But at the end, when all was done, and the documents complete, Messer Bellarion had a word to say which was as cold water on the white heat to which he had wrought their enthusiasm. 'There remains only the question of a guarantee from you to my Lord Facino.' 'Guarantee!' They echoed the word in a tone which clearly said they did not relish it. The Regent went further. 'Guarantee of what, sir?' 'That Montferrat will fulfil her part of the undertaking.' 'My God, sir! Do you imply a doubt of our honour?' 'It is no question of honour, highness; but of a bargain whose terms are clearly to be set forth to avoid subsequent disputes on either side. Does the word "guarantee" offend your highness? Surely not. For it was your highness who first used that word between us.' The councillors looked at the Regent. The Regent remembered, and was uncomfortable. 'Yesterday your highness asked me what guarantees my Lord Facino would give that he would fulfil his part. I did not cry out in wounded honour, but at once conceded that the immediate occupation of Vercelli should be your guarantee. Why, then, sirs, should it give rise to heat in you if on my lord's behalf I ask a return in kind, something tangible to back the assurance that when Vercelli is occupied you will march with my Lord Facino against Milan as he may deem best?' 'But unless we do that,' said the Regent impatiently, 'there can follow no conquest of Genoa for us.' 'If there did not, you would still be in possession of Vercelli and that is a great deal. Counsels of supineness might desire you to rest content with that.' 'Should we heed them, do you suppose?' said the Marquis of Carreto. 'I do not. Nor will my lord. But suppositions cannot be enough for him.' This interruption where all had flowed so smoothly was clearly fretting them. Another interposed: 'Would it not be well, highness, to hear what guarantees my Lord of Biandrate will require?' And Theodore assenting, Bellarion spoke to anxious ears. 'It is in the nature of a hostage, and one that will cover various eventualities. If, for instance, the Marquis Gian Giacomo should come to the throne before these enterprises are concluded, it is conceivable that he might decline to be bound by your undertakings. If there were no other reasons--and they will be plain enough to your excellencies--that one alone would justify my lord in asking, as he does, that the person of the Marquis of Montferrat be delivered into his care as a hostage for the fulfilment of this treaty.' Theodore, betrayed into a violent start, sat now pale and thoughtful, commanding his countenance by an effort. Another in his place would have raged and stormed and said upon impulse things from which he might not afterwards retreat. But Theodore Paleologo was no creature of impulse. He weighed and weighed again this thing, and allowed his councillors to babble, listening the while.