'For your entertainment, then: what you could not do without destroying yourself was easily possible to me.' And he told her of his pretended petition, giving the Regent the names of those who plotted against his life.
He saw her clutch her breast, caught the gasp of dread and dismay that broke from her lips.
'You betrayed them!'
'Was it not what you announced that you would do if they did not abandon their plan of murder? I was your deputy, no more. When I presented myself as Facino Cane's adopted son I was readily believed—because the Regent cared little whether it were true or not, since in me he perceived the very agent that he needed.'
'Ah, now at last we have something that does not strain belief.'
'Will it strain belief that the Regent was already fully informed of this conspiracy?'
'What!'
'Why else should he have trusted or believed me? Of his own knowledge he knew that what I told him was true.'
'He knew and he held his hand?' Again the question was made scornful by unbelief.
'Because he lacked evidence that you, and, through you, your brother, were parties to the plot. What to him are Barbaresco's shabby crew? It is the Marquis Gian Giacomo who must be removed in such a manner as not to impair the Lord Regent's credit. To gather evidence am I now sent.'