Now here was a change of tone, thought Bellarion, and he was no longer addressed contemptuously as 'rogue.' He took full advantage of it.
'I am to testify? Why, so I will.' He looked at the Regent, and found the Regent's eyes upon him, stern and commanding in a face that was set. He read its message.
'But there is little to which I can speak, for I do not know the cause of the quarrel that broke out between Count Spigno and Messer Barbaresco. I was not present at the beginnings. I was drawn to it by the uproar, and when I arrived, Count Spigno was already dead. At sight of me, perhaps because I was a witness and might inform against them, I was set upon by Messer Barbaresco and his friends. I wounded Barbaresco, and so got away, locking myself in a room. I was escaping thence by a window when the watch came up. That is all I can say.'
It was a tale, he thought, that must convey to the Regent the full explanation. But whatever it may have done in that quarter, it did not satisfy the Podestà.
'I could credit this more easily,' said the latter, 'but for the circumstance that Count Spigno and yourself were fully dressed, whilst Messer Barbaresco and the others were in their shirts. That in itself suggests who were the aggressors, who the attacked.'
'It might but for the flight of Messer Barbaresco and the others. Innocent men do not run away.'
'Out of your own mouth you have pronounced it,' thundered the Podestà. 'You profess innocence of association with Lorenzaccio. Yet you ran away on that occasion.'
'Oh, but the difference ... The appearances against a single man unknown in these parts ...'
'Can you explain how you and the dead count came to be dressed and the others not?' It was more than a question. It was a challenge.
Bellarion looked at the Regent. But the Regent made no sign. He continued to eye Bellarion coldly and sternly. Ready enough to tell the full lie he had prepared, yet he had the wit to perceive that the Regent, whilst not suspecting its untruth, might find the disclosure inconvenient, in which case he would certainly be lost. As a spy, he reasoned, he could only be of value to the Regent as long as this fact remained undiscovered. So he took his resolve.