CHAPTER XIII
I HAD not much time for such womanish moments. Soon Simonetta returned to me, and there was fear in her face.
"It is Mazzaleone's bidding that you and I shall come to the foot of the garden," said she.
In our house that evening there was a great company assembled, since those who live under such a shadow as we do not love solitude. When we gained the great hall we stood aside while Mazzaleone was talking to this one or that one. Then says he to my lady:
"The night is warm. Shall we walk for a while in the garden?" Together they walked forth into the night. After a moment, as we had been bidden, we followed them. Our garden marches down, terrace by terrace, to the river. A narrow slit it is, and full of solemn cypresses, and at this season full of oleander bloom. It seemed to me as I walked past their ghostly flowers that I had never heard so much rustling among the leaves; unrest was in the air, and fear. I felt that there was some hidden menace
71
