'The truth! The truth!' cried the lad in terror. 'May God strike me dumb forever if I have uttered a lie.'
'Quiet! Quiet!' the Princess admonished him. 'Be sure we know when you speak the truth. Keep to it and fear nothing. Did you hear mention of any name in connection with that section of the line?'
'Did I?' He searched his mind, and his eyes brightened. 'Aye, aye, I did. They spoke amongst them. They named one Calmaldola, or ... Carmandola ...'
'Or Carmagnola,' da Tenda cut in, and laughed splutteringly in sheer contempt. 'It's clear, I think, that Theodore's letter was intended for just the purpose that it's served.'
'Clear? How is it clear?' Carmagnola's contempt was in the question.
'In everything, now that we have heard this clown. Why was he sent to the southern section? Do you suppose Theodore did not know that Valsassina himself and those directly under him, of whom I was one, were quartered in Quinto, on the western side?' Then his voice swelled up in anger. 'Why was this messenger not examined sooner, or ...' he checked and his eyes narrowed as they fixed themselves on Carmagnola's flushed and angry face '... or, was he?'
'Was he?' roared Carmagnola. 'Now what the devil do you mean?'
'You know what I mean, Carmagnola. You led us all within an ace of doing murder. Did you lead us so because you're a fool, or a villain? Which?'
Carmagnola sprang for him, roaring like a bull. The other captains got between, and the Princess on her feet, commanding, imperious, added her voice sharply to theirs to restore order. They obeyed that slim, frail woman, scarcely more than a girl, as she stood there straight and tense in her wine-coloured mantle, her red-gold head so proudly held, her dark eyes burning in her white face.
'Captain Ugolino, that was ill said of you,' she reproved him. 'You forget that if this messenger was not examined before, the blame for that is upon all of us. We took too much for granted and too readily against the Prince of Valsassina.'