Valperga by Mary Shelley

silence with elevated brows and pressed lips, turning his
sharp eyes from one speaker to another, as if by their means to
drink in all the intelligence the politicians were able to
afford.
    The next morning Pepi and Castruccio parted; whether this was
caused by the necessities or the prudence of the former cannot be
determined. He alleged that his business called him to Alessandria
in his way to Cremona, and the road of Castruccio lay directly for
Milan. On parting Pepi made a speech, expressive of his gratitude,
and the return he was willing to render for the benefit he had
received; which was a welcome to his house and board, whenever his
preserver should pass through Cremona. "Yet," he added,
"if you have any other friends in that town, you maybe will
prefer them to me. I have, as I related yesterday, suffered many
losses, and am endeavouring to repair them by an *conomical mode of
life; I have no rich wines or soft couches, and can neither afford
to burn wax lights, nor to eat delicate food. I have a good tower
to my house; and, now that I am a knight, I shall have a good horse
in my stable; and that is all I have to boast. You seem to have no
taste for coarse fare or hard beds; and therefore my dwelling would
in no manner be agreeable to you."
    Castruccio thanked him, and carelessly replied, that, as a
soldier, he had been accustomed to hardship and privation, nor
would the poverty of Pepi's dwelling render it less worthy in
his eyes; and they coldly took leave of one another, Pepi trotting
gravely on the road towards Alessandria, his head full of plans
which he kept carefully locked up in his own brain, and his
hard-lined face, faithful to his commands, giving no indications of
what was passing in his soul.
    Castruccio rode on gaily towards Milan; the cheerless wintry sky
and the cold air could not tame his buoyant spirits or his hopes.
He panted for action, for distinction, and for power; yet he no
longer desired these things as a boy, unknowing of the road which
led to them. During the interval which he had spent in England and
France, he had studied human nature with the observant eye of
genius; and, all careless as he appeared to be, he had learned how
to please the multitude, how to flatter the foibles of the noble,
and thus to gain the hearts of men and to rule them. Under Alberto
Scoto he had revolved with care the political state of Italy, such
as that commander had pictured it to him; his plans of lordship and
conquest were already formed; he had only the first step to make,
to proceed afterwards with a swift pace to the goal for which he
panted.
CHAPTER VII
    AFTER several days travelling, he arrived at Milan; and his
first care was to hasten to the palace of Matteo Visconti. This
chief was gone to the meeting of the senate, deliberating with the
nobles of Milan on the sum of money which should be voted for the
use of the emperor. Castruccio was therefore introduced to his son,
Galeazzo, who was then in the hall of the palace, surrounded by all
the young Ghibeline nobility of Milan. It was a scene of gaiety and
splendour. The young nobles were preparing to attend on the emperor
in a royal hunt. They were attired with the utmost magnificence,
with full dresses of embroidered silk, cloth, or velvet, and cloaks
of precious furs; some were accoutred in short gowns with trowsers
tied in the same manner as that of Pepi, but made of fine linen and
embossed silks; their collars were ornamented with strings of
pearl. Their hair, parted equally on the forehead, was curled and
fell down as far as the shoulders; they wore different kinds of
caps, some flat and adorned with plumes of feathers, others high
and pointed, and the lower part twisted round with pearls fastened
with a rich broach; most of them held a falcon on his fist, or
caressed a favourite hound, or vaunted the prowess of a noble
steed. There were many ladies in company who seemed to vie with
their male companions in luxury of dress. Their gowns were made