The voice was Concetta Fontana's. Accompanied by her father and Sor Stefano, she forced her way through the crowd to where Don Agostino and Silvio were standing.
"Yes," roared out Sor Beppe, "my daughter is right—and you—you are pigs and beasts, and it is I who say it! Don Agostino knew no more than I did that the soldiers had been summoned. Evviva il fidanzato della principessina!"
The effect of Sor Beppe's intervention was instantaneous, and the mob took up his cry, while Concetta, after whispering a few words in her father's ear, disappeared within the gateway of the castle.
Suddenly a cry arose from the end of the piazza. "The troops—the troops!"
The leaders of the peasants shouted to the rest to follow them. "Back to the castle!" they cried. "The soldiers shall find us there!" and the crowd surged again through the broken-down gates into the court-yard.
"For the love of God, come!" exclaimed Don Agostino to his companions. "We must put ourselves between them and the soldiers, or who knows what may happen? You, Signor Mazza, speak to the peasants—they will listen to you." Accompanied by Silvio, Fontana, and Sor Stefano, Don Agostino hurried to the gateway and entered the court-yard. Already the mob had swarmed up the staircase at the opposite end of the court, and the foremost were attempting to break in the great double doors in the centre of the piano nobile.
They were scarcely inside the court, when the quick tramp of armed men was heard in the piazza; a sharp word of command re-echoed through the gateway, and then a long metallic rattle of steel, as a company of grenadiers and a detachment of infantry fixed bayonets. A moment afterwards the granatieri marched through the gateway, the officer in command of them being accompanied by a delegate of public safety wearing the tricolor scarf.
The delegate stepped forward, and in the name of the law called upon the rioters to desist. A shout of defiance answered his words. "We go to see our padrona! Evviva la principessina, abbasso gli stranieri!" and a volley of blows resounded on the doors at the top of the double flight of steps.
At this moment the outside shutters of a window in the gallery were thrown open, and the Abbé Roux appeared at it.
"Signor Delegate," he cried, "in the name of the Principessa di Montefiano, I call upon you to protect the inhabitants of this castle from the assault of a disorderly mob. Those men," he added, pointing to Don Agostino and his companions, "are the ringleaders—they are responsible for this agitation."