The little wretch opposite him whimpered as if at a whip-cut. ’Is it so indeed? Then, Messer Ludovico, it is a foul shame of her. She hath betrayed me—may God requite her!’ He snivelled like a grieved child; then, on a sudden thought, looked up, with a child’s cunning. ’At least in that case I shall be forgotten. There can be no object in my hiding here longer.’ The Prince lifted his eyebrows, with an inward-drawn whistle. ’Object? Object?’ he protested, acting amazement. ’But more than ever, my poor simpleton. Thy case is double-damned thereby. Think you the other would rest on the thought of a rival, and such a rival, at large? Thy very existence would be a menace to his guilty peace. I come, indeed, as a friend to warn thee. Lie close; stir not out; the very air hath knives. Be cautious, even of thy shadow on the wall, of thy hand in the dish.’ He said it calmly and distinctly, looking towards Narcisso, who all this time had stood hunched in the background, his dull brain struggling bewildered in a maze. But the urgency of this innuendo penetrated even him; the more so when he saw Tassino leap and fling himself on his knees at the Prince’s feet. ’What do you mean?’ shrieked the young man. ’Is _he_ in their pay? O Messer, save me! don’t let me be poisoned.’ He pawed and grovelled, looking madly over his shoulder. Ludovico laughed gently, disregarding him. ’Nay, I know not,’ he cooed. ’It is a dog that serves more masters than one.’ Narcisso slouched forward, and ducked a sort of obeisance between sullen and deferential. ’What’s to-do?’ he growled. ’I serve my patron, Messer Duke’s son, like an honest man. What call, I say, to warn ’en of me? Do I not earn my wages fairly?’ ’Scarcely, fellow,’ murmured Ludovico—’unless to betray thine employer be fair.’ Narcisso scowled and lowered. ’Betray!’ he protested, but uneasily. ’That is a charge to be proved, Messer.’ Ludovico suddenly leapt to a blaze. ’Dog! Wouldst bandy with me, dog? Beware, I say! Who blabbed my secrets to the lady of Casa Caprona?’ He was himself again with the cry. His faculty of instant self-control was a thing quite fearful. Narcisso cowered before him; shrunk under the playful wagging of his finger. ’Messer—in the Lord’s name!’ he could only stammer—’Messer!’ ’O thou fond knave!’ complained the Prince, showing his teeth in a smile; ’to think to play that double game, one patron against another, and stake thine empty wits against the reckoning! Well, thou art confessed and damned.’ He drew back a pace. ’But one word more,’ he said, raising his voice. ’What hast thou to plead that I call not up those that will silence for ever thy false, treacherous tongue?’ He stood by the door. It was a very reasonable inference that he had not ventured into such a quarter unattended. Narcisso stood gasping and intertwining his thick fingers, but he could find no words.