Mancini's laugh faded into a tremulous cackle, then died out, and with
gaping mouth and glassy eyes he sat there staring at his uncle.
Thus we stayed in silence while a man might count mayhap a dozen; then the
Cardinal's voice rang harsh and full of anger.
"'T is thus that you fulfil your trust, M. de Luynes!" he said.
"Your Eminence--" I began, scarce knowing what I should say, when he cut me
short.
"I will deal with you presently and elsewhere." He stepped up to Andrea,
and surveyed him for a moment in disgust. "Get up, sir!" he commanded.
"Get up!"
The lad sought to obey him with an alacrity that merited a kinder fate.
Had he been in less haste perchance he had been more successful. As it
was, he had got no farther than his knees when his right leg slid from
under him, and he fell prone among the shattered tableware, mumbling curses
and apologies in a breath.
Mazarin stood gazing at him with an eye that was eloquent in scorn, then
bending down he spoke quickly to him in Italian. What he said I know not,
being ignorant of their mother tongue; but from the fierceness of his
utterance I'll wager my soul 't was nothing sweet to listen to.
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