'Why Count Spigno was dressed, I cannot say. My own condition was the result of accident. I had been to court last night. I returned late, and I was tired. I fell asleep in a chair, and slept until the uproar aroused me.'
Bellarion fancied that the Regent's glance approved him. But the Podestà slowly shook his head.
'A convenient tale,' he sneered, 'but lame. Can you do no better?'
'Can any man do better than the truth?' demanded Bellarion firmly, and in the circumstances impudently. 'You ask me to explain things that are outside my knowledge.'
'We shall see.' The tone was a threat. 'The hoist has often been known to stimulate a man's memory and to make it accurate.'
'The hoist?' Bellarion's spirit trembled, for all that his mien preserved its boldness. He looked again at the Regent, this time for succour. The Regent was whispering to Messer Aliprandi, and almost at once the Orator of Milan leaned forward to address the Podestà.
'My I speak a word in your court, my lord?'
The Podestà turned to him in some surprise. It was not often that an ambassador intervened in the trial of a rogue accused of theft and murder.
'At your good pleasure, my lord.'
'With submission, then, may I beg that, considering the identity claimed by this prisoner and the relationship urged with his magnificence the Count of Biandrate, the proceedings against him be suspended until this identity shall have been tested by ordinary means?'