XXXIV
"A confidential communication of deep import to Cyprus—so thou come at once, and alone. 'The Prisoner in the Castle.'"
The Signor Aluisi Bernardini read the note a second time with frowning brows, for there was more than one prisoner, even of this recent conspiracy, in the castle, and the hand was disguised or unknown to him, and he could but guess at the identity of the sender of this mysterious message, which had been brought him, quite openly, by one of the castle guards.
The man stood waiting at the door of his study, until he called to him:
"Thou hast a message for me from——?"
"The Dama Ecciva de Montferrat, Eccellentissimo," the messenger answered, readily.
"Deliver it."
"I was to remind your Excellency that the galley will sail to-morrow for Venice—if your Excellency should have despatches—the Dama de Montferrat feared that it might not be known beyond the castle."
"Is this known within the castle and by order of the Castellan?" Bernardini asked quickly, in surprise.
"Eccellentissimo, the word came to me by the Dama de Montferrat, in confidence. I have no other message."