Instantly she was all soft and pleading. A fool she was. Nevertheless—indeed, perhaps because of it—she had a ready grasp of the weapons of her sex.
'Oh, Bellarion, I do not threaten. I implore ... I ...'
'Silence were your best agent now.' He was curt. 'I know your wishes, and ...' He broke off with a rough wave of his hand. 'Where should I go?' he asked, but the question was addressed to Fate and not to her. She answered it, however.
'Do you ask that, Bellarion? Why, in this past month since Alessandria fell your fame has gone out over the face of Italy. The credit for two such great victories as those of Travo and Alessandria is all your own, and the means by which you won them are on every man's tongue.'
'Aye! Facino is generous!' he said, and his tone was bitter.
'There's not a prince in Italy would not be glad to employ you.'
'In fact the world is full of places for those we would dismiss.'
After that they rode in silence until they were under the walls of the city.
'You'll go, Bellarion?'
'I am considering.' He was very grave, swayed between anger and a curious pity, and weighing other things besides.