do not want your forgiveness. I despise you.'
She uttered the words like the hiss of a serpent. Savello's eyes sparkled a little, and his thin lips were drawn rather thinner than before, but he only sighed, and said gently,—
'You are beside yourself. You should turn to the Consoler of Sorrow. Watch and pray!'
'What is it you want with me?' she said, taking no notice of his remark.
Savello hesitated, looking at her. She beat her foot impatiently.
'Quick!' she said. 'Tell me, and let me remain in peace. I am sick of you.'
'I came to offer you consolation, and to bid you be of good faith.'
'Do you think I am a fool? If you have no further business with me—go!'
The priest now had some difficulty in containing himself; his eyes betrayed him.
'I am a man of peace, and I desire to spill no blood. Therefore I wished to propose that you should come with me and summon the Castellan to give up the citadel, which may be the means of avoiding much bloodshed, and also of gaining the thanks of the Holy Father.'
'I will not help you. Shall I aid you to conquer my own town?'
'You must remember that you are in our hands, fair lady,' he answered meekly.
'Well?'
'I am a man of peace, but I might not be able to prevent the people from revenging themselves on you for your refusal. It will be impossible to hide from them that you are the cause of the holding back of the citadel.'
'I can well understand that you would hesitate at nothing.'
'It is not I, dear lady—'
'Ah, no; you are the servant of the Pope! It is the will of God!'
'You would be wise to do as we request.'
There was a look of such ferocity in his face that one saw he would indeed hesitate at nothing. Caterina thought a little....
'Very well,' she said, to my intense surprise, 'I will do my best.'
'You will gain the gratitude of the Holy Father and my own thanks.'
'I put an equal value upon both.'
'And now, madam, I will leave you. Take comfort, and apply yourself to pious exercises. In prayer you will find a consolation for all your woes.'
He raised his hand as before, and, with the outstretched fingers, repeated the blessing.
XXVII
We went to the fortress in solemn procession, the people, as we passed, mingling shouts of praise for Checco with yells of derision for Caterina. She walked on with her stately indifference, and when the protonotary addressed her, repelled him with disdain.
The Castellan was summoned, and the Countess addressed him in the words which Savello had suggested,—
'As Heaven has taken the Count from me, and also the city, I beg you, by the confidence I showed in choosing you as Castellan, to surrender this fortress to the ministers of His Holiness the Pope.'
There was a light tinge of irony in her voice, and her lips showed the shadow of a smile.
The Castellan replied gravely,—
'By the confidence you showed in choosing me as Castellan, I refuse to surrender this fortress to the ministers of his Holiness the Pope. And as Heaven has taken the Count from you, and also the city, it may take the citadel too, but, by God! madam, no power on earth shall.'
Caterina turned to Savello,—
'What shall I do?'
'Insist.'
She solemnly repeated her request, and he solemnly made his reply.
'It is no good,' she said, 'I know him too well. He thinks I am speaking under compulsion. He does not know that I am acting of my own will, for the great love I bear the Pope and the Church.'
'We must have the citadel,' said Savello, emphatically. 'If we do not get it, I cannot answer for your safety.'
She looked at him; then an idea seemed to occur to her.
'Perhaps if I went in and spoke to him he would consent to surrender.'
'We cannot allow you out of our power,' said Checco.
'You would have my children as hostages.'
'That is true,' mused Savello; 'I think we can let her go.'
Checco disapproved, but the priest overruled him, and the Castellan was summoned again, and ordered to admit the Countess. Savello warned her,—
'Remember that we hold your children, and shall not hesitate to hang them before your eyes if—'
'I know your Christian spirit, Monsignor,' she interrupted.
But when she was inside she turned to us, and from the ramparts addressed us with mocking laughter. The fury which had been boiling within her burst out. She hurled at us words of foul abuse, so that one might have thought her a fishwife; she threatened us with death, and every kind of torture, in revenge for the murder of her husband....
We stood looking up at her with open mouths, dumbfounded. A cry of rage broke from the people; Matteo uttered an oath. Checco looked angrily at Savello, but said nothing. The priest was furious; his big red face grew purple, and his eyes glistened like a serpent's.
'Bastard!' he hissed. 'Bastard!'
Trembling with anger, he ordered the children to be sent for, and he cried out to the Countess,—
'Do not think that we shall hesitate. Your sons shall be hanged before your very eyes.'
'I have the means of making more,' she replied scornfully.
She was lion-hearted. I could not help feeling admiration for the extraordinary woman. Surely she could not sacrifice her children! And I wondered if a man would have had the courage to give that bold answer to Savello's threats.
Savello's expression had become fiendish. He turned to his assistants.
'Let a double scaffold be erected here, at once and quickly.'
The chiefs of the conspiracy retired to a sheltered place, while the mob gathered in the piazza; and soon the buzz of many voices mingled with hammering and the cries of workmen. The Countess stood above looking at the people, watching the gradual erection of the scaffold.
In a little while its completion was announced. Savello and the others came forward, and the priest once more asked her whether she would surrender.
