When we arrived at the Palazzo Orsi, many of the guests had already
come. Matteo was immediately surrounded by his friends; and a score of
ladies beckoned to him from different parts of the room, so that he was
torn away from me, leaving me rather disconsolate alone in the crowd.
Presently I was attracted to a group of men talking to a woman whom I
could not see; Matteo had joined them, and they were laughing at
something he had said. I had turned away to look at other people when I
heard Matteo calling me.
'Filippo,' he said, coming towards me, 'come and be introduced to Donna
Giulia; she has asked me to present you.'
He took me by the arm, and I saw that the lady and her admirers were
looking at me.
'She's no better than she should be,' he whispered in my ear; 'but she's
the loveliest woman in Forli!'
'Allow me to add another to your circle of adorers, Donna Giulia,' said
Matteo, as we both bowed--'Messer Filippo Brandolini, like myself, a
soldier of distinction.'
I saw a graceful little woman, dressed in some Oriental brocade; a
small face, with quite tiny features, large brown eyes, which struck me
at the first glance as very soft and caressing, a mass of dark,
reddish-brown hair, and a fascinating smile.
'We were asking Matteo where his wounds were,' she said, smiling on me
very graciously. 'He tells us they are all in the region of his heart.'
'In that case,' I answered, 'he has come to a more deadly battlefield
than any we saw during the war.'
'What war?' asked a gentleman who was standing by. 'Nowadays we are in
the happy state of having ten different wars in as many parts of the
country.'
'I was serving under the Duke of Calabria, 'I replied.
'In that case, your battles were bloodless.'
'We came, we saw, and the enemy decamped,' said Matteo.
'And now, taking advantage of the peace, you have come to trouble the
hearts of Forli,' said Donna Giulia.
'Who knows how useful your swords may not be here!' remarked a young
man.
'Be quiet, Nicolo!' said another, and there was an awkward silence,
during which Matteo and I looked at one another in surprise; and then
everyone burst out talking, so that you could not hear what was said.
Matteo and I bowed ourselves away from Donna Giulia, and he took me to
Checco, standing in a group of men.
'You have recovered from your fatigue?' he asked kindly.
'You have been travelling, Matteo?' said one of the company.
'Yes, we rode sixty miles yesterday,' he replied.
'Sixty miles on one horse; you must have good steeds and good
imaginations,' said a big, heavy-looking man--an ugly, sallow-faced
person, whom I hated at first sight.
'It was only once in a way, and we wanted to get home.'
'You could not have come faster if you had been running away from a
battlefield,' said the man.
I thought him needlessly disagreeable, but I did not speak. Matteo had
not cultivated the golden quality.
'You talk as one who has had experience,' he remarked, smiling in his
most amiable manner.
I saw Checco frown at Matteo, while the bystanders looked on
interestedly.
'I only said that,' added the man, shrugging his shoulders, 'because the
Duke of Calabria is rather celebrated for his retreative tactics.'
I entertained a very great respect for the Duke, who had always been a
kind and generous master to me.
'Perhaps you do not know very much about tactics,' I remarked as
offensively as I could.
He turned and looked at me, as if to say, 'Who the devil are you!' He
looked me up and down contemptuously, and I began to feel that I was
almost losing my temper.
'My good young man,' he said, 'I imagine that I was engaged in war when
your battles were with your nursemaid.'
'You have the advantage of me in courtesy as well as in years, sir,' I
replied. 'But I might suggest that a man may fight all his life, and
have no more idea of war at the end than at the beginning.'
'It depends on the intelligence,' remarked Matteo.
'Exactly what I was thinking,' said I.
'What the devil do you mean?' said the man, angrily.
'I don't suppose he means anything at all, Ercole,' put in Checco, with
a forced laugh.
'He can answer for himself, I suppose,' said the man. A flush came over
Checco's face, but he did not answer.
'My good sir,' I said, 'you have to consider whether I choose to
answer.'
'Jackanapes!'
I put my hand to my sword, but Checco caught hold of my arm. I recovered
myself at once.
'I beg your pardon, Messer Checco,' I said; then, turning to the man,
'You are safe in insulting me here. You show your breeding! Really,
Matteo, you did not tell me that you had such a charming
fellow-countryman.'
'You are too hard on us, Filippo,' answered my friend, 'for such a
monstrosity as that Forli is not responsible.'
'I am no Forlivese, thank God! Neither the Count nor I.' He looked round
scornfully. 'We offer up thanks to the Almighty every time the fact
occurs to us. I am a citizen of Castello.'
Matteo was going to burst out, but I anticipated him. 'I, too, am a
citizen of Castello; and allow me to inform you that I consider you a
very insolent fellow, and I apologise to these gentlemen that a
countryman of mine should forget the courtesy due to the city which is
sheltering him.'
'You a Castelese! And, pray, who are you?'
'My name is Filippo Brandolini.'
'I know your house. Mine is Ercole Piacentini.'
'I cannot return the compliment; I have never heard of yours.'
The surrounders laughed.
'My family is as good as yours, sir,' he said.
'Really, I have no acquaintance with the middle-classes of Castello; but
I have no doubt it is respectable.'
I noticed that the listeners seemed very contented, and I judged that
Messer Ercole Piacentini was not greatly loved in Forli; but Checco was
looking on anxiously.
'You insolent young boy!' said the man, furiously. 'How dare you talk to
me like that. I will kick you!'
I put my hand to my sword to draw it, for I was furious too; I pulled at
the hilt, but I felt a hand catch hold of mine and prevent me. I
struggled; then I heard Checco in my ear.
'Don't be a fool,' he said. 'Be quiet!'
'Let me be!' I cried.
'Don't be a fool! You'll ruin us.' He held my sword, so that I could not
draw it.
Ercole saw what was going on; his lips broke into a sarcastic smile.
'You are being taught the useful lesson of discretion, young man. You
are not the only one who has learnt it.' He looked round at the
bystanders....