CHAPTER XVIII.
It was in the king's tent, on the night after the fall of Vivizano--for so rapid had been the capture of the place that time for a short march towards Sarzana still remained after its fall, and so wild and uncultivated was the country round, so scanty the supply of provisions and fodder, that all were anxious to get into a more plentiful region--it was in the king's tent then, a wide and sumptuous pavilion, that on the night after the capture of Vivizano a council was assembled, amongst the members of which might be seen nearly as many churchmen as soldiers.
It is impossible to narrate a thousandth part of all that took place; messengers and soldiers came and went; new personages were introduced upon the scene; and some of the old characters which had disappeared returned to the monarch's court.
A young man, magnificently dressed, and of comely form and face, sat near to Charles on his right hand; and when Bayard, who was standing with Lorenzo a little behind the king's chair, asked Visconti who the new comer was, Lorenzo answered:
"That is Pierre de Medici. We were old companions long ago; for he is not many years my elder."
"His face looks weak!" said Bayard; "I should not think he was equal to his father."
Lorenzo shook his head with a sigh; and De Terrail continued:
"There is our old friend, Ludovic the Moor, too. He arrived to-day, I suppose. I wonder the king has you here; he was always so anxious to keep you out of his way."
"The camp is a safer place than the court," said Lorenzo; "he cannot well poison me here."
"No, nor stab you either," said Bayard, "that is to say, without being found out. Yet you had better beware; for he has got a notion, I am told, that you may some time or another dispute his duchy with him."