Ippolito turned and looked at him, with a yearning love lighting his dark face.
"I am waiting, Vincenzo. I have sent trusty scouts to Brescia. This silence cannot last long now; either Mastino or Visconti march this way—and in either case we shall be ready to receive them, Vincenzo."
The younger d'Este lapsed into silence. Ippolito, too, was quiet, and the pause was broken by an officer entering.
"The Count von Schulembourg," he began.
"Conrad!" cried Vincenzo, springing up.
"Has he news?" asked his father, eagerly.
"I know not, my lord," replied the soldier. "He is riding unattended, and craves a passage through the town."
"He is riding away!" said Vincenzo—"away from Milan!"
"I must see him," said d'Este, with a darkening face, "at once."