They then quitted the tent, and, enveloped in long russet-coloured cloaks, which completely covered their armour, passed out of the camp, and cautiously approached the Aurelian Wall.
VIII. BENVENUTO CELLINI.
No sooner had Marcelline gained the ramparts, than the ladder she had ascended was drawn up by the sentinels. Before she could move off, a martial personage, accoutred in a steel cap and corslet, and armed with an arquebuss, came up and detained her.
“Ha! where have you been, sister?” he demanded, sternly. “Speak!—give an account of yourself.”
“I have been in the enemy's camp,” she replied, “and have spoken with the general himself.”
“With Bourbon!” exclaimed the soldier. “You are trifling with me.”
“On my life I am not,” she rejoined, “I have seen him as I see you, but I have failed in my object, which was to dissuade him from the attack.”
“I am not surprised at it,” said the soldier, contemptuously. “You have gone on a mad errand. Did you for a moment suppose that Bourbon would turn back at your entreaties?”
“Bourbon has a noble heart, and I thought to move him,” she rejoined.
“Tut! Rome is not likely to be saved from sack by a woman's prayers and entreaties,” said the soldier. “We must keep Bourbon and his bands out of the city, if we can. If they once get in, woe betide us! But how is this?” he cried, noticing the dilapidated state of the ramparts. “This wall ought to have been repaired.”