The fool's face was paler than its wont, whilst the usual roguery had passed from his eyes and his mouth, fear having taken possession of its room.

He met the Duke's cruel glance with one of alarm and piteous entreaty.
Having assured himself that Peppe had no weapons, and that his arms were pinioned behind him, Gian Maria bade the two guards withdraw, but hold themselves in readiness in the ante-chamber with Armstadt.

Then he turned to Peppe with a scowl on his low brow.
"You are not so merry as you were this morning, fool," he scoffed.
Peppino squirmed a little, but his nature, schooled by the long habit of jest, prompted a bold whimsicality in his reply.
"The circumstances are scarcely as propitious--to me.

Your Highness, though, seems in excellent good-humour." Gian Maria looked at him angrily a moment.

He was a slow-witted man, and he could devise no ready answer, no such cutting gibe as it would have pleasured him to administer.