"A courier is instantly to be despatched to the Pope, to beg of him a certain oil he possesses, known to be a sure antidote to all poison."
"Poison!" repeated they all.
"Can it be so?" said Capponi, wiping his lips, and rising from table. "This ought to be looked to."
"Nay, I say not that it is so, I only say that he thinks so," replied Strozzi. "At all events, I'm going instantly to despatch a messenger."
"Sad, sirs, sad!" said Capponi, looking his companions in the face, as Strozzi passed out.
"Nay, I expect not that it will turn out anything serious," said Donati.
"The Strozzi are tender on the subject of poison," observed Messer Giunigi, the fourth Florentine, under his breath, "since the death of Madonna Luisa."
"Hush, sir, that touches me nearly too," gravely said Capponi, who was of kin to Madonna Luisa's husband.
Here the Prior came forth, very irate.