CHAPTER XXV. THE CAPITULATION OF ROCCALEONE
In the sunshine of that bright May morning Francesco and his men wentmerrily to work to possess themselves of the ducal camp, and the firstbusiness of the day was to arm those soldiers who had come out unarmed.Of weapons there was no lack, and to these they helped themselvesin liberal fashion, whilst here and there a man would pause to don ahaubergeon or press a steel cap on his head.
Three sentries only had been left to guard the tents, and of theseFortemani and a couple of his men had made prisoners whilst the otherswere removing the bridge by which the invaders had entered. And nowbeneath the open postern by the drawbridge gaped a surging torrent thatno man would have the hardihood to attempt to swim.
In that opening, presently, appeared Gian Maria, his face red foronce, and behind him a clamouring crowd of men-at-arms who shared theirmaster's rage at the manner in which they had been trapped.
At the rear of the tents Valentina and her ladies awaited the issue ofthe parley that now seemed toward. The bulk of the men were busy at GianMaria's cannons, and under Francesco's supervision they were trainingthem upon the drawbridge.
From the castle a mighty shout went up. The men disappeared from thepostern to reappear a moment later on the ramparts, and Francescolaughed deep down in his throat as he perceived the purpose of this.They had bethought them of the guns that were mounted there, and weregone to use them against Valentina's little army. Gun after gun theytried, and a fierce cry of rage burst forth when they realised by whatdummies they had been held in check during the past week. This wasfollowed by a silence of some moments, terminated at last by the soundof a bugle.
Answering that summons to a parley, and with a last word of injunctionto Fortemani, who was left in charge of the men at the guns, Francescorode forward on one of Gian Maria's horses, escorted by Lanciotto andZaccaria similarly mounted, and each armed with a loaded arquebuse.
Under the walls of Roccaleone he drew rein, laughing to himself at thismonstrous change of sides. As he halted--helmet on head, but beaveropen--a body came hurtling over the battlements and splashed into thefoaming waters below. It was the corpse of Aventano, which Gian Mariahad peremptorily bidden them to remove from his sight.
"I desire to speak with Monna Valentina della Rovere," cried the furiousDuke.
"You may speak with me, Gian Maria," answered Francesco's voice,clear and metallic. "I am her representative, her sometime Provost ofRoccaleone."
"Who are you?" quoth the Duke, struck by a familiar note in that mockingvoice.
"Francesco del Falco, Count of Aquila."
"By God! You!"
"An age of marvels, is it not?" laughed Francesco.
"Which will you lose, my cousin--a wife or a duchy?"
Rage struck Gian Maria speechless for a moment. Then he turned toGuidobaldo and whispered something; but Guidobaldo, who seemed vastlyinterested now in this knight below, merely shrugged his shoulders.
"I will lose neither, Messer Francesco," roared the Duke. "Neither, byGod!" he screamed. "Neither, do you hear me?"
"I should be deaf else," was the easy answer, "But you are gravely atfault. One or the other you must relinquish, and it is yours to make achoice between them. The game has gone against you, Gian Maria, and youmust pay."
"But have I no voice in the bartering of my niece?" asked Guidobaldo,with cold dignity. "Is it for you, Lord Count, to say whether yourcousin shall wed her or not?"
"Why, no. He may wed her if he will, but he will be a duke no longer. Infact, he will be an outcast with no title to lay claim to, if indeed theBabbianians will leave him a head at all; whilst I, at least, thoughnot a duke with a tottering throne, am a count with lands, smallbut securely held, and shall become a duke if Gian Maria refuses torelinquish me your niece. So that if he be disposed to marry her,will you be disposed to let her marry a homeless vagrant or a headlesscorpse?"
Guidobaldo's face seemed to change, and his eyes looked curiously at thewhite-faced Duke beside him.
"So you are the other pretender to my niece's hand, Lord Count?" heasked, in his coldest voice.
"I am, Highness," answered Francesco quietly. "The matter stands thus:Unless Gian Maria is in Babbiano by morning, he forfeits his crown, andit passes to me by the voice of the people; but if he will relinquishhis claim to Monna Valentina in my favour, then I shall journey straightto Aquila, and I shall trouble Babbiano no more. If he refuses, andinsists upon this wedding, abhorrent to Monna Valentina, why, then, mymen shall hold him captive behind those walls until it be too late forhim to reach his duchy in time to save the crown. In the meantime I willride to Babbiano in his stead, and--reluctant though I be to play theduke--I shall accept the throne and silence the people's importunities.He can then endeavour to win your Highness's consent to the union."
For perhaps the first time in his life Guidobaldo was guilty of an actof positive discourtesy. He broke into a laugh--a boisterous, amusedlaugh that cut into Gian Maria's heart like a knife.
"Why, Lord Count," he said, "I confess that you have us very much inyour hands to mould us as you will. Now, you are such a soldier and sucha strategist as it would pleasure me to have about my person in Urbino.What says your Highness?" he continued, turning now to the almostspeechless Gian Maria. "I have yet another niece with whom we mightcement the union of the two duchies; and she might prove more willing.Women, it seems, will insist upon being women. Do you not think thatMonna Valentina and this your valiant cousin----"
"Heed him not!" screamed Gian Maria, now in a white heat of passion."He is a smooth-tongued dog that would argue the very devil out of hell.Make no terms with the hind! I have a hundred men, and----" He swungsuddenly round. "Let down that drawbridge, cowards!" he bawled at them,"and sweep me those animals from my tents."
