"And when was this ?" "On the Wednesday before Easter, as Monna Valentina was journeying from Santa Sofia to Urbino." No word spake the Duke in answer.

He stood still, his head bowed, and his thoughts running again on that conspiracy.

The mountain fight in which Masuccio had been killed had taken place on the Tuesday night, and the conviction--scant though the evidence might be--grew upon him that this man was one of the conspirators who had escaped.
"How came your lady to speak with this man--was he known to her ?" he inquired at last.
"No, Highness; but he was wounded, and so aroused her compassion.

She sought to minister to his hurt." "Wounded ?" cried Gian Maria, in a shout.

"Now, by God, it is as I suspected.