This fellow, like Marcello, was an outlaw; but when he ventured into Rome he frequented Peretti's house, and he had made himself familiar with its master as a trusty bravo.

Neither in the message, therefore, nor in the messenger was there much to rouse suspicion.

The time, indeed, was oddly chosen, and Marcello had never made a similar appeal on any previous occasion.
Yet his necessities might surely have obliged him to demand some more than ordinary favor from a brother.

Francesco immediately made himself ready to start out, armed only with his sword and attended by a single servant.

It was in vain that his wife and his mother reminded him of the dangers of the night, the loneliness of Monte Cavallo, its ruinous palaces and robber-haunted caves.