I would, too, my friends," he continued, with a sigh, "that it were still mine to offer him such encouragement as he deserves.

But I am sorely afraid that my days in Pesaro are numbered, that my sands are all but run--at least, for a little while.

The conqueror is at our gates, and it would be vain to set against the overwhelming force of his numbers the handful of valiant knights and brave soldiers that to-day opposed and scattered his forerunners.

It is my intention to withdraw, now that my honour is safe by what has passed, and that none will dare to say that it was through fear that I fled.

Yet my absence, I trust, may be but brief.