"What news, Giannotto?" cried Visconti. "Thy pallid face seems too ready to welcome me. Let me dismount."
"Hear me first," entreated the secretary, "before you dismount—before anything—lord!"
"Quick with thy news then—stand back, De Lana, I must hear this rogue."
Giannotto drew closer.
"My lord, at noon to-day, Rinalta, the Tuscan captain, rode in. While Roccia was engaging you, some mercenaries forced one of the gates, and before they could be driven back, a house was broken into, some prisoners made——"
The Duke fixed his widening eyes upon the speaker, and Giannotto shrank.
"What gate?" he asked. "What house? What prisoners?"
"The western gate, lord, and Agnolo Vistarnini's house!"
With a sound of fury Visconti struck at his secretary violently, with the ends of his bridle.
"And I was not told before!"