Chapter 18

"Was it his ghost attacked the walls last night?" asked Alberic; and not wholly did he speak in jest. The secretary cast uneasy looks across his shoulder at the ominously shut door. "It angered Visconti strangely," he whispered. "But it was a handful of madmen. Wandering robbers from the hills! They were four at most, and they tried to scale the walls of Milan!" He smiled in scorn. "And yet," said Alberic, "they were almost on the ramparts ere they were discovered, and when they were pursued, fled back into the nig…