having
been ransomed by charity. "I will do so," said Richard, "and briefly
relate the hardships I have undergone.

"I quitted London to avoid marrying Clisterna, the Scottish Catholic
lady, to whom Isabella has told you that my parents wished to unite me,
and I took with me Guillart, my page, the same who carried the news of
my death to London, as my mother stated in her letter. Passing through
France, I arrived in Rome, where my soul was gladdened, and my faith
fortified. I kissed the feet of the supreme pontiff, confessed my sins
to the grand penitentiary, obtained absolution, and received the
necessary certificates of my confession and penance, and of the
submission I had paid to our holy mother, the church. This done, I
visited the numberless holy places in that sacred city, and out of two
thousand crowns I had with me in gold, I deposited one thousand six
hundred with a money-changer, who gave me a letter of credit for them on
one Roqui, a Florentine, in this city. With the four hundred that
remained, I set out for Spain, by way of Genoa, where I had heard that
there were two galleys of that signory bound for this country. I arrived
with Guillart at a place called Aquapendente, which is the last town in
the pope's dominions on the road to Florence, and in an inn at which I
alighted, I met Count Ernest, my mortal enemy. He had four servants with
him, he was disguised, and was going, as I understood, to Rome, not
because he was a Catholic, but from motives of curiosity. I thought he
had not recognised me, and shut myself up in a room with my servant
Guillart, where I remained on my guard, intending to shift my quarters
at nightfall. I did not do so, however, for the perfect indifference
shown by the count and his servants made me confident that they had not
recognised me. I supped in my room, locked the door, looked to my sword,
commended myself to God, but would not lie down.

"My servant lay asleep, and I sat on a chair between asleep and awake;
but a little after midnight, I was near put to sleep for eternity by
four pistol shots fired at me, as I afterwards learned, by the count and
his servants. They left me for dead, and their horses being in
readiness, they rode off, telling the innkeeper to bury me suitably, for
I was a man of quality. My servant, awaking in terror at the noise,
leaped out of a window, and ran away in such mortal fear, that it seems
he never stopped till he got to London, for it was he brou