The Viper of Milan: A Romance of Lombardy
see, Gian Visconti's spirit is not peace but insult. On no terms will I
treat with him."
"On no terms?" repeated Giannotto.
"On no terms of insult," said Mastino coldly. "I favor Visconti too much
in listening so long. Leave me and take your lives back for answer."
"Better listen, perchance, my lord, before refusing," said Giannotto.
"It is the Duke's interest to offer you these terms; methinks it will be
no less yours to at least consider them."
De Lana stood silent, his eyes upon the ground. After this, give him
plain soldiering.
"What plot has Visconti hatched now?" asked Della Scala. "What more has
he to say?"
Giannotto's pale eyes twinkled unpleasantly.
"Only this: Visconti bids me tell Della Scala, Duke of Verona, that if
he refuse his terms we take them instantly to my Lord of Este; also he
bids me remind my Lord Della Scala that he hold the Duchess of Verona,
my lord's dear wife."
Ligozzi drew a deep breath and looked at Della Scala; he had not quite
expected this.
But Della Scala rose with a white face and stared at the two
ambassadors, incredulous.
"Surely even Visconti will not use that against me?" he said.
"Visconti must have the towns; Visconti holds your wife. The rest is for
you to reflect upon, my lord: or, since you refuse all terms, we will
take them to my Lord of Este. Perhaps he will give up the towns and save
his daughter." And Giannotto turned toward the entrance.
"Stay!" cried Mastino, in an agony. "Stay! your terms again----"
He dropped back into his seat with wild eyes on Giannotto. All his calm
had fled, his pride was cowed: the secretary noted it, well pleased, but
De Lana shrank from his changed look.
"This is what Visconti offers, my lord," repeated the secretary
smoothly: "Give up all the cities, forts, and soldiers under your
command, and the Duke forthwith makes an honorable return to you of the
Duchess he holds captive, giving you leave to hold Verona under fief to
him, doing yearly homage for it--he garrisoning it. If, however, my
lord, you refuse----"
"If I refuse?" cried Della Scala, leaning forward. "If I refuse?"
"Visconti's prisons are unwholesome; for some weeks the Duchess has
pined; it is feared, without instant liberty----"
Giannotto paused a moment, and lightly shrugged his shoulders.
"In a word, my lord, if you refuse--the Duchess dies."
A terrible silence fell, no one moved or spoke, the lazy flapping of the
tent struggling on its cords was the only sound. Della Scala sat rigid,
looking at Giannotto, all power of thought struck out of him.
"Shall we take these terms to d'Este--shall we offer him his daughter
for his towns?" said Giannotto softly.
D'Este! D'Este was not the man to place his daughter before his
states--Mastino knew it; Visconti knew it.
"No! no!" he cried, with sudden vehemence, "I will."
He put his hand to his forehead with a dazed expression and whispered
something to himself.
Ligozzi, standing erect behind his chair, touched him gently on the
shoulder.
"Send them away, my lord," he whispered. "Let them not remain here--send
them away."
"With a refusal?"
Della Scala lifted his white face. "With a refusal?" he muttered
stupidly.
"With what else?" said Giorgio firmly. "With what else?"
Giannotto moved a little nearer and spoke with a sickly smile.
"Our answer may wait. The Duke of Milan gives a day in which my Lord of
Verona may decide upon his answer."
"Give them their answer now," whispered Ligozzi, eagerly. "Do not let
them imagine for one moment that you hesitate."
Mastino did not heed him; he sat as if frozen.
"Leave me to--" the words died on his lips. "Leave me--to answer--I will
give you my answer--anon."
De Lana and Giannotto moved in silence to the far end of the tent.
"Visconti is a fiend," said de Lana, with a gesture of revolt. "Santa
Maria, I wish I had never seen this Della Scala. His face will haunt
me."
Giannotto smiled.
"Thou hast not been in Visconti's service long," he said, "and what have
these things to do with us?"
"But this is inhuman," returned de Lana. "Della Scala hath a winning
face. I might have been a better man if I had sold my sword to him."
"This way, messers," said Ligozzi. "I will come to you presently." And
the flap of the tent fell-to behind Visconti's messengers. Mastino sat,
his head dropped into his hands.
"My lord----"
Ligozzi put his hand upon his master's arm.
"My lord----"
Mastino raised his head and looked at him; his face was distorted, his
eyes unnaturally bright.
"Give them their answer, my lord," said Ligozzi. "Every moment gives
them a triumph. Send it now."
"Now," cried Mastino, hoarsely. "They gave me till to-night--surely,
Ligozzi, they gave me till to-night."
"Thou dost not need until to-night, my lord. Visconti asked thy honor."
"And offered me," said Della Scala slowly, "Isotta."
Ligozzi looked at him horror-struck; an awful thought was breaking on
him.
The eyes of the two men met; Ligozzi's was steady, but Mastino's
flinched.
Neither spoke for some moments, Ligozzi at last incredulously.
"You cannot mean--to accept?" Mastino was silent. "Oh, no," cried
Ligozzi, passionately. "You are not yourself. For the love of Heaven
let me go and tell them to depart."
And he started forward, but Mastino caught him by the arm.
"Stay, Ligozzi; I command it."
"Then you yourself will tell them? Oh, it is impossible that _thou_
couldst fall!"
"Impossible?" Mastino rose with clenched hands. "I think it is
impossible that I could let her die."
Ligozzi looked at his changed face.
"The cities are not yours, my lord; the soldiers are not yours--would
you be a traitor, Della Scala?"
Mastino winced.
"I would save my wife," he muttered, his face turned aside.
