The Shame of Motley

rca-that same mountain of a man who had attended my departure from the Vatican three nights ago. From the circumstance that so imp

fluttered the bannerol bearing the Borgia arms, wh

d with wonder, and for a little season a de

ckery may this be?" And sidling his horse ne

cloak flung down across my legs to hide my boots, and my motley garb of red and black a

ing that he only stared, and made no shift to speak: "Maybe,

i Cristo! The burden of explaining

nishment, "I am about the business of th

ok me by the collar of my doublet. "Now, bethink you how yo

world might

apparently, the situation afforded no

girl?" he as

m I a mother-abbess, that you

tween his brows. His voi

gain-where i

little wearied by the ente

nswered him in the same tone. "Nor can I

d the expression of it, whispered a doubt into his mind. He re

he inquired ferociously. "

y, Illustrious," an

to father upon them the blunder he was beginning to fear

m, and at that answer he seemed to tu

bridle

more to me: "Explain, animal!" he bade me in terrifying tones. "Expl

er tone with him. Hanging was a discom

, and at the epithet, so greatly did my au

this I know-that if you persist in hindering me, or commit the egregious folly of off

rs alone-"in the service of the house that hires you, as for yourself you might eas

oupled with the sight of that talisman effected in his manner a swift and wholesome change. Had I, ar

ose wits have been scattered sudd

, riveting his dazed eyes upo

sudden earnestness, "are you i

rply, intelligence returning to

nture, be wearing the liver

me almost choked in

g time. Such a party passed us at the gallop about an

hour," answered t

Ramiro's frenzied question

wered. "Although it may well be that they were mak

s followers. A moment later and they were cantering past us, the snow flying beneath their hoofs; within five minutes the last of them had vanished r

me at once so much relief and relish as his abrupt departure. I sank back on the cushions of my litter, and gave myself over

us finely," sai

bble? Was he, and were his fellows, too, so ungrateful

finely," he insist

ut it rather seems to me that it was M

you have played upon him? What when he discovers the trick by

I am but indifferently

e cried, livid with a passion tha

ious to know what will befall when

d, with an angry

it of curiosity that actuates you. Remain her

l not I,"

nor I!" choruse

ur duty now is to rejoin your mistress. Ride hard for Cagli. Seek her at the sign of 'The Full Moon,' and then away for Pesaro. If you are brisk yo

till his fat body shook wit

he cried, and the other three expressed a

with it?

and so retrace my steps to Rome. I'll ris

cowardliest rogue that ever shamed the name of man. And your mistress? Is she to wait at Cagli until doomsday? If anywhere within

amazing strength-amazing inasmuch as being slender of shape I do not have the air of it. Leaping suddenly from the litter, I caught th

front, no whit intimidated by their numbers. Four to one though they were, they thought better of it. A moment they stood off, consulting among themselves; then Giacopo mounted, and with some mocking counsel as to how

to Cagli, and who would await them in vain. There, on the mule, I sat in the noontide sunlight, and pondered this, so absorbed in he

might discover at any moment how he had been tricked, and return hot-foot to fin

to again pick up the trail. I remembered a ravine a little way behind, and I rode my mule back to that as fast as it would travel with the litter and the other mule attached to it. Arrived there, I unharnessed the beasts on the very edge of that shallow precipice. Then exerting all my strength, I contrived to roll the litter over. Down that steep incline it went, over and over, gathering more snow to

so in the direction of Cagli. That distance covered, again I halted. There was not a soul in sight. I stripped one of the mules of all its harness, which I buried in

eady high up in the hills which they were crossing. Whether they saw me or not I do not know, but with a last curse at their cowardice I put them from my mind, and

fety that morning. At first she seemed mistrustful, but when I had assured her that I was in that lady's service, she frankly owned that Madonna was safe in her own room. Thither I allowed her to lead me, at once eager and reluctant. Eager with my own eyes to assure myself of her perfect safety; rel

of folly, a frown of bewilderment drew her brows together, and she looked more closely to see whether I was indeed the man who had befriended her that morning in her extremity. In the eyes of the hostess I caught a gleam

he commanded. But I stayed the

e or four stout knaves upon a journey that she is

my grooms?" c

of my presence here. You shall hear the story of it presently. Meanwhil

tful expression on her face. But as

own is all but empty, and every lusty man is either gone on the pilgrimage to

might surely be found. She answered me that such as were

tened, for from my insistence she shrew

r," quoth I at last.

ave. My husband and my

e, and you shall be w

tended that there was work to be done such as was beyond her years and strength, and tha

dy off alone, to travel a distance of some ten leagues, and the most of it by night-for if

donna Paola I had perhaps set at naught the Cardinal of Valencia's aims. If so, what then? It would seem that because the lady's eyes were mild and sweet, and because her beauty had so deeply wrought upon me, I had indeed fooled away my chance of salvation from the life and trade that were grown hateful to me. For back to Rome and Cesare Borgia I should dare go no more. Clearly I had burned my boats, and I had done it almost unthinkingly, acting upon the good impulse to befriend this lady, and never re

ost perplexing situation, the hostess standing sil

in your debt. Not a doubt of it, but it will have inconvenienced you to have journeyed thus far to info

ful manner in which this very evidently noble l

," said I. "I will co

solved upon. My hate had conquered my last doubt. What first i

," said I, "that I should

" she murmured. I

Madonna," I assured her

cadoro, I have n

t. Let us say no more. It were best not to delay in setting out, although I ca

he?" she

her, whe

you?" she asked. "Wha

cond mule. She heard me, her eyes sparkling, and at times she clapped her hands with a glee that was almost childish, vowing that this was splendid, that was brave. I allayed what little fe

that we had little leisure to stand talking, and left her to make her preparations for the journey, whilst I went below to see that my mule and her horse were saddled. I made bold to pay the reckoning, and when

r at Pesaro, which, being nearest to her heart, found readiest expression. I went wrapped in my cloak once more, my head-dress hidden 'neath my broad-brimmed hat, so that the f

on our left, casting a blood-red glow upon the snow that everywhe

on that I built the hope that he might fail to associate me with Madonna Paola's elusion of his pursuit. Thus the chance might yet be mine of returning to Rome and the honourable employment Cesare Borgia had promised

ave acquired, by virtue of that circumstance, a certain right in her. Had Fate no other favours for me in her lap! I bethought me of the very House of Sforza, to which I had been

age of such an one, and we

from the account Ramiro must give him of our meeting-how I had thwarted him in one thing, whilst I had served him in another. Fate was against me. I had fallen too low to ever ris

attered through the slippe