"To rescue my wife, wouldst thou say?" flashed Mastino. "No, I do not hope that: that I will do—in my soul I know it; but I still hope to conquer in fair fight. What did the attempt at guile avail us? We were betrayed; open force were better."
Ligozzi's anger rose at the thought of that betrayal.
"I would I had the slaying of the traitors!" he cried.
Mastino smiled sadly.
"What were we to her? She loved, perchance. I should have done the same—for Isotta."
"Thou wert ever too gentle, my lord," returned Ligozzi. "Could woman love Visconti?"
"She loved some one of her own creating, I trow," said Della Scala. "Poor lady! the awakening will be her punishment."
Ligozzi made no reply. Mastino's point of view was not his: in his eyes Graziosa was a hussy he would have liked to have the hanging of.
"In two days or a little more, when I have had my answer from the Estes," said Mastino, rising, "I march on Milan."