"Gian Maria, I give you warning," cried Francesco, loudly and firmly. "Ihave trained your own guns on to that bridge, and at the first attemptto lower it I'll blow it into splinters. You come not out of Roccaleonesave at my pleasure and upon my terms, and if you lose your duchy byyour obstinacy, it will be your own work; but answer me now, that I maytake my course."
Guidobaldo, too, restrained Gian Maria, and countermanded his order forthe lowering of the bridge. And now on his other side Gonzaga crept upto him, and whispered into his ear the suggestion that he should waituntil night had fallen.
"Wait until night, fool!" blazed the Duke, turning on him, in a fiercejoy at finding one whom he might rend. "If I wait until then, my throneis lost to me. This comes of sorting with traitors. It is your fault,you Judas!" he cried more fiercely still, his face distorted; "but youat least shall pay for what you have done."
Gonzaga saw a sudden flash of steel before his eyes, and a piercingscream broke from him as Gian Maria's dagger buried itself in hisbreast. Too late Guidobaldo put forward a hand to stay the Duke.
And so, by a strangely avenging justice, the magnificent Gonzagasank dead on the very spot on which he had so cravenly and dastardlyponiarded Aventano.
"Throw me that carrion into the moat," growled Gian Maria, stillquivering with rage that had prompted his ferocious act.
He was obeyed, and thus murdered and murderer were united in a commongrave.
After the first attempt to restrain Gian Maria, Guidobaldo had lookedon in unconcern, deeming the act a very fitting punishment of a man withwhose treachery he, at least, had never been in sympathy.
As he saw the body vanish in the torrent below, Gian Maria seemed torealise what he had done. His anger fell from him, and with bent head hepiously crossed himself. Then turning to an attendant who stood at hiselbow:
"See that a Mass is said for his soul to-morrow," he solemnly bade him.
As if the act had served to pacify him and restore him to his senses,Gian Maria now stepped forward and asked his cousin, in calmer tonesthan he had hitherto employed, to make clear the terms on which he wouldpermit him to return to Babbiano within the time to which his peoplelimited him.
"They a
re no more than that you relinquish your claim to MonnaValentina, and that you find consolation--as I think his Highness ofUrbino has himself suggested--in the Lord Guidobaldo's younger niece."
Before he could reply Guidobaldo was urging him, in a low voice toaccept the terms.
"What else is there for you?" Montefeltro ended pregnantly.
"And this other niece of yours----?" quoth Gian Maria lamely.
"I have already passed my word," answered Guidobaldo.
"And Monna Valentina?" the other almost whined.
"May wed this headstrong condottiero of hers. I'll not withstand them.Come; I am your friend in this. I am even sacrificing Valentina to yourinterests. For if you persist, he will ruin you. The game is his, mylord. Acknowledge your defeat, as I acknowledge mine, and pay."
"But what is your defeat to mine?" cried Gian Maria, who saw throughGuidobaldo's appreciation of the fact that such a nephew-in-law asFrancesco del Falco was far from undesirable in the troublous times thatthreatened.
"It is at least as absolute," returned Guidobaldo, with a shrug. And inthis vein the Duke of Urbino continued for some moments, till, in theend, Gian Maria found himself not only deserted by his ally, but havingthis ally now combating on his cousin's side and pressing him to accepthis cousin's terms, distasteful though they were. Thus urged, Gian Marialamely acknowledged his defeat and his willingness to pay the forfeit.With that he asked how soon he might be permitted to leave the castle.
"Why, at once, now that I have your word," answered Francesco readily,whereat treachery gleamed from Gian Maria's eye, to be swiftly quenchedby Francesco's next words. "But lest your men and mine should come totrouble with one another, you will order yours to come forth withoutarms or armour, and you will depose your own. His Highness Guidobaldo isthe only man in whose favour I can make an exception to this condition.Let it be broken, and I promise you that you will very bitterly regretit. At sight of the first armed man issuing from those gates, I'll givethe word to fire on you, and your own guns shall work your destruction."
Thus was the second siege of Roccaleone ended almost as soon as it wasbegun, and thus did Gian Maria capitulate to the conqueror. The Duke ofBabbiano and his men marched out sheepishly and silently, and took theirway to Babbiano, no word--not even so much as a glance--passing betweenGian Maria and the lady who had been the cause of his discomfiture, andwho blithely looked on at his departure.
Guidobaldo and his few attendants lingered after his late ally had gone.Then he bade Francesco lead him to his niece, in which Francesco readilyobeyed him.
The Duke embraced her coldly--still that he embraced her at all afterwhat was passed augured well.
"You will come with me to Urbino, Lord Count?" he said suddenly toFrancesco. "It were best to celebrate the nuptials there. Everything isin readiness--for all had been prepared for Gian Maria."
A great joy came into Valentina's eyes; her cheeks flushed and herglance fell; but Francesco scanned the Duke's face with the keen eye ofone who is incredulous of so much good fortune.
"Your Highness means me well?" he made bold to ask. Guidobaldostiffened, and a frown broke the serenity of his lofty brow.
"You have my princely word," he answered solemnly, at which, with bendedknee, Francesco stooped to kiss his ducal hand.
And so they departed on the horses that they kept as the spoils of war.They made a goodly show, Guidobaldo riding at their head, with Francescoand Valentina, whilst the rear was brought up by Peppe and Fra Domenico,who, touched by this epidemic of goodwill, were at last fraternisingwith each other.
And as they rode it chanced that presently Guidobaldo fell behind,so that for a moment Francesco and Valentina found themselves alone alittle ahead of the others. She turned to him, a shyness in her browneyes, a tremble at the corners of her red lips:
"You have not yet said that you forgive me, Francesco," she complained,in a timerous whisper. "Were it not seemly that you did since we are tobe wed so soon?"
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