This somewhat long recital had given me time to recover my wits, and I divined quickly the signals cast me by Marianna and Rocca. I drew myself up a little haughtily. “Worthy Fabriano,” I said, “I exonerate you in this strange affair, but as an immediate and noble vassal of the Holy See, I deny the right of the Governor of San Angelo to hale me before him on the witness of a professional bravo. Let me be taken not to San Angelo but to the Vatican; let me be examined at once by the Pope himself.” “Impossible,” Fabriano began to object; “the lateness of the hour, my clear orders--” But Rocca stepped forward. “I will take it upon myself to shield you from all consequences. Let the Conte be conducted instantly to His Holiness.” “If the Cardinale di Rocca pledges,” bowed the captain, yielding; and so the matter was concluded. I could see well enough how Rocca was anxious for himself, and Marianna for her father in the business, and vastly preferred the sifting of the approachable Pope, rather than of the stern-browed Governor. As for myself, I was resolved to shield Forli and Rocca if I could, without putting my own affairs in too much jeopardy. Plainly Orosi had tried to screen his real employer by accusing me, and my wishes for the renowned bravo were not the kindest. The feast broke up as I was led out. I pitied Messere Chigi. What an unlucky ending for a most carefully planned supper--and how all the tongues in Rome would wag in the morning! CHAPTER IV THE JUDGMENT OF LEO DE’ MEDICI The captain had a closed carriage ready, and did not do me the indignity of taking away my sword. Marianna and Rocca had gone out simultaneously, and started ahead in one of Chigi’s vehicles, hastily harnessed. A messenger was sent to San Angelo to summon Bari to the Vatican, and ask that Orosi be sent thither under due guard. My custodian, an excellent-hearted cavalier, spent most of the ride across the now dark and silent city, assuring me that there was nothing to fear, that the charges of Orosi were absurd, and that the Pope was all benignity in every case where his kinsfolk did not interfere to arouse him. I, however, knowing the plot better, foresaw trouble in clearing myself without implicating Forli, especially as the bravo would doubtless say anything to save his neck. Nevertheless, I took a certain grim satisfaction in realizing that Forli’s unsavory plot was thwarted. “No,” I asserted to myself, almost aloud, “I do not think that I will soon be forced to become the Archbishop of Bari!”