This chapter opens with a soliloquy by Lord Guiscard, in which he tells the audience that he has just returned from a meeting with the Bishop of Milan. He asks the audience to imagine what it must be like for him to be in the middle of a political crisis. He explains that he had hoped to speak to the Bishop about the marriage of the King and his wife, but that the Bishop's response was vague. He wonders if the Bishop had put an idea into his mind. He also wonders if he had prepared himself for this, but seeing the Italian army on the streets of Milan makes him feel "bitter sense of loss". He wonders how they will reclaim the city, since they will not be able to rely on the support they receive from the nobility and feudal lords. He then asks if he can have the Bishop spit out the King's location before he dies. He says that if he were alone, he would have been easy prey, but since he is an eccentric, he thinks it is better to have him "spit out the prince location" before he is killed.