The Honour of Savelli: A Romance

II. Ruin. III. Madame D'Entrangues. IV. A Fool's Cap and a Sore Heart. V. D'Entrangues Scores a Point. VI. Bernabo Ceci. VII. The G...

A BOLT FROM THE BLUE. "I do not drink with a thief!" D'Entrangues spoke in clear, distinct tones, that rose above the hum of voices, and every one caught the words. In an instant...

RUIN. I started at the man's words, and my rage and despair may be imagined, when I saw that he proposed to bind me, a noble, like any thief! From this I hoped to escape by bringi...

brain me with the butt of his pike as I went down; but Braccio struck him senseless with the hilt of his sword, and this time he lay in a huddled heap, quiet enough. I besought Br...

MADAME D'ENTRANGUES. When I left the door of the justice room I had to pass through the main court-yard, and run the gauntlet of open scorn and contempt, bestowed upon me by all a...

A FOOL'S CAP AND A SORE HEART. I was not so dense as to fail to grasp the extent of the peril I had escaped, or to fully realise the evil strength of the temptation, which came up...

D'ENTRANGUES SCORES A POINT. Before I had gone fifty paces, however, I became aware that there was some law left in Montevarchi, for a warning cry made me look over my shoulder, a...

BERNABO CECI. I cannot say for what time I lay thus bereft of sense; but on coming to myself I saw the candle in my room was all but spent, and the wick flaring in a long flame. I...

THE GARDEN OF ST. MICHAEL. On our way back Ceci was somehow separated from me, whether by accident or design, I cannot say. I did not quite regret this, as I had made up my mind t...

TEMPTATION. I had looked upon death before; I had seen the plague strike down its victims in an hour; I had been in the hell of a sacked town, when men, women, and children, were ...

THE MARZOCCO INN. I tried every possible means I could think of to obtain employment, to no avail, and, in the intervals of my fruitless search for work, haunted the streets and g...

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI. As we reached the street, I expressed the hope that the lady and her stout companion were in safety. The stranger laughed: "Oh, Buonoccorsi, he and La Sirani ...

THE LETTER TO D'AMBOISE. I could have thrown my cap over the housetops, I could have shouted for joy, as I saw the coins spread out before me. I stooped over them, holding the can...

THE AMBUSCADE. It is good to go through the air, with the strength of a brave horse under one, to know that his strong muscles are stretching with an enjoyment as keen as his ride...

ROME. As we rode up to the ruinous stretch of the battered wall, and saw before us the gate, lying open against the mottled green and grey high-ground of the Aventine, that old hi...

to wander as exiles over the land. It is true that since the days of my childhood I had not seen Rome, it is true that such memories of it as I had were dim and misty, and that to ...

GEORGE OF AMBOISE. I should mention that before retiring I had obtained from the landlord a good-sized lanthorn, which I had carefully filled with oil, and trimmed under my own ey...

THE GIFT OF BAYARD. The levee lasted some little time, as D'Amboise, who was studious of the arts of gaining popularity, listened with apparent interest to any one who chose to ad...

FRIEND OR FOE. For the next few days the routine of my life was exactly the same, the morning attendance at the cardinal's levee, the daily dinner in public, and long rides with C...

THE VATICAN. The next morning I sought an early interview with D'Amboise, and stated to him what had occurred, proposing that I should leave Rome at once, and await his instructio...

THE OPAL RING. "His eminence will await the Signor' Donati at supper this evening." Defaure delivered his message, received his answer, and tripped away, his little page's cap se...

EXIT THE ANCIENT BRICO. I had gained my point without waste of words or time, but it was to be my way or not at all. My lady was in dire peril. Against this could I for a moment w...

"A BROWN PAUL--A LITTLE COPPER." Such as they were, the troubles of the ancient and his crony Luigi could not have ended soon, for although at first they were surrounded by a jeer...

THE RESCUE OF ANGIOLA. The next day as the big gun from the citadel boomed out the twelfth hour, and all the bells of the town clanged forth the time, five horsemen rode through t...

THE RIDE TO ST. JEROME. We galloped at a break-neck pace to the gate, but the guard was already alarmed, and half-a-dozen men came hastening towards us. They were on foot, however...

THE PAVILION OF TREMOUILLE. When I awoke the next morning, my head was still dazed, but I was otherwise strong. At least, I felt so, as I lay still in my bed, all sense of fatigue...

TOO DEARLY BOUGHT. About a mile from Arcevia, the road from Sinigaglia to Rome, begins to ascend the oak-shrouded hills whence the Misa has its source, passes Sassoferrato, and th...

THE VENGEANCE OF CORTE. We buried our dead; and madame slept beneath the ilex, in the courtyard of the castle, below the north wall. Over her nameless grave we raised a rude cross...

CONCERNING MANY THINGS. Everyone knows the history of the times, and it is not my intention to dilate on this, but merely to set down, without comment, those matters of state in w...

MY LORD, THE COUNT. _Portion of a letter from the Countess di Savelli to her cousin Vittoria Ordelaffi of Forli_. * * * * ...