He choked with anger at the
thought of having played the dupe when two lives he cherished were
staked upon his vigilance...
To his furious summons Cantapresto presented a blank wall of ignorance.
Yes, the Cavaliere had given orders that the carriage should be ready
before daybreak; but who was authorised to wake the cavaliere? After
keeping the carriage two hours at the door Cantapresto had ventured to
send it back to the stable; but the horses should instantly be put to,
and within an hour they would be well forward on their journey.
Meanwhile, should the barber be summoned at once? Or would the cavaliere
first refresh himself with an excellent cup of chocolate, prepared under
Cantapresto's own supervision?
Odo turned on him savagely. "Traitor--spy! In whose pay--?"
But the words roused him to a fresh sense of peril. Cantapresto, though
he might have guessed Odo's intention, was not privy to his plan of
rejoining Vivaldi and Fulvia; and it flashed across the young man that
his self-betrayal must confirm the others' suspicions. His one hope of
protecting his friends was to affect indifference to what had happened;
and this was made easier, by the reflection that Cantapresto was after
all but a tool in more powerful hands. To be spied on was so natural to
an Italian of that day that the victim's instinct was rather to
circumvent the spy than to denounce him.
Odo dismissed Cantapresto with the reply that he would give orders about
the carriage later; desiring that meanwhile the soprano should purchase
the handsomest set of filigree ornaments to be found in Vercelli, and
carry them with the Cavaliere Valsecca's compliments to the Signorina
Malmocco.
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