she framed it less.

"How came you into so grievous an error, Ser Romeo?" she asked him, more
than once. "How could you deem him a rogue--he with so noble a mien and
so beautiful a countenance?" And without heeding the sullenness of his
answers, she would lapse with a sigh once more into reflection--a thing
that galled Gonzaga more, perhaps, than did her gibes.




CHAPTER V

GIAN MARIA


It was a week after the meeting 'twixt the niece of Guidobaldo and the
Count of Aquila, when the latter--his wound being wellnigh healed--rode
one morning under the great archway that was the main entrance to the
city of Babbiano. The Captain of the Gate saluted him respectfully as he
rode by, and permitted himself to marvel at the pallor of his
Excellency's face. And yet, the cause was not very far to seek. It
stood upon four spears, among a noisy flock of circling crows, above that