They were alone together in the armoury of the Castle of Quinto whose pointed windows overlooked the river. It was normally a bare room with stone walls and a vaulted white ceiling up which crawled a troop of the rampant lions of the Prati crudely frescoed in a dingy red. Bellarion had brought to it some furnishings that made it habitable, and so it became the room they chiefly used. The Princess sat by the table in a great chair of painted leather, faded but comfortable. She was wrapped in a long blue gown that was lined with lynx fur against the chill weather which had set in. Carmagnola, big and gaudy in a suit of the colour of sulphur, his tunic reversed with black fur, his powerful yet shapely legs booted to the knee, strode to and fro across the room in his excitement. 'It is what I begin to fear,' he answered her, and resumed his pacing. A silence followed, and remained unbroken until he went to plant himself, his feet wide, his hands behind him, before the logs that blazed in the cavernous fireplace. She looked up and met his glance. 'You know what I am thinking,' he said. 'I am wondering whether you may not be right, after all, in your suspicions.' Gently she shook her head. 'I dismissed them on that night when your bridges were destroyed. His vindication was so complete, what followed proved him so right, that I could suspect him no longer. He is just a mercenary fellow, fighting for the hand that pays. I trust him now because he must know that he can win more by loyalty than by treachery.' 'Aye,' he agreed, 'you are right, my Princess. You are always right.' 'I was not right in my suspicions of him. So think no more of those.' Standing as he did, he was completely screening the fire from her. She rose and crossed to it, holding out her hands to the blaze when he made room for her beside him. 'I am chilled,' she said. 'As much, I think, by our want of progress as by these November winds.' 'Nay, but take heart, Valeria,' he bade her. 'The one will last no longer than the other. Spring will follow in the world and in your soul.' She looked up at him, and found him good to look upon, so big and strong, so handsome and so confident. 'It is heartening to have such a man as you for company in such days.' He took her in his arms, a masterful, irresistible fellow. 'With such a woman as you beside me, Valeria, I could conquer the world.' A dry voice broke in upon that rapture: 'You might make a beginning by conquering Vercelli.' Starting guiltily apart, they met the mocking eyes of Bellarion who entered. He came forward easily, as handsome in his way as Carmagnola, but cast in a finer, statelier mould. 'I should be grateful to you, Francesco, and so would her highness, if you would accomplish that. The world can wait until afterwards.' And Carmagnola, to cover his confusion and Valeria's, plunged headlong into contention. 'I'd reduce Vercelli to-morrow if I had my way.' 'Who hinders you?'