The Princess occupied the big chair by the table, whilst her brother leaned upon the back of it. Beyond stood ranged Ugolino da Tenda, Ercole Belluno, Stoffel, and three others, their armour flashing in the golden light of the cluster of candles set upon the table. Over by the hearth in another high-backed chair sat Bellarion, still in his black corselet, his long legs in their mud-splashed boots stretched straight before him, his head cased in a close-fitting cap of peach-coloured velvet, disdainfully listening to Carmagnola's furious tirade. He guessed the bitterness in the soul of the boaster who had promised so much to achieve so little. Therefore he was patient with him for a while. But to all things there must be an end, and an end there was to Bellarion's patience. 'Talking mends nothing, Francesco,' he broke in at last. 'It may prevent a repetition.' 'There can be no repetition, because there will be no second attempt. I should never have permitted this but that you plagued me with your insistence.' 'And I should have succeeded had you done your part!' roared Carmagnola in fury, a vain, humiliated man reckless of where he cast the blame for his own failure. 'By God's Life, that is why disaster overtook us. Had you delivered your own attack as was concerted between us, Theodore must have sent a force to meet it.' Bellarion remained calm under the accusation, and under the eyes of that company, all reproachful save Stoffel's. The Swiss, unable to contain himself, laughed aloud. 'If the Lord Bellarion had done that, sir, you might not now be alive. It was his change of plan, and the charge he delivered upon Theodore's rear, that enabled us to extricate ourselves, and so averted a disaster that might have been complete.' 'And whilst you are noticing that fact,' said Bellarion, 'it may also be worthy of your attention that if Stoffel had not ranged his foot to receive the charge from Theodore's right wing, and afterwards formed a hedgehog to encircle and defend you, you would not now be ranting here. It occurs to me that an expression of gratitude and praise for Stoffel would be not so much gracious as proper.' Carmagnola glared. 'Ah, yes! You support each other! We are to thank you now for a failure, which your own action helped to bring about, Bellarion.' Bellarion continued unruffled. 'The accusation impugns only your own intelligence.' 'Does it so? Does it so? Ha! Where is this man who came, you say, to tell you that Theodore was forewarned of the attack?' Bellarion shrugged. 'Do I know where he is? Do I care? Does it matter?' 'A man comes to you out of the night with such a message as that, and you don't know what has become of him!' 'I had other things to do than think of him. I had to think of you, and get you out of the trap that threatened you.' 'And I say that you would have best done that by attacking on your own side, as we agreed.'