Show 0 0 love 4 or die death a t h bl rafael sabatini balini Sa aeryk 0 av the be captain wheeled sharply upon the man at arms who had bande the announcement he Is messer lorenzo Castro castrocaro caro one of 11 1 exclaimed alie the stine same sir clr captain the man alured assured him and Nl messer eser lorenzo loti 10 Ung klag recognized one who held had lemed under his own banner some months since ile he shrugged indifferently at the captains very cry evident satisfaction ebat gilds lie he said one nani name 1 will serve as well as another to die under and how the hie captain would you prefer tn ta lie die you shall haie hae your own chalce cli olce of old age I 1 think said messer lorenzo and heard the titter that responded to his sally but tolentino le scowled rd 1 I 1 mean sir will you be banged or x will it you leap from the ledge to which you climbed last ni night glit why that now Is 19 a very different matter you circumscribe the appoint for me I 1 pray the death that will afford aou ou the greater diversion dier sion tolentino considered him stroking his long chin his brows wrinkled ile he liked the fellow for its his intrepid diring daring in the face of death nut but he was castellan of san leo and knew his duty why said lie he slowly at length we know that you can climb like an ape let us see it if you can lly fly like a bird take him up to the ramparts yonder ah but stay cried melser cas tro caro with suddenly startled thoughts of thoe sins of lits his youth and with a certain corollary hope are you nil all pagans in san leo le Is A christian to be thrust across the black edge edee of death am I 1 to have no priest then tolentino frowned as it if impatient of this fresh motive for delay then he signed shortly to bernardo go fetch the priest said he and thus dashed that faint sly hope messer lorenzo had been harboring that the place might contain no priest and that those these men being faithful children childre n of mother church would never dare to slay a man who asked for shrift bernardo went lie he gained the chapel door on the very pronouncement jentof of the ita missa est just as the morning mass was ended and on the threshold in his haste he be all but stumbled against a lady in black who was coming forth attended by two women lie he drew aside and flattened himself against the wall muttering words of apology but the lady did not at once pass on why all this haste to cha chapel chameli pelI she accounting it strangely unusual in one of Tole ntinos men Il messer lesser father girolamo Is required said he be there Is a man about to die who must be shriven A man said she with a show of tender solicitude conceiving that one of the all too slender garrison had been wounded to the death ilay ay a captain ot of Valenti one lorenzo castrocaro Castro caro who came hither in the night and he added vaingloriously it was 1 I madonna who took him but the lady blanca del de floravanti never hoard heard his last words site she fell back a step and rested as it if for support against one of the diminutive pillars of the porch her face had become deathly white her eyes stared dully at the soldier what what Is his name did you say she faltered lorenzo a captain of lie he repeated lorenzo loranzo castrocaro Castro caro she he daiil in her turn but on her lips the name seemed another so differently did she utter it ay madonna he replied suddenly she gripped his arm BC ac that she hurt him and he Is wounded to the death she cried with a sudden fierceness as it seemed to him nay not wounded ile he Is to die having been captured that Is all it messer tolentino will haw have him jump from the rock you will have a good view from the battlements ma ila donna it Is she released hla his arm and fell back from him in fit horror borror cutting short its his praise of the entertainment provided take me to your captain slie she commanded ile he stared at her bewildered and the priests priestl he be inquired let that wait take me to your captain I 1 the command was so imperious that he dared not disobey her lie ile bowed boned muttering in his beard and turning 7 went up the passage again and so 1 out into the courtyard the lady and her women across the intervening er space madonna bianca Pi ancas s eyes met flip proud glance ot of messer lorenzos lorenzowi si and an saw the sudden abatement of that pride sav ax the faint flush that stirred nt at sight of her hc in n those pale cheeks for to tn the boung out man inan this was a startling tar apparition seeing that ns as cesare sare bolgla hud had becci careful to pro ile ide lie he lind no knowledge Inow ledge or even surp suspicion lefort of tier lier presence in sun san leo A moment slie paused looked nt at him I 1 in tier her soul in tier eyes then she ehe E he swept forward past bernardo ller nardo tier her women ever follo following winz hot her thus benine she nery cry pilo palo but vry r resolute of nilen mien to the captain of tier her fortress alf ateer ser tolentino bowed profoundly covering erin and nt at once explained the situation here Is a young adventurer ma dabria da iria whom we capt cap uroil last night within these walls said lie he ile he Is it captain