I came out into the open space before the Porta Fodesta, and so to the gate itself. From one of the windows of the gatehouse, a light shone yellow, and, presently, in answer to my call, out came an officer followed by two men, one of whom carried a lanthorn swinging from his pike. He held this light aloft, whilst the officer surveyed me.
“What now?” he challenged. “None passes out to-night.”
For answer I thrust the paper under his nose. “Orders from my Lord Gambara,” said I.
But he never looked at it. “None passes out to-night,” he repeated imperturbably. “So run my orders.”
“Orders from whom?” quoth I, surprised by his tone and manner.
“From the Captain of Justice, if you must know. So you may get you back whence you came, and wait till daylight.”
“Ah, but stay,” I said. “I do not think you can have heard me. I carry orders from my Lord the Governor. The Captain of Justice cannot overbear these.” And I shook the paper insistently.
“My orders are that none is to pass—not even the Governor himself,” he answered firmly.
It was very daring of Cosimo, and I saw his aim. He was, as Gambara had said, a very subtle gentleman. He, too, had set his finger upon the pulse of the populace, and perceived what might be expected of it. He was athirst for vengeance, as he had shown me, and determined that neither I nor Gambara should escape. First, I must be tried, condemned, and hanged, and then he trusted, no doubt, that Gambara would be torn in pieces; and it was quite possible that Messer Cosimo himself would secretly find means to fan the mob's indignation against the Legate into fierce activity. And it seemed that the game was in his hands, for this officer's resoluteness showed how implicitly my cousin was obeyed.
Of that same resoluteness of the lieutenant's I was to have a yet more signal proof. For presently, whilst still I stood there vainly remonstrating, down the street behind me rode Gambara himself on a tall horse, followed by a mule-litter and an escort of half a score of armed grooms.