'Courteous?' snorted Carmagnola. 'That is the last term I should apply to his boorishness. By what right does he come hectoring here?'
'By the right of his old affection for me and my brother. That is what makes him hot. For my sake, then, bear with him, sir.'
The great man bowed, his hand upon his heart, signifying that for her sake there was no indignity he would not suffer.
Thereafter he defended himself with great dignity. If the letter had been all, he might have taken Barbaresco's views. But it was, he repeated, the traitor Bellarion's avowed intention to raise the siege. That, in itself, was a proof of his double-dealing.
'How did this letter come to you?' Barbaresco asked.
Gian Giacomo answered whilst Valeria added in bitter self-reproach, 'And this messenger was never examined, although Bellarion demanded that he should be brought before us.'
'Do you upbraid me with that, madonna?' Carmagnola cried. 'He was a poor clown, who could have told us nothing. He was not examined because it would have been waste of time.'
'Let us waste it now,' said Barbaresco.
'To what purpose, sir?'
'Why, to beguile our leisure. No other entertainment offers.'