Go back. If you meet
Marc'antonio upon the road, give him this message for me.'
'But where, O Princess,' I asked, 'are we to await your pleasure?'
'Fare north, if you will, to Cape Corso,' she said, 'where that old
mad Englishman boasts that he will reach my mother in her prison at
Giraglia. He has gone thither alone, refusing help; and you may
perhaps be useful to him.'"
Marc'antonio's growl grew deeper. "Was that all?" he asked.
"That was all."
"Then there is mischief here. The Prince, O Stephanu, did not
without purpose send you out of the way. Now, whatever he purposed
he must have meant to do quickly, before we two should return to the
camp--"
"He had mischief in his heart, I will swear," assented Stephanu,
after a glance at me and another at Marc'antonio, who reassured him
with a nod. "And that the Princess plainly guessed, by her manner at
parting, when I set out with the man Priske. She was sorry enough
then to say good-bye to me," he added, half boastfully.
"Nevertheless," answered Marc'antonio with some sarcasm, "she appears
to have neglected to confide to you what she feared.
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