"Your wife! A woman!" cried Ligozzi. "Gian Visconti will burn in hell
for tempting you, but, by all the saints, so will you, my lord, if you
accept such terms."
Mastino was roused. The energy of Ligozzi broke the bonds of his dull
agony. He turned, also passionately.
"Have I not prayed and implored for this--only this--her life and her
return? Have I not sworn and vowed I would recover her--at _any_ cost?
Have I not warned them of it--and she shall not die! She shall not die!
What care I for the cities! Did I not warn them? She shall not die!"
He fell to pacing the tent wildly, but Ligozzi stood in his place,
bitter sorrow, deep anger in his face.
"Think what it means," he said sternly.
"I will not," cried Mastino. "I will be baited and hounded no more. What
has their grudging help done for me? I tell thee I warned them, I would
hold them as nothing when it came to saving her."
"Still, they trust you," returned Ligozzi. "Listen, Della Scala; I
speak in the cause of honor--you _shall_ hear, you _shall_ know what it
means, before you lend yourself to such a thing for love of a woman! It
will give all Lombardy to Visconti, it and hundreds to the sword; it
will mean the burning of cities to the ground; it will mean the misery
of half Italy! It will give a mad tyrant to rule over thousands who are
at present free--it will send d'Este and Vincenzo to prison--to shame,
misery, death perchance--it will strip Julia Gonzaga of everything--and
is she not as young and fair and good as Isotta d'Este--and did she not
trust you with her all? And yourself? What will it make of you? What
triumph will it not give Visconti to see you fall? Have you kept your
name high so long to make it a by-word now? Beyond redemption will you
be dishonored, Della Scala--an outcast, a traitor--to hold a little fief
at Visconti's pleasure, the mirth of your enemies, the scorn of your
one-time friends."
Mastino broke into a wild exclamation. "I will hear no more! I will hear
no more!"
"I must wound you to save you," continued Ligozzi. "Against yourself I
will persuade you; my love cannot see you do this thing. Oh, remember
yourself! A man, a prince; no hothead of a boy. This black offer will be
the turning point and strengthen you. No man's cause is bettered by such
means as this. All Italy will rise to cry shame on Visconti--heaven
itself will turn against him and make you firm to overthrow him!"
"And Isotta!" said Mastino fiercely. "Isotta will be slain!"
"She is one woman--how many as fair and good as she will perish if Della
Scala betrays Lombardy! She is one woman against the fate of half
Italy."
"She is my wife!" cried Della Scala desperately; "that one woman is my
wife! Thou hast forgotten!"
"Forget it too, my lord; for your own honor's sake, forget it too."
"Ligozzi, Ligozzi," whispered Mastino, "thou canst not mean it: deliver
up to die by _Visconti's hands_ the woman I--love!"
"If they hanged her from the ramparts where I must watch her die, they
should not move me," said Ligozzi grimly. "But--by all the saints, I
would take my revenge."
"Aye!" said Della Scala bitterly. "But perchance it would not be given
thee to take revenge--perchance thou wouldst fall lower and lower, and
be crushed after all and have gained nothing! Ah, Ligozzi, is this the
beginning? Have I not pitted courage and high purpose, and honorable
dealing and a righteous cause, against craft and cruelty and force? And
to what end? Visconti triumphs. Always Visconti! What availed honor and
faith when Visconti's cunning and Count Conrad's folly made the plans of
weeks naught! Again, undaunted, I said I will succeed in the face of
failure, I will succeed! What happened? Visconti had a handsome face;
what mattered it his cause was bad? Again we failed! And what since!
Half my men are dead against the walls of Milan! And now, am I to choose
again what thou callest honor, am I to leave Isotta to die by his
dishonoring hands--oh, canst thou think of it!--and then be crushed at
his leisure for all my reward? Am I so tied by tradition as that? Does
not Visconti fling all laws, all humanity, all honor to the winds--can I
fight him within the bounds of a boy's code of honor? The time comes,
Ligozzi, when such things hold one no longer--the soul thrusts them
asunder and does what it must, regardless of the laws of men! I must
save her. Here is my chance and, fair or foul, I take it. I cannot think
of the welfare of unknown thousands; what are they to me? Cities pass
under Visconti's rule and cities are snatched from him--am I
responsible for the fate of Lombardy? Men fight, betray, deceive and lie
for wealth, ambition, and revenge--and common folk pay the price--shall
I consider it too closely if they suffer once in a cause like mine? I
tell thee, Ligozzi, I would hold it cheap to save her from Visconti with
the misery of all Italy."
Ligozzi's eyes did not move from Della Scala's face.
"Thou art striving to blind thyself, Della Scala. Oh, my lord," he
resumed, "because others are dishonorable will ye be so also? And what
do ye say of common folk?--not common folk alone will ye sacrifice, but
d'Este----"
"He has helped me half-heartedly--and is she not his daughter? Yet at a
word from Visconti he would league with him behind my back," cried Della
Scala.
"I do not think so," said Ligozzi, firmly. "But Julia Gonzaga, who
trusted you--what have you to say to her?"
"Naught!" cried Mastino, distracted. "Naught! save that I do not love
her--let he who does look to her--as I will to Isotta!"
"And she!" said Ligozzi, resorting desperately to his last argument,
"will she not turn from the liberty bought at such a price? Is she not
the daughter of a noble house? Has she not been taught to consider death
preferable to dishonor--if she was asked, what would she not choose?"
Mastino's breast heaved.
"Ah--but I cannot ask her. If I could--Ligozzi, if I could go to her and
look into her eyes, and say 'I promised, give me back my promise, for