The pitiful figure was carried out, and Mocenigo addressed Hugh again.
"You did not enjoy that sight, Messer Hugh?"
Hugh took a step nearer to the table, so that his face was clear in every feature to his interrogators.
"Mark me well in what I say," he answered evenly. "An you venture to torment me in any way, by fire, by the rack, by bone-crushing, what you will, I will make an end of myself—I will strangle myself, if I may. If I may not, I will starve myself to death. And what I know—whether it is what you seek or otherwise—will die with me."
"Well spoken, well spoken," commented Bartolommeo impersonally. "Said I not so, Magnificence?"
"'Tis the answer the other made," agreed Mocenigo in a puzzled tone. "Strange, is it not? The same answer from both. What doth it mean?"
"Nay, then, they must have had intercourse," rejoined Comnenus, fretfully. "'Tis manifest. This is not accident. 'Tis the same attitude—identical."
"In that case, we may move slowly," said Mocenigo. "Ha, by the Panagia, I have an idea! How if——"
He inclined his head to the Cæsar's ear, and murmured rapidly in Greek. Whilst they talked, Bartolommeo leaned against the wall close by the brazier and whistled to himself.
"Ay, 'tis as good a plan as any," approved Comnenus at last. "There is much to be said for it. Let one work upon the other. 'Twill be an incentive to each. So be it, then."