'Remember that we hold your children, and shall not hesitate to hang them before your eyes if—'
'I know your Christian spirit, Monsignor,' she interrupted.
But when she was inside she turned to us, and from the ramparts addressed us with mocking laughter. The fury which had been boiling within her burst out. She hurled at us words of foul abuse, so that one might have thought her a fishwife; she threatened us with death, and every kind of torture, in revenge for the murder of her husband....
We stood looking up at her with open mouths, dumbfounded. A cry of rage broke from the people; Matteo uttered an oath. Checco looked angrily at Savello, but said nothing. The priest was furious; his big red face grew purple, and his eyes glistened like a serpent's.
'Bastard!' he hissed. 'Bastard!'
Trembling with anger, he ordered the children to be sent for, and he cried out to the Countess,—
'Do not think that we shall hesitate. Your sons shall be hanged before your very eyes.'
'I have the means of making more,' she replied scornfully.
She was lion-hearted. I could not help feeling admiration for the extraordinary woman. Surely she could not sacrifice her children! And I wondered if a man would have had the courage to give that bold answer to Savello's threats.
Savello's expression had become fiendish. He turned to his assistants.