She laughed chillingly. 'For once you offer an explanation that goes a little lame. Your invention is failing, sir.'
'Nay, lady; my understanding,' he answered sadly.
She set a hand upon his arm. He felt it quivering there, which surprised him almost as much as the change in her voice, now suddenly halting and unsteady.
'Messer Bellarion, if my suspicions wound you, set them down to my distraction. It is so easy, so dangerously easy, to believe what we desire to believe.'
'I know,' he said gently. 'Yet when you've slept on what I've said, you'll find that your safety lies in trusting me.'
'Safety! Am I concerned with safety only? To-night you saw my brother...'
'I saw. If that is Messer Castruccio's work ...'
'Castruccio is but a tool. Come, sir. We talk in vain.' She began to move along the terrace towards her waiting ladies. Suddenly she paused. 'I must trust you, Ser Bellarion. I must or I shall go mad in this ugly tangle. I'll take the risk. If you are not true, if you win my trust only to abuse it and work the evil will of the Regent, then God will surely punish you.'
'I think so, too,' he breathed.
'Tell me now,' she questioned, 'what shall you say to my uncle?'