'Yet with his gout and the infirmities of age, it might prove wiser in the end.' 'Each age has its own penalties, madonna. It is not only the elderly among humanity who need compassion.' 'Wisdom oozes from you like sweat from another.' There was a tartness in her accents. 'If I were your biographer, Bellarion, I should write of you as the soldier-sage, or the philosopher-at-arms.' Propped on his crutch and his one sound leg, Bellarion considered her, his head on one side, and fetched a sigh. 'You are very beautiful, madonna.' She was startled. 'God save us!' she cried. 'Does the soldier-sage contain a mere man, after all?' 'Your mouth, madonna, is too sweetly formed for acids.' 'The choicest fruits, sir, have an alloy of sharpness. What else about me finds favour in your eyes?' 'In my eyes! My eyes, madonna, are circumspect. They do not prowl hungrily over another's pastures.' She looked at him between anger and apprehension, and slowly a wave of scarlet came to stain her face and bosom, to tell him that she understood. He lowered himself carefully to a chair, thrusting out his damaged leg, to the knee-joint of which articulation was only just beginning to return. 'I was saying, madonna, that they will be feeling the rigours of the winter in the camp under Bergamo. There was a hard frost last night, and after the frost there will be rains under which the hills thereabouts will melt in mud.' He sighed again. 'You would regret, madonna, to exchange for that the ease and comfort of Pavia.' 'You have the fever again. I am not thinking of making that exchange.' 'No. I am thinking of it for you.' 'You! Saint Mary! And do you dispose of me?' 'It will be cold up there, madonna. But you need cooling. Coolness restores judgment. It will bring you back to a sense of duty to your lord.' She came to her feet beside him, quivering with anger. Almost he thought her intention was to strike him. 'Have you come here to spy upon me?' 'Of course. Now you know why I broke my leg.' She looked unutterable scorn. 'The Princess Valeria is right in her opinion of you, in her disdain of you.' His eyes grew sad. 'If you were generous, madonna--nay, if you were merely honest--you would not embrace her opinions; you would correct them; for you have the knowledge that would suffice to do so. But you are not honest. If you were, there would be no need for me to speak now in defence of the honour of your absent lord.'