Read Manly Wade Wellman - Novel 1940 for Free Online

lights and viewpoints,
while he lowered the picture itself, or lifted it or moved it from side to side
at his will.
    In the midst of my work, a boy came in from the street. He
approached and said, very softly, that he had a message.
    "A message?" I
demanded, turning. "For whom?"
    The little fellow bowed. "For you, Ser
Leo. I am ordered to conduct you to a place in the next street."
    "How do you know my name?" I asked, and looked
sharply at him.
    Then I saw that it was no boy, but the dwarf who had once
opened Guaracco's door to me, and whom I had then mistaken for a handsome
child.
    "Come," he persisted, "you are awaited."
    Turning from my work, I asked Verrocchio if I might be
excused for a few moments. He glanced up from the bench where he and two other
students were studying the plans of a chapel, and nodded his permission.
    "Is it Guaracco who waits to see me?" I asked
the dwarf as we emerged from the bottega into the sticky sunlight, but he
smiled mysteriously and shook his little head.
    HE walked along the street, my guide, trotting in front,
and turned a corner.
    There, at the brink of the river, was a small dwelling
house surrounded by a green garden,
    "Go in, Ser Leo," the dwarf bade me, and ran
around to the back with the nimble suddenness of a dog. Left alone, I knocked
at the door.
    There was no answer, and I pushed down the latch and went
in. I found myself in a cool, dark hall, paneled in wood. On a
leather-cushioned sofa sat Lisa, the ward of Guaracco.
    Her feet were pressed close together under the hem of her
wide skirt, and her hands were clasped in her lap. About her whole attitude there
was an air of tense, embarrassed expectancy. She looked up as I came in, and
then quickly dropped her gaze, making no answer to my surprised greeting.
    As I came farther into the room, approaching the girl, a
pale oblong caught my eye—a folded paper, lying on a little round center table.
Upon it were written three large letters:
    LEO
    "Is this for me?" I asked Lisa, who only bowed
her head the lower. I began to catch something of her embarrassment.
    "Your pardon for a moment," I requested, and
opened the paper.
    The letter was brief and to the point. It read:
    My dear Adopted Kinsman:
    You have thus far pleased me much, and I have high hopes
of great advantage from your acquaintance and endeavor. It occurs to me to make
you a present. In the short time you were my guest, you saw my ward, Lisa. She
likes you, and you are not averse to her society. Take her, therefore, and I
wish you joy of each other.
    From
    Guaracco.

CHAPTER
V
     
    The
Gift of Guaracco
     
    THE first sentence of the letter astonished me beyond
measure. The last had two effects, overwhelming and sudden in succession, like
the two reports of a great double barreled gun.
    For my primary impulse was to rejoice, to be glad and
thankful. Why had I never realized that I loved Lisa?
    Thinking of her now—how could I help but love her? But my
second reaction was one of horrified knowledge of what Guaracco meant by such a
gift.
    "Lisa, fair mistress," I said, "this letter—you
know what it says?"
    She nodded, and the living rose touched her ivory skin.
    "It cannot be," I told her soberly.
    "Cannot?" she repeated, no louder than a sigh.
It might have been a protest, it might have been an
agreement.
    I overcame an impulse to fall on one knee before her, like
any melodramatic courtier of that unrestrained age and land.
    "Lisa," I said again, desperately choosing my
words, "first of all, let me say that I am deeply moved by the mere
thought of winning you. Guaracco appears to mean what he says, and you appear
to be ready to consent."
    Watching her, I saw the trembling of her lips. "But I
cannot take you at his hands, Lisa."
    At last she looked me full in the face. She, too, began to
comprehend.
    "That subtle wizand, Guaracco," I went on,
growing warm to the outrage he would wreak, "tries to rule us both by
fear. He sees that he is not successful. We yield slowly,