The great candelabra had been overturned and the room was in a semi-gloom, broken only by the dim candles in their sconces and the fitful flare from the city.
No one answered Visconti. The men drew breath in silence, and looked at their wounds. How he had fought! A horror fell upon them.
"Is he dead?" asked Visconti, shaking like a leaf.
"There were fifteen men to kill him", said de Lana, and he wiped some blood from his hand with a shiver.
No one else broke the silence, all stood still as if spell-bound; it was a horrible, horrible thing, and they drew back from the door—afraid.
"Hush!—what was that?"
Visconti leaned forward fearfully.
"What was it?"
The sound of some one on the balcony. Visconti's face went livid.
"He is alive——"