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      II

       Table of Contents

       When we arrived at the Palazzo Orsi, many of the guests had already come. Matteo was immediately surrounded by his friends; and a score of ladies beckoned to him from different parts of the room, so that he was torn away from me, leaving me rather disconsolate alone in the crowd. Presently I was attracted to a group of men talking to a woman whom I could not see; Matteo had joined them, and they were laughing at something he had said. I had turned away to look at other people when I heard Matteo calling me.

      'Filippo,' he said, coming towards me, 'come and be introduced to Donna Giulia; she has asked me to present you.'

      He took me by the arm, and I saw that the lady and her admirers were looking at me.

      'She's no better than she should be,' he whispered in my ear; 'but she's the loveliest woman in Forli!'

      'Allow me to add another to your circle of adorers, Donna Giulia,' said Matteo, as we both bowed—'Messer Filippo Brandolini, like myself, a soldier of distinction.'

      I saw a graceful little woman, dressed in some Oriental brocade; a small face, with quite tiny features, large brown eyes, which struck me at the first glance as very soft and caressing, a mass of dark, reddish-brown hair, and a fascinating smile.

      'We were asking Matteo where his wounds were,' she said, smiling on me very graciously. 'He tells us they are all in the region of his heart.'

      'In that case,' I answered, 'he has come to a more deadly battlefield than any we saw during the war.'

      'What war?' asked a gentleman who was standing by. 'Nowadays we are in the happy state of having ten different wars in as many parts of the country.'

      'I was serving under the Duke of Calabria, 'I replied.

      'In that case, your battles were bloodless.'

      'We came, we saw, and the enemy decamped,' said Matteo.

      'And now, taking advantage of the peace, you have come to trouble the hearts of Forli,' said Donna Giulia.

      'Who knows how useful your swords may not be here!' remarked a young man.

      'Be quiet, Nicolo!' said another, and there was an awkward silence, during which Matteo and I looked at one another in surprise; and then everyone burst out talking, so that you could not hear what was said.

      Matteo and I bowed ourselves away from Donna Giulia, and he took me to Checco, standing in a group of men.

      'You have recovered from your fatigue?' he asked kindly.

      'You have been travelling, Matteo?' said one of the company.

      'Yes, we rode sixty miles yesterday,' he replied.

      'Sixty miles on one horse; you must have good steeds and good imaginations,' said a big, heavy-looking man—an ugly, sallow-faced person, whom I hated at first sight.

      'It was only once in a way, and we wanted to get home.'

      'You could not have come faster if you had been running away from a battlefield,' said the man.

      I thought him needlessly disagreeable, but I did not speak. Matteo had not cultivated the golden quality.

      'You talk as one who has had experience,' he remarked, smiling in his most amiable manner.

      I saw Checco frown at Matteo, while the bystanders looked on interestedly.

      'I only said that,' added the man, shrugging his shoulders, 'because the Duke of Calabria is rather celebrated for his retreative tactics.'

      I entertained a very great respect for the Duke, who had always been a kind and generous master to me.

      'Perhaps you do not know very much about tactics,' I remarked as offensively as I could.

      He turned and looked at me, as if to say, 'Who the devil are you!' He looked me up and down contemptuously, and I began to feel that I was almost losing my temper.

      'My good young man,' he said, 'I imagine that I was engaged in war when your battles were with your nursemaid.'

      'You have the advantage of me in courtesy as well as in years, sir,' I replied. 'But I might suggest that a man may fight all his life, and have no more idea of war at the end than at the beginning.'

      'It depends on the intelligence,' remarked Matteo.

      'Exactly what I was thinking,' said I.

      'What the devil do you mean?' said the man, angrily.

      'I don't suppose he means anything at all, Ercole,' put in Checco, with a forced laugh.

      'He can answer for himself, I suppose,' said the man. A flush came over Checco's face, but he did not answer.

      'My good sir,' I said, 'you have to consider whether I choose to answer.'

      'Jackanapes!'

      I put my hand to my sword, but Checco caught hold of my arm. I recovered myself at once.

      'I beg your pardon, Messer Checco,' I said; then, turning to the man, 'You are safe in insulting me here. You show your breeding! Really, Matteo, you did not tell me that you had such a charming fellow-countryman.'

      'You are too hard on us, Filippo,' answered my friend, 'for such a monstrosity as that Forli is not responsible.'

      'I am no Forlivese, thank God! Neither the Count nor I.' He looked round scornfully. 'We offer up thanks to the Almighty every time the fact occurs to us. I am a citizen of Castello.'

      Matteo was going to burst out, but I anticipated him. 'I, too, am a citizen of Castello; and allow me to inform you that I consider you a very insolent fellow, and I apologise to these gentlemen that a countryman of mine should forget the courtesy due to the city which is sheltering him.'

      'You a Castelese! And, pray, who are you?'

      'My name is Filippo Brandolini.'

      'I know your house. Mine is Ercole Piacentini.'

      'I cannot return the compliment; I have never heard of yours.'

      The surrounders laughed.

      'My family is as good as yours, sir,' he said.

      'Really, I have no acquaintance with the middle-classes of Castello; but I have no doubt it is respectable.'

      I noticed that the listeners seemed very contented, and I judged that Messer Ercole Piacentini was not greatly loved in Forli; but Checco was looking on anxiously.

      'You insolent young boy!' said the man, furiously. 'How dare you talk to me like that. I will kick you!'

      I put my hand to my sword to draw it, for I was furious too; I pulled at the hilt, but I felt a hand catch hold of mine and prevent me. I struggled; then I heard Checco in my ear.

      'Don't be a fool,' he said. 'Be quiet!'

      'Let me be!' I cried.

      'Don't be a fool! You'll ruin us.' He held my sword, so that I could not draw it.

      Ercole saw what was going on; his lips broke into a sarcastic smile.

      'You are being taught the useful lesson of discretion, young man. You are not the only one who has learnt it.' He looked round at the bystanders....

      At that moment a servant came to Checco and announced,—

      'The Count!'