That reluctance he afterwards expressed to Bellarion, when they were alone.
'You do it, not for Theodore, but for yourself,' he was answered. 'As for Theodore ...' Bellarion smiled quietly.
'You need not grudge him any advantages. They will prove very transient. Pay-day will come for him.'
Facino looked sharply at his adoptive son. 'Why, boy,' said he, at last, in a voice of wonder. 'What is there between you and Theodore of Montferrat?'
'Only my knowledge that he's a scoundrel.'
'If you mean to make yourself the scourge of scoundrels you'll be busy in Italy. Why, it's sheer knight-errantry!'
'You may call it that,' said Bellarion, and became thoughtful.
CHAPTER II
THE BATTLE OF NOVI
The rest of this affair—this campaign against the too-ambitious vicar of the King of France—is a matter of history, which you may read in the chronicles of Messer Corio and elsewhere.