insisting on his
own innocence, he admitted the sentence of his judges to be just![1259]

At about two o'clock on the morning of the sixteenth of October, when
the interval allowed for this solemn preparation had expired, Father
Castillo waited on the governor and the alcalde, to inform them that the
hour had come, and that their prisoner was ready to receive them. They
went, without further delay, to the chamber of death, attended by the
notary and the executioner. Then, in their presence, while the notary
made a record of the proceedings, the grim minister of the law did his
work on his unresisting victim.[1260]

No sooner was the breath out of the body of Montigny, than the alcalde,
the priest, and their two companions were on their way back to
Valladolid, reaching it before dawn, so as to escape the notice of the
inhabitants. All were solemnly bound to secrecy in regard to the dark
act in which they had been engaged. The notary and the hangman were
still further secured by the menace of death, in case they betrayed any
knowledge of the matter; and they knew full well that Philip was not a
man to shrink from the execution of his menaces.[1261]

[Sidenote: HIS LAST MOMENTS.]

The corpse was arrayed in a Franciscan habit, which, coming up to the
throat, left the face only exposed to observation. It was thus seen by
Montigny's servants, who recognised the features of their master, hardly
more distorted than sometimes happens from disease, when the agonies of
death have left their traces. The story went abroad that their lord had
died of the fever with which he had been so violently attacked.

The funeral obsequies were performed, according to the royal orders,
with all due solemnity. The vicar and beneficiaries of the church of St.
Saviour officiated on the occasion. The servants of the deceased were
clad in mourning,--a token of respect recommended by Philip, who
remarked, the servants were so few, that mourning might as well be given
to them;[1262] and he was willing to take charge of this and the other
expenses of the funeral, provided Montigny had not left money sufficient
for the purpose. The place selected for his burial was a vault under one
of the chapels of the building; and a decent monument indicated the spot
where reposed the ashes of the last of the envoys who came from Flanders
on the ill-starred mission to Madrid.[1263]

Such is a true account of this tragical affair, as derived from the
king's own