THE NINTH MAN
"And mine!" cries another, a cadet of the Moreale.
And Messer Gubbio: "Sirs! Sirs! Are not your lives of more value than those of a witless girl or a blind beggar? Consider."
Then cries out the angry old Lord Ludovico, "I have considered for the hour past, until the blood of innocents and the unfortunates is swilling about my ankles."
Now a dispute arose high on this side and that, many for the plan, and some against it. As for Mazzaleone, he took his own terrible and silent joy in the spectacle; as one who bathes upon a hot day, so did he bathe in the ebb and flow of the passions of men.
And in the midst of this dispute there came the shrill noise of the singing of children, and from the back of the hall came down the Brother Minor, Agnello, and the blond child beside him, and following his band, to which had been added a woman or two and some youths and maidens; and the wavering voices of the old men and the shrill piping of the children cut through the talk as a tiny ray of light the black darkness of night. Silence followed in their wake, and all stared at them in amazement.
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