The fellow--Martolo was his name--smiled grimly; and his comrade, looking up, answered: "Maybe they did not wish to find you, my lord. They had been eight to one, and could not have failed to take you in the end." "Aye, in the end," said Martolo, laughing now. "Nor," added he, "had the lieutenant such great love for Robert de Beauregard that he would rejoice to deliver you to death for his sake, seeing that you are a Monte Velluto and he a rascally----" "Peace! He is dead," said Count Antonio. "You have killed him?" they cried with one voice. "He attacked me in treachery, and I have killed him," answered Antonio. For a while there was silence. Then Antonio asked, "The lady--did she go willingly?" "She was frightened and dazed by her fall, my lord; she knew not what she did nor what they did to her. And the lieutenant took her in front of him, and, holding her with all gentleness, so rode towards the city." "God keep her," said Antonio. "Amen, poor lady!" said Martolo, doffing his cap. Then Antonio whistled to his horse, which came to his side; with a gesture he bade the men stand aside, and they obeyed him; and he gathered Tommasino in his arms. "Hold my stirrup, that I may mount," said he; and still they obeyed. But when they saw him mounted, with Tommasino seated in front of him, Martolo cried, "But, my lord, we are charged to take him back and deliver him to the Duke." "And if you do?" asked Antonio. Martolo made a movement as of one tying a noose. "And if you do not?" asked Antonio. "Then we had best not show ourselves alive to the Duke." Antonio looked down on them. "To whom bear you allegiance?" said he. "To His Highness the Duke," they answered, uncovering as they spoke. "And to whom besides?" asked Antonio. "To none besides," they answered, wondering. "Aye, but you do," said he. "To One who wills not that you should deliver to death a lad who has done but what his honour bade him." "God's counsel God knows," said Martolo. "We are dead men if we return alone to the city. You had best slay us yourself, my lord, if we may not carry the young lord with us." "You are honest lads, are you not?" he asked. "By your faces, you are men of the city." "So are we, my lord; but we serve the Duke in his Guard for reward." "I love the men of the city as they love me," said Antonio. "And a few pence a day should not buy a man's soul as well as his body."