Marjorie Bowen

“ Valentine turned again to Tisio's page.
"Take thy lord away," she said. "The Duke may not be best pleased to see him here."
But Tisio would not go. Valentine, bending over him, stroked his hands tenderly, then breaking from him, leaned against the wall in sudden woe.
"All of us crazed," she cried bitterly. "All of us, surely; wretched people that we are!"
Then, at the sight of the parchment she held, her former mood returned. Conrad was alive! He had vowed devotion. He would return to her rescue. She would live to be free ”

“ She leaned back against the arras a moment, dizzy at the thought of so much joy, and her courage rose high, her eyes danced.
"The Duke must have this parchment," she said; "and since Alberic da Salluzzo does not care to seek an audience for it, why, Tisio, thou shalt see me give it. The Duke loves not an interruption when he is angry," she added, with a soft laugh. ”

“ She had not much faith in the page's words; besides, how dare she venture to the Visconti's palace? Her tears flowed afresh; she picked up the poor discarded lilies, all her pleasure gone. In the distance she could see Tisio, still handling the bracelet with delight, and she half-smiled, even through her tears, at so strange and pitiful a thing. "It makes the poor crazy lord happy," she said softly, "but it breaks my heart to lose it." She watched Tisio disappear ”

“ Gian advanced and took it in silence. But those torn ruffles, that disordered doublet, had their meanings, and the look in those wide eyes, as he turned them on her, quelled the mockery in hers, spite of herself. ”

“ He will see no one." Alberic half-laughed, and shrugged his shoulders.
"The madness is on him at Count von Schulembourg's escape. Is that it?" he asked. "But art even thou excluded?" he continued in surprise, for Giannotto was the one man who could come and go unannounced, unbidden, the one man who knew Visconti's secrets.
The secretary smiled, the slow smile that men's lips learned in the Visconti palace.
"It is best for the Duke to be alone, and for me that he should be," he said. "The news that Count Conrad has escaped hath galled him much ”

“ Tisio fumed. "The bracelet," he said peevishly, and the page motioned to her harshly to remain.
Graziosa turned to him in confusion and distress.
"I cannot give it him," she said, the tears starting. "I entreat thee, sir, ask him to let me go."
But the page intimated to her warningly she had best make no to-do. There was only one law for the citizens of Milan: that was the tyranny of the Visconti; let the one who encountered it only in the capricious whim of the crazy Tisio be thankful.
"Hold it good fortune, it is naught but a bauble he demands," said the page. "Give him the bracelet ”