in the service of cesare borgia she looked at the prisoner again standing rigid before her and front from the prisoner to tier her ol of licor licer itow came 1 here she asked tier her voice curl i braided ite he climbed 1 1 ock luck on the southern alde ni at the lip rink fisi of ats neck no ek said tolentino an and what sought he be als what we cannot precisely ascertain cert nin tolentino admitted nor will lie tell fell when captured last night lie he pretended to he be tin an envoy from puke Gul dobaldo which plainly lie he wis was not that was but a subterfuge to escape the consequences ot of ills his rashness and the captain explained with a pardonable parade of its his own shrewdness how lie had nt at once parceled perce hed led that had nesser lorenzo been what he pretended there would have been no need for foi him to hae come to san leo thus in secret nor reed need to risk his neck as you hane hae said by climbing the southern south e rn side had lie been employed by cesare borgia said the lie lady that Is too hasty a conclusion madonna tolentino in Loi it Is only on the alie southern side that it Is 19 possible to climb the wall and along the lie summit itself there Is no way round to what end then do you conceive that lie came to what end why to what end but to betray the castle into the hands of the corgia bergin troops cried tolentino a little out of patience at such a superfluity of questions you have proof of that she asked him a rising inflection in lier ber voice to common sense no proof Is needed of the obvious said lie he sententiously tiou sly snorting a little as he spoke ke out of his resentment of this feminine Inter interference fei ence in mens affairs we are about to fling him back the way he came he be ended with a certain grim finality put hut madonna blanca paid little heed to his manner not until I 1 am satisfied that his intentions were as you say she replied nind and tier her tone was every whit as firm as his and was invested with a subtle remi reminder rider that she was the mistress paramount of san leo and he no more than the castellan tolentino glowered and shrugged oh ob as you please madonna yet tet I 1 would make bold to remind iou 3 ou that my ripe experience teaches me best how to deal with such a matter the girl looked that war worn veteran boldly in the eye knowledge stir sir captain is surely of more account than mere espell ence ills jaw fell you mean that you that you have knowledge of why lie came it is possible said she and a ad turned from the astonished captain to the s till more astonished prisoner daintily she he stepped up to messer lorenzo whose deep sapphire eyes glowed now as they regarded tier her reflecting ting some of the amazement in which he had listened ened to tier her words he had weighed them seeking to resolve the riddle they contained and be it confessed at once bouce wondering won derins how he might turn the matter to his profit in this present desperate pass I 1 fear you may discover here something of the villain in messer lorenzo and I 1 admit that he showed himself but little a hero of romance in that his first arst thought now was how lie he might turn to account the ladys interest in him but if it was not exactly heroic it was undeniably human and if I 1 have conveyed to you any notion that ablesser Castro castrocaro caro was anything more than quite ordinarily human then toy my task has been III performed indeed it was not so much his love of tier her as his love of himself youths natural love of life lie that now showed liim him how he might induce her to open a door for its his escape from the peril that encompassed him and yet set lost lest you should come colue to think more III of him than lie he deserves you are to to re member that lie had raised his eyes to tier her long ton since al albough hough accounting her far beyond his adventurers reach she looked at him in silence tor for a n moment then with a calm calin too complete to be other than assumed she spoke will you sive give me your arm to the battlements messer lorenzo lorenzoa Loren zoi A scarlet faubli leapt to his cheeks he stepped forward briskly to her side tolentino would still have interposed ter posed consider madonna he began but she waved him peremptorily aside and after all she was the mistress in san leo side by silde side the prisoner and the lady paramount moved away toward the staircase that led up to the embattled parapet tolentino growled his impatience cursed himself for being a homans womans wor nans lackey dismissed hl his mm i n rii m jy T tse be well in the center of uie the courtyard to await the llie end of that precious interview ter view leaning on the embattled wall looking out over the vast sunlit emilian plain madonna li larica broke at last the long spell of silence that had endured between herself and castro earn caro 1 I lime hae brought you here ser lorenzo she said that you may inay tell me the true object of your visit to san leo tier her eyes wore averted from his face her bosom heaved Ef hor her voice quivered ne in cr so slightly ile he cleared his throat to answer her ills resolve was now clear and deti nite continued next week |