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Marjorie Bowen
The Viper of Milan
A Romance of Lombardy
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066154226
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE GIAN GALEAZZO MARIA VISCONTI
CHAPTER THREE THE HOSTAGE OF THE ESTES
CHAPTER FIVE THE PAINTER'S DAUGHTER
CHAPTER SIX THE RESCUE OF COUNT VON SCHULEMBOURG
CHAPTER SEVEN "GRAZIOSA'S BRACELET"
CHAPTER EIGHT FOR A LADY'S GIFT
CHAPTER NINE THE RETURN OF THE DEAD
CHAPTER TEN THE TURQUOISE GLOVES
CHAPTER ELEVEN MASTINO DELLA SCALA
CHAPTER TWELVE GRAZIOSA'S LOVER
CHAPTER THIRTEEN VALENTINE VISCONTI'S TOAST
CHAPTER FOURTEEN THE TUMULT AT THE WESTERN GATE
CHAPTER FIFTEEN A PRISONER FROM MILAN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN FOR A GAME OF CHESS
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN THE TERRORS OF THE NIGHT
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN GIACOMO CARRARA'S REWARD
CHAPTER NINETEEN A SIGN FROM HEAVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY IN THE DUKE'S ABSENCE
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE THE DUKE'S RETURN
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO THE SECRET PASSAGE
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE FOR LOVE OF AMBROGIO
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE IN CLOTH OF GOLD
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX IN VISCONTI'S HANDS
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN UNEQUAL ODDS
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT THE VIPER
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE THE ORDEAL OF MASTINO DELLA SCALA
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE THE PRIDE OF THE D'ESTES
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO THE PRICE OF DISHONOR
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE THE STORM
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR AN INSTRUMENT OF GOD
The Viper of Milan
CHAPTER ONE GIAN GALEAZZO MARIA VISCONTI
It is a day in early summer, as beautiful as such days were in the Southern lands of 500 years ago. It is Italy steeped in golden sunlight which lies like a haze over the spreading view; the year 1360, when cities were beautiful and nature all-pervading. Here is Lombardy, spread like a garden in the hollow of the hills, ringed about with the purple Apennines, covered with flowers, white, yellow, purple, and pink. This wide road, one of the finest in Italy, winds from Milan to Brescia, its whole length through chestnut woods and plains covered with flowering myrtle. Primroses in great clusters border its sides, and from the midst of their delicate blooms spring the slender stems of poplar trees; these are red-gold, bursting into bloom against a tender sky; tufts of young green; clumps of wild violets.
But for all its unspoiled beauty, the road was one of common use, for Milan was within hail. Villas, the summer dwellings of its wealthy peers, stood back among the trees, surrounded by magnificent grounds. Behind them beautiful open country spread into the blue distance, fragrant and glorious with budding trees. And cold and magnificent the great city itself, with its huge walls and gates, crowned and emphasized the landscape's beauty. The lines of hundreds of turrets and spires, bold and delicate, leaped up against the sky. And paramount, catching the eye with color, weighing on the mind with meaning, were the city's banners. They floated from the gates and the highest buildings, half a score of them, all with the same device. Far off could that device be read: a green Viper on a silver ground: the emblazonment of the Visconti.
From afar the city was a vision of stately splendor, and the low dwellings clustered round about her walls, in the shadow of the palaces, appeared to the nearing traveler but a touch added of the picturesque. A close survey, however, revealed semi-ruined huts; in their foul neglect and unsightliness, a blot upon the scene. They were homes of peasants, who, tattered and miserable, starved and unwashed, seemed their fitting occupants. Here comes a band of them slowly dragging along the road toward Milan, men, women, and children, leading a few rough-haired mules, laden with scanty country produce.