"Well, let us sit down on this bank," said Giovanozzo, "for it is a matter which requires much consideration and--" "Like a hen's egg, requires to be sat upon," interrupted Antonio. "Well, in this also I will gratify you, signor. Now to your tale." "Why, you must know," proceeded the contadino, "that this morning, an hour or two ago, just when I was coming up from the well, I saw Judita and Margarita, with Giulio, carrying something heavy into the house. It took all their strength, I can tell you, though the man was not a big man, after all." "A man!" exclaimed Antonio; "was it a man they were carrying?" "Nothing short of a man," replied Giovanozzo. "And yet a short man too," said Antonio. "Was he a dead man?" "Yes and no," replied the peasant; "he was dead then, but he is alive now. But just listen, signor. It seems that a whole troop of these Frenchmen came down this way at an early hour, on their way to Pavia, and that they halted at the gates; but before they halted, they saw a man on horseback, standing at the little turn-down to Signor Manini's podere; and that, as soon as he saw them, he tried to spur away, but their spurs were sharper than his; so they caught him and brought him back. Then, some hours after, up comes another party, and they held a sort of council over him, and confronted him with two or three other prisoners, and then strung him up to the branch of the great mulberry-tree. But presently some one came out of the villa and ordered him to be cut down, and as soon as that was done they all rode away, leaving him there lying on the road. That is what Giulio told me, for he was looking over the wall all the time." "Dangerous peeping, Signor Giovanozzo," said Antonio solemnly; "but what did the lad do, then?" "Why, he would have let him lie quiet enough, if he had had his own way," replied the contadino, "for Giulio is a discreet youth. He takes after me in the main, and knows when to let well enough alone, when his mother and his sisters are not at his heels; but the good _madre_ you know--" and here he added a significant grimace, which finished the sentence. "However," he continued, "Margarita, who is tiring-woman to the young contessa, came running out of the villa, and told Giulio that it was Bianca Maria's orders to see if there was any life in the man, and try to save him. So they looked at him together, and fancied they saw his face twitch, and then they called Judita and carried him down into the house." "And then?" asked Antonio. "Why, then they sluiced him with cold water, and poured Heaven knows what all down his throat, or into his mouth, at least." "And then?" said Antonio, again. "Why, then he began to wake up," replied the contadino, "and now he is snoring on a table down below, and I dare say he will be all the better for his hanging." "He might have been so, if Giulio had not been too near," answered Antonio, drily, and then fell into a fit of